Dad on the Move – California Years

My dad, Glen Stuart Remington, was born in Rock Island, Illinois on 29 Aug 1922.  His mother raised him and his five siblings without the help of his father who left the family when Dad was about 4 years old.  From city directories I can see that Dad moved at least 7 times while in Rock Island.  A few of the homes they lived in still appear on Google maps and they are universally small and were probably not in the best neighborhoods at the time they lived there.  One family photo is labeled “about 1922 when we lived in Shanty Town”.  I have a studio photo of my dad where he is all dressed up but there is a sizable hole in his shoe.  I knew my dad was raised poor but really didn’t appreciate it until I saw that photo.  

Sometime around the end of the summer of 1936 or 1937 (my dad’s notes are inconsistent), the family left Illinois and moved to southern California.  My recollection is that his oldest brother, Bernard, had much better job prospects there and as he had become the major breadwinner for the family, they all went along.  I am sure the prospects in Rock Island felt very limited by comparison.  My dad would have just turned 14 and I’m sure he thought it was a great adventure.

Thanks to some papers I found after dad’s death, I have a list of the addresses where the family lived in California.  The first stop was 1918 6^th Street in Santa Monica, California.

That address now has apartments, but this house across the street may have been typical of the neighborhood at the time.  I imagine the weather and palm trees were quite a change from the northern Illinois winter.  I know my dad loved California.

The next address I have is 830 17^th Street in Santa Monica where they lived from September 1938 to November 1940.  During this period Dad graduated from Santa Monica High School.

After graduation Dad spent a few months at a technical school and then worked as a mechanic.  The family had moved to 8401 Gonzaga in Los Angeles and except for a few months in Tennessee followed by a few months living at the beach in Santa Monica… 

…he lived with them at that address until he enlisted in the Army Air Force on November 9, 1942.

I think this was taken just before or after Dad joined the Army

1945 - Ruth's wedding - house is the one on Gonzaga

That's Dad on the right

(Note – at some time during this period, my dad had a brief marriage that was annulled…his enrollment record shows him as married but he was single when he was discharged… another family secret that I didn’t know until I was an adult.)  He returned home after the Army and stayed with the family after they built and then lived in their home at 12224 Shetland Lane in Brentwood Heights, Santa Monica.

When Dad left the Army in February 1946 he would have been 23 years old.  I think he really enjoyed the next few years.  Although he was unemployed for a few months, his resume states that by the end of the year he was a salesman for Arden Farms…the years his family fondly remembers as him being a milkman.  He also worked for a while in a theater, ran a cafe and became a certified pilot.  He even found time to spend at the beach…

He enjoyed dancing and often went to dances at the Arthur Murray Studios.  It was at one of those dances that he met a young nurse who had recently arrived from a small town in Ohio – my Mom, Frances Fortman.  They married on April 20, 1952 and moved into their first home at 938 19^th Street, Santa Monica.  After a few months they moved to 843 Westmount Drive in West Hollywood.  While living there their first daughter, yours truly was born. 

Me and my Mom in West Hollywood

Dad must have felt he needed a better paying job because shortly after that he had returned to his technical background and jobs in the aviation industry.  They bought a small house at 1319 26^th Street in Santa Monica and soon had two more children, Vicki and Ed. 

Within a few months, with three children under three years old, they left sunny California and followed a job to Pennsylvania.

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