Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Remembering the Good Ole Days

Jasmine from Nature's Whispers Blog has encouraged her followers to explorer the history at our doorsteps and share it with each other.  Leading by example Jasmine has blogged about some very interesting historical sights near her home in Wales in her "Sharing Treasure" segment which I invite you to check it out.

I got to thinking about where I live and the stories this place could tell!  My home is in the Palm Springs, California area which was the playground for the rich and famous Hollywood set from the late '20's through to the latter part of the century.  Back in the day most of the stars contracts only allowed them to travel 100 miles maximum from the studios on their days off when they were under contract.  Palm Springs is exactly 100 miles from Hollywood.  And so the heydays began...

Set into the landscaping of a private home near me I had noticed these plaques and thought this would be the perfect time to turn my Lens to the past and see what message the World has for me.


 
Bill Morrow:  Well respected screen writer and producer in the early to mid century. He worked with Bing Crosby and shared the screen writing for the Frank Sinatra Show which ran from 1957-8.
Pete Petitto: A good friend to Bing Crosby and his family.  Pete was Crosby's road manager and also managed the Crosby boys, Bing's sons on their singing road trips.
Trav Rogers: He first arrived in Palm Springs in 1929 leading a string of 15 horses.  Quite the entrepreneur, Trav was a man of vision.  His first move was to set up riding stables and bar simply called The Stables.  It quickly became popular with the monied set and upgraded it's name to Rogers Ranch Club.  The downstairs bar was remembered by many, if only because of it's name - the Mink and Manure Club!  Apparently the bar floor had horse stalls either side and a long table for the ladies to place their mink coats in preparation for partying down. 30 years later Trav was still an active developer.  He and another created a yacht club in the north shore of the Salton Sea, a few miles to the east of Palm Springs.  It was the largest on the west coast at the time.  Not bad considering the Salton Sea is landlocked.
Edie Fischer I was unable to find any information on but I will keep digging.

I have always been fascinated with history.  I wonder at the challenges people faced and how they overcame them.  I wonder at the stories they used to tell before tvs dominated the evenings.  I wonder what they would like to say to me, here in 2010, if I had the ears to listen?

1 comment:

Jasmine said...

Fascinating post Barb. I'd also love to hear what tales they would have to tell. Thank you for joining in :)