From Unlocked Doors to Memories
ALAN writes:
One day I was reading about people’s memories of growing up in a certain neighborhood. One woman remembered:
“How friendly people were, and how open everything was. People left their doors unlocked. One lady who lived in a big white house put on a scary costume and handed out candy to children who came to her door on Halloween. It was all very friendly. In front of another house, children had a lemonade stand.” Are these the memories of the fictitious town in “Leave It To Beaver?” No, but they could be. Are they the memories of the place where I lived in boyhood? They might be, but they aren’t. They are the memories of people who grew up on Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills in the 1940s-‘50s.
They are the memories of people like Joan Benny, Jack Benny’s adopted daughter. They lived at 1002 North Roxbury Drive. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz lived next door, and it was she who handed out the candy. Other neighbors included James Stewart and Rosemary Clooney. [See Todd Purdum’s “The Street Where They Lived,” Vanity Fair, April 1999]
Much of America was like that at one time. Police officers who grew up in the same neighborhoods of St. Louis where I did remember many residents leaving their doors unlocked. That, of course, was at a time before the Communist-engineered destruction of city neighborhoods and strong Catholic parishes. (more…)




