Monday, July 21, 2014

Date:  July 21, 1927                                             Weather: Hot, sunny

 Place:  Hollywood                                         From  Los Angeles     

Via: Universal City

 Impressions: Today was an intensely interesting day spent at Hollywood in the Universal Studios.  We were accompanied by Mr Fuller's Secretary who arranged for our admittance. It is almost impossible to get in otherwise. We saw three pictures actually in the "shooting" The titles were "the Four Flusher" (with Wesley Ruggles directing, Marian Nixon ), "Dangerous Trails",  and " Jesse James" with  Jack Purin and keath-kut
respectivley

The first was an office scene. Acting is certainly tedious. One part is taken over five or six times sometimes all day. We saw one act which was especially interesting. The hero waas shot and fell over and over again. Music is played all during the acting. The actors often talk about loud. Larg fans were used to keep the actors cool.

Tonight we went to the Pantages and saw DOug Fairbanks Jr in Zat Lo  He is the bunk but the picture was fine funny los Vaudeville followed.

Jesse James (1927) Poster

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Date:  July 20, 1927                                             Weather: Unusual sultry- hot and a few raindrops

 Place:  Los Angeles, Cal                                           From  Los Angeles     

Via: Hollywood and back

 Impressions: Daddy and Uncle Frank visited laundries all day while we went shopping. We bought three dresses, three hats, a curling iron and a flower. Tonight Mr and Mrs Truman took us to the Los Angeles Athletic Club for dinner and then out the Hollywood to the "Chinese" a marvelous place. The exterior as well as the interior is like a Chinese Palace. guards walk up and down the walls. Palms grow in the front and the usherettes are in Chinese costume some actually Chinese girls. The production King of Kings was played. It was simply super fine . In the concrete in from of the theater are the hand and footprints as well as signatures of Mary Pickford, Doug Fairbanks , the Talmadge sisters etc.

The King of Kings (1927) Poster

Pictures from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018054/ and
http://waterandpower.org/museum/Early_Views_of_Hollywood_%281920_+%29_Page_2.html

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Date:  July 19, -Tues                                             Weather: Same- Great

 Place:  Los Angeles to                                          From  San Monica and back       

Via: A 45 minute drive thru the city and its suburbs "Los Angeles."

 Impressions: We had our first dip in the Great Pacific after rising rather late and eating breakfast and dinner together. We went out to "Pacific Beach at San Monica. The entire beach was studded with bright colored parasols and with swimmers lying in the sand or in the surf. The was was very salty much more as than I expected. The waves were easily six or more feet high and dashed up against us in long breakers. It was perfectly thrilling. The water was warm too.

Friday, July 18, 2014

Date:  July 18, -Monday                                             Weather: Fine-sea

 Place:  Los Angeles                                           From  San Diego       

Via: Coast- sea shore road via Long Beach

 Impressions: We traveled most of the day today and ware staying at the Biltmore, a marvelous hotel. Los Angeles is a very congested city. All the way over here we could see people swimming in the seas. The bright colored parasols were marvelous. Long Beach is one of the fashionable places. A beautidul beach. We had dinner at a Spanish Cafe at San Comenius. We tasted enchiladas. Whew are they hot!!!! The tide came in as we finished. We saw the first show in a month tonight at theMetropolitan. Rube  was the headliner with an orchestra of 41 concert jazz artists. Four dancers and singers the picture Adolphe Menjou in "Service for Ladies."

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Date: Sun, July 17, 1927                                             Weather:Sun- ideal

 Place:  Tia Juana-San Diego                                         From  San Diego       

Via: Car over the Mexican border

 Impressions: This has been one of the "most thrilling" days so far. We drove out to the World's Fair Grounds and saw the beautiful buildings that were erected there in 1915. The grounds are beautiful- a botanical garden. Then we went on to Tia Juana. That place is a revolation. It is the Monte Carlo of the western hemisphere. There are rows of saloons on all the streets where men and women are drinking, dancing if you can call it that, and playing at roulette wheels and slot machines. Mexican and white alike join the tussel. The music is savage jazz and beer is sol by the pitcher. Tonight the San Diego laundrymen entertained us at dinner.

We are staying at the US Grant Hotel.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Date: Sat., July 16, 1927                                             Weather: Fine - Cloudy then sunny

 Place:  San Diego                                            From  Santa Francisco Maria        

Via: Concrete roads along the sea

 Impressions: We rolled out at 5:00AM this morning in order to get to Tia Juana by sunday. We traveled all day and made 385 miles. Tonight we are stopping at the US Grant Hotel, a lovely place. All along the way were huge orange, olive and fig groves. The entire country is populated with flat roofed stucco houses. We also saw our first glimpse of the oil fields. "Signal Hill" has about 300 pumps to a block I think; just thick with scandling. We saw the sun set on the Pacific. It certainly was marvelous. It sunk right in the sea. Long Beach was great. We passed thru there.

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Date: Friday, July 15th                                              Weather: Fine - Cool, warm and sunny

 Place:  Santa Maria (Hotel)                                             From  San Francisco         

Via: Concrete roads along the Pacific

 Impressions: Today Uncle Frank and Hope and ourselves started for Los Angeles and hope to see the fun at Tia Juana, Mexico, Sunday. We had dinner at the Alpine Tavern, a charming place with old fashioned china. We had our first taste of abalone. It is fine. This morning we had fresh figs with cream for the first time. Tonight we are at Santa Maria Inn, a beautiful place. Some peculiarities we noticed today were Training Schools for Police Dogs, Gold Fish Hatcheries, Groceterias, the predominancy of silver money. Saw Stanford U. and visited its chapel which is all mosaic work. It is certainly wonderful.

Monday, July 14, 2014

Date: July 14, 1927                                               Weather: Fine as usual

 Place:  San Francisco                                             From  Burlingame          

Via: Bus- (monkey trees - birds nests etc)

 Impressions: We slept almost until noon today and went shopping this afternoon. Mother met some friends down town and later we met everyone at Mrs. Brown's after which we went to Marquardts, a ritzy cabaret. They say its the ritziest. It was fine. They had a charming chorus, and the place itself is beautiful. We had 14 in our party; our family, Frank, Hope, Petty, Sonny, Ida, Hope's sister, Mr and Mrs Brown, Mr and Mrs Greeley, Mrs (Eringson?) Last night we all had darling corsages from Mr Brown's store. It was fun.

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Date: July 13, 1927                                          Weather: California

 Place:  San Francisco                                             From  Burlingame          

Via: Streets lined with beautiful geraniums and hydrangeas

 Impressions: Today we went to visit The Contra Costa Laundry, originally the first laundry in America. It is a marvelous large plant all sky lights. They have a wonderful recreation and cafeteria where they can buy a big meal for 40c. They do wonderful work, such systems! Tonight we went to Robert's a lovely dance resort or nightclub on the seashore. It was very foggy there one can just see the fog come over the hills from the sea. The music was wonderful and they had a cute fire place made like a lighthouse and fish help up the chandelier.

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Date: July 12, 1927                                          Weather: Fine, Fair and warm. Dry tho

 Place: Burlingame                                             From  San Francisco           

Via: Uncle Frank's Buick

 Impressions: The streets in Burlingame, the aristocrat section of San Francisco are bordered by hug Eucalyptus trees which shed their bark and look very barren. Today we had lunch at a cute place on the sea coast and we watched the ocean. It was wonderful and clear. We also saw the famous Golden Gate strait with high rocks bordering each side. The Golden Gate Park is beautiful. Shopped the rest of the afternoon and tonight we had a wonderful dinner at Leah Browns. We had all kinds of new food: alligator pears, Italian bean, Spechinis, and large half ripe olives. After that we went for a drive through Chinatown and up to twin peaks.

Friday, July 11, 2014

Date: July 11, 1927                                          Weather: Temperate, cool-sunny

 Place: San Francisco                                       From  Oakland, Cal             

Via: Ferry boat- then 18 miles out to Burlingham

 Impressions:  This afternoon Billie and I took a walk down the main street of Oakland and found that there were many types of dark people especially Japs. One can't tell where Berkley ends and Oakland begins. Uncle Frank picked us up with his car and we wouldn't look at him at first. We saw the Metropolitan, United States, Ludry. There were many War Ships and even a Submarine in San Francisco Bay. In San Juan, there are many "Jackies." We went to Uncle Franks home. It is very beautiful especially the furnishings. The outside is stucco. Petty and Sonny are darling.

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Date: July 10, 1927                                          Weather: Mountain then HOT-- then sea air -

 Place: Berkley/Oakland, California                                 From  Tahoe Lake, Cal             

Via: Steep wooded mountain pass and concrete roads

 Impressions:  The drive today was beautiful and decidedly thrilling and scenic. We traveled along a beautiful mountain ridge of the Sierras being able to look far beneath in the emerald waters of the mountain lakes or at the beautiful cascades and cataracts of the mountain streams. Everywhere were tall pine. It began to get hot near Sacramento and everything was dry. We noticed the prevalence of palm trees on the front lawns also large rose and geranium bushes. Orchards of apricots and plums were on every side and we bought a large basket full for 25c.Near Berkley we noticed the damp sea air. It is quite cool here.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Date: July 9, 1927                                          Weather: Cool Mountain air- fresh

 Place: Tahoe Lake, Cal                                  From  Tahoe Lake, Cal             

Via: 8000 feet above sea level

 Impressions:  After the strenuous trip of yesterday we decided we needed a rest. This place is perfectly delightful. We spent the morning in hiking through the forests under the huge pine and collecting large cones which are almost a foot long. We sent home several dozen for decorative purposes. This afternoon we went swimming in Lake Tahoe. All about the lake forming a border, snow capped mountains can be seen. The water is green and so clear one can see the bottom anywhere. The water was like ice but wonderfully refreshing.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Date: July 8, 1927                                          Weather: Cool Mt.  Fine desert

 Place: Tahoe Lake, Cal                                  From  Winnemucca, Nevada          9:00-8:30    

Via: Dusty desert detours and gravel road  also mountain trails in California

 Impressions: The trip through Nevada was parching hot and dry into Reno. Desert land on every side with NO vegetation not even healthy sage brush could bee seen. The sandy surface looked like an old lake had. Here and there were salt formations in the ground. The roads were terrible, full of new gravel and sand. Reno was having a "Transcontinental Exposition." It is not a very large town but green for Nevada. Tonight e are 6,000ft above sea level in a wonderful Gont forest reserve. It is on Lake Tahoe and is full of pine forest It is cool and glorious.


Gas is 30c a gallon or 3 gallons for $1.00 on the desert. Whew!!

Monday, July 7, 2014

Date: July 7                                           Weather: Hot Arid

 Place: Winnemucca, Nevada                            From  Salt Lake City       

Via: Dusty gravel -loose academ road


Impressions: We made the greatest mileage today through the desert. Nevada is surely a wide stretch of waste arid land. Large ranches are visible on every side, but near the road one can see nothing, not even a house or an animal. The ranches being situated farther in. Large rolling but barren mountains form the skyline and nothing but desert grass and sage brush seems to grow. The thrill of the day was the salt fields which lay in thick white folds like ice. It  was great.

We put our clock back 2 hrs today.

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Date: July 6                                           Weather: Warm fine

 Place: Salt Lake City                            From  Salt Lake City       

Via: Wide paved streets and mt. roads

Impressions: Today we looked over Salt Lake City and find it is quite a town. We visited the capital which is a fine building. The ground floor was devoted chiefly to museum exhibits and was very interesting. Utah has many mines in from copper to gold. The guide in the capitol showed us through an exquisite richly draped reception room costing $    . We saw the University of Utah but do not think much of it. Salt Lake City is situated somewhat on the side of the hill.

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Date: July 5                                                                Weather: Warm sunny

 Place: Salt Air Park, Salt Lake City                           From  Salt Lake City       

Via: City streets - good roads

Impressions:   Went to hear the organ recital at the Mormon Church. It was wonderful. The tabernacle is constructed of wood bound together with wooden pegs. The acoustics are marvellous and one could hear a pin drop from 200 ft away. The top acting as a violin. In the afternoon, we went to Salt air Park at Salt Lake and went swimming. It is the oddest sensation I have ever had. One bobs about like a cork and cannot swim decently at all.

We had our pictures taken there. We also danced there. They have the largest dance floor in the world. It was wonderful. It is built on 1,000 piles in Salt Lake.

Friday, July 4, 2014

Date: July 4                                           Weather: Mountain cloudburst

 Place: Salt Lake City                           From  Vernal, Utah        

Via: Dangerous, wet slippery clay mountain trails.

Impressions:  At Vernal, we were told they had one of the worst tornadoes known last week. We sure have luck in missing things. We noticed many cyclone cellars and caves built on the sides of the rock wall on the way.

This has been the queerest 4th we have ever experienced. The weather has been wonderful until today which has been rainy all day. The poor farmers  & cowboys in the small towns were sure disappointed and so were we as we hoped to reach Salt Lake City for the celebrations, but the roads were so slippery it was impossible for the most time to go faster than 10 or 15 miles an hour. We had a steep mountain trail with narrow curves to drive on. The clay when wet on the roads is just like soap. We sleighed from one side of the road to the other within two or three inches of the deep canyons and gulleys. We were caught in a terrible cloud burst. Sheets of water and large hail stones poured down. We stopped as we could see nothng. but all of a sudden we discovered we were sitting in a rushing river. All the water was washing down from the sides of the mountain in great torrents. It was washing out the road beneath us so we made for the top of the mountain. Cars were stuck all over. Two having plunged off the side. At one of the mountain fueling stations they had captured a mountain lion which I thought were extinct.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Date: July 3, 1927                                            Weather: Warm day with showers

Place:  Vernal Utah                  From  Berthaud Pass near Lauson        

Via: Arid mountainous sandy regions- narrow paths-sandy

Impressions:  The trip today was entirely through arid rolling even mountain wastelands which consist mostly of sagebrush and cactus and are thickly inhabited by prairie dogs and grasshoppers which prevent any prosperous raising of crops. The horizon is every direction was nothing but high barren rolling mountains of sage brush with canyons and very picturesque formations of sand rock. The mts here seem to be of different blending shades of blue and violet which turn yellow gold and red close by. We passed many ranches and cowboys. We were informed that the day before we were at Berthaud Pass they had an inch of snow which was completely gone.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014


Date: July 2, 1927                                            Weather: Yes
Place:  Steamboat Springs                  From  Berthaud Pass near Lauson        

Via: Mountain curves- narrow paths

Impressions:  We found we were not as high up as we had contemplated even though it was so cold during the night we could see our breath. Our journey began by a steady climb up the curved narrow mountain passes which were borrowed by thick groves of pine and birch until we got to what is called the divide. At the top of this forested region we found large regions of snow surrounded by cream colored cowslips and beautiful large blue columbine. The altitude here was over 11000 feet. Several ladies had fainted who came up in sightseeing busses. They should try Pikes Peak!
While going down the from the ridge it poured constantly, but cleared up when we were ready to camp in the valley at Steamboat.

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Date: July 1, 1927                                            Weather: Cold, crisp Mountainous
Place: Berthaud Pass near Lauson                    From  Pikes Peak         12:00-8:00

Via: Mountain climbing- valley roads

Impressions:  We re at the most beautiful campsite tonight that we have ever been to with snow capped mts on all sides of which are just thick with pine. We are in the valley with woods & pine all about us and a cheerful campfire burning.  A mountain stream cascades right near our "front porch" and the air is cold, crisp and clear. It is too cold to be comfortable without a coat & sweater and loads of bed clothes. The entire country here is like this, the roads about the hills being steep and curved. There are mining towns all along here. They find gold, copper & coal mixed  Saw the Garden of the Gods which  consisted of many fantastic large agate like rocks. Brot some granite stone down from
Pike's Peak.