Unlike the previous letter, Mom forgot to put the zip code on this one. Tsk tsk!
Dear Mother and Mike,
How are you folks? Mother, are you sticking to your diet and pills? I guess Mike just zooms around in his new car. Be sure to take care of the hamsters because David Wayne wants one. This next sentence is contributed by David Wayne himself: Be sure to take care of Taffy!
[Wow, it sounds like they had quite a collection of animals at my grandmother's house, with our dog, an iguana, birds, and now hamsters.]
The weather here has really changed. The last two weeks have been hot! The nights are cool, but the daytime is unbearable. The temperature is only 90, 91, 83, etc. - but it must be the humidity that is worse than Texas. Needless to say, our daily walks have ceased. I had to go to the store yesterday and since I didn't feel like walking, I actually got the car out of the garage and drove! Of course, I couldn't get the car back in the garage and had to leave it parked on the street, but Dave was pleased that I had tried. He even (since the car was already out) took me to a Penney's store.
On the way home we drove by Griffith Park. This time we drove into it and found a zoo. It is a beautiful drive through the park, all shaded and green. On the weekends, of course, this is where the hippies have their "love-ins." I'm glad we saw it once uncontaminated! At this same park is an observatory with a planetarium show and also the Greek Theater. Harry Belafonte is at the theater now until September 2.
[Below is one of the postcards I have from Griffith Park. It shows the entrance with the observatory in the background. It does look very pretty and is uncontaminated by hippies.]
[Fun Fact #1: Griffith Park is named after the man who donated most of the land for the park to the city of Los Angeles in 1896, Colonel Griffith J. Griffith.]
Man, did we have a weekend. None of us are fully recovered yet. First of all, Saturday afternoon we took David Wayne to the Alligator Farm. You just can't imagine how much he (we really) liked it. We saw big goldfish - bigger than the ones I had once! There were all different colored ones - black, pink, speckled. We saw baby alligators and crocodiles. We saw many of the reptiles that are in David Wayne's book - gavials, iguanas, all kinds of snakes, turtles. The big event though was the feeding of the alligators. Can you imagine one man walking into a pen with 250 hungry alligators? He must get a big salary! He next went to the crocodiles - four of them. One of the crocodiles had just had eggs. The minute he walked in the pen that old crocodile was after him. He couldn't talk much for keeping out of her way. They even had a trained alligator show. The alligators would crawl up the ramp, slide down a slide, and splash! into the water. Some of the alligators had been in fights. Their feet were gone, half the tail of one, and two had broken jaws. As we left, we got an alligator bank for David Wayne. He is really proud of it - already has it filled up, too. No wonder Dave and I don't have any money.
[Another mention of the Alligator Farm and the bank I got there. I bet I was fascinated by the guy walking into the pen with all the alligators. Below is a scan of the inside of the tri-fold brochure, showing the layout of the exhibits.]
[My commentary on the brochure: 1: Although gavials only eat fish and aren't dangerous to humans, I'd still be a little nervous swimming or walking around one. 5: No reptile stops growing. Interesting . . . 9 and 16: Whenever I see the phrase "Nile Crocodile" I think of the song "King Tut." 14: Alligators are cannibals. 15: Alligators are not very bright and don't have much energy. 17: The title character in "The Happiest Millionaire" kept alligators as pets.]
Dave was in such good spirits Saturday he was going to buy me a dress. We shopped for hours, but he wanted a mini-skirt for me and we just couldn't find one - thank goodness! After shopping we came home, ate supper, rested awhile and then off for more adventure.
[First Mom talks about push-up bras and now she's talking about my dad wanting to buy her a mini-skirt. I think I'm a little young to hear that kind of talk from my parents. I just can't imagine Mom in a mini-skirt, and apparently she couldn't either.]
This time we went to Chinatown. It is really something - especially at night with the lights. All three of us were pretty tired so we didn't see it all. We plan to go back soon. We did get some souvenirs - chopsticks, a yellow paper flower, and a decanter that is really cute. We couldn't find much for David Wayne so we got him a donkey made out of paper, and as you unwrap the paper you find little surprise toys. He enjoyed it but next time I want to get something that will last.
[I'll go ahead and state the obvious punch line here: After we visited Chinatown, my little ass was just full of surprises.]
We came home exhausted Saturday night, but we were off again Sunday. We took David Wayne and Jeffrey (the 10-year-old boy upstairs) to Knott's Berry Farm. The boys had a wonderful time. They rode the merry-go-round, a steamboat, a train ride, and antique cars. We went through a jungle land and Old McDonald's Farm. We bought David Wayne a hat with a looong green feather. That hat was Dave's idea - he said when he was little he always wanted one.
[This particular trip to Knott's Berry Farm was previously mentioned in a diary entry, but since this is another mention I will reward the audience with a scan of another ephemeron. Below are scans of the front cover and a few select pages of the menu from the Knott's Berry Farm Chicken Dinner Restaurant, where you could get Mrs. Knott's Fried Chicken Dinner for only $2.75 in 1967. That's $20.09 in 2017 dollars, but my goodness, look at all those extras you get with that, including beverage and dessert. The inside pages give a little history of Knott's Berry Farm and include statements from the couple who started it all, Walter and Cordelia Knott. (Walter turned 78 years old in 1967 and Cordelia turned 77. They lived to the ages of 91 and 84, respectively.)]
This weekend we are planning to visit Little Tokyo. They are having a parade Sunday and we thought it would be interesting. Dave has really surprised me about going places. I think he even enjoys it! Of course, during the week we stay home, but he _is_ working.
[I'm glad my parents were brave enough to go to a parade, given what happened at the last one Mom wrote about (which they avoided). Let's hope we don't run across any hippies or Nazis at the parade on Sunday.]
Did you get your birthday present? I am building up a library of pocketbooks. This week I've read the play "Luv," "Mandingo," and "Leave Her to Heaven." About all I do during the day is read, cook, and mend my britches when I bust the seat out. I am really getting fat. Sego in California just doesn't taste good.
[Fun Fact #2: Harrison Ford had an uncredited role as a hippie in the film version of "Luv."]
[Sego was a meal replacement diet drink available at the time. It was eventually replaced by other products such as Slimfast.]
[Fun Fact #3: Alfred Hitchcock discovered Tippi Hedren when he saw her in a Sego commercial during the Today Show. (Tippi Hedren is Melanie Griffith's mother. Melanie Griffith is Dakota Johnson's mother. Dakota Johnson and Kevin Bacon were both in the movie "Black Mass.")]
I've been watching the mail all week, hoping to hear from you. Have you found out anything about plane schedules? We're still saving Disneyland for you. Besides, I need someone to complain to. Dave just won't encourage me at all, except to say I can't afford to get sick. I've already diagnosed my malady as homesickness so keep the letters coming and put a fire under that little brother of mine.
[Seems like Mom and I are both going a little stir crazy. Hopefully we'll start doing more during the week now that Mom is driving the car.]
Love,
Linda
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