Went to San Antonio Winery today. Had free samples of several kinds of wines. Had to come home and recuperate from it. Bought two bottles of wine.
I'm sure five-year-old me was thrilled to be at a wine tasting, unless there was also a tour of the facilities and the wine-making process. One paragraph on one of the brochures states: "San Antonio is a family winery. While your children may not taste the wine they are nonetheless welcome to come and see the only winery in the city of Los Angeles."
Some of you may be asking this question: "If your mother learned she was pregnant two days ago, why did she drink free beer yesterday and sample so much wine today that she needed to go home and recuperate?" That's a very good question and I was wondering the same thing.
The medical knowledge regarding alcohol and pregnancy, and the recommendations to pregnant women regarding alcohol consumption, has evolved over the years. Here's some of what I discovered with about 15 minutes of googling:
- One obstetrics textbook published in 1953 read, “Alcohol, as such, is not injurious and need not be eliminated during pregnancy . . . An occasional cocktail, highball, beer or ale, need not be restricted and may be most beneficial.”
- “No, smoking and alcoholic drinks have no effect on an unborn baby,” chided a news bulletin distributed by a medical society in 1954. Calling such ideas “superstitions” and “old wives tales,” it concluded with a wag of the finger, “Listen to your doctor instead of sewing circle fantasy.”
- The first paper on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome was published in 1973. The medical community did not consider alcohol a danger to normal embryonic development prior to the publication of the 1973 article.
- The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), created in 1971, issued the first government health advisory on alcohol and pregnancy in 1977.
- The government warning on alcoholic beverages stating "According to the Surgeon General, women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects" was not required in the US until 1988.
So things were a little different in 1967, as you can see. But I have reason to think Mom may have backed off the alcohol later based on something she frequently told about a future event. We'll see if that is mentioned in an upcoming diary entry or letter.
Anyway, back to the winery. San Antonio Winery, which was founded 100 years ago in 1917, is still there and, according to the web site, is the last remaining winery in downtown Los Angeles. Here is the front side of a one-page pamphlet Mom saved. It's about 3.5" x 9".
She also saved two large tri-fold informational brochures (11" x 15" unfolded), with the history of the winery, some info about the surrounding area (including Olvera Street), and a price list. Both of those brochures have various stains on them, presumably from spilled wine. So when choosing which brochure to scan for each of the scans below, I chose the one with the most stains.
Another item in the scrapbook is a 24-page 5" x 7" booklet of recipes. I really like the graphics on the front.
Ok, so day 2 of this three-day weekend wasn't all that great for me or the bank collection. Let's see what we did on Labor Day.
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