I took my wife to tour the queen Mary back when the spruce goose was still down there. It must’ve been a real terrific experience to travel on that ship. Just reading the menu was amazing.
My German and Irish ancestors all came here in between The Civil War, and World War I. I never thought about how they actually got here, but they surely traveled on ships much more primitive than the Queen Mary.
There were incentives in early 60’s for young European people. My in-laws were about 19 and 25. She was a kid but already matured beyond her dude. He signed where she told him to. They landed in Ellis Island. There was options and she selected Canada and then drove down to California. They were in Watts at an interesting time and met a good Mexican family. They had great stories, including Bull fights in Mexico. I have paintings they bought in Mexico, Very cool.
They had a house that was part of an Airport plans for expansion. They sold out and bought a lot in the mountains. 4 laborers bought lots from the builder they worked with. Cliff became a painter after attempting many other careers, including kitchenware sales. Door to door. His wife Sonny would invite people over to have dinner cooked on the high end pots and pans…. She was a real entertainer and helped close deals. The lots turned Into houses being built, and each tradesman did work on the 3 other guys houses. They had a $200 loan payment to build and didn’t think they were going to make it. They made it and it turned out to be a great spot in the middle of Malibu on the Santa Monica mountains. They threw some of the best parties in town back in the 90’s. I was there before I met their daughter…. They were amazing people with an open house on Holidays. Sonny and Cliff Brookes.
