MEMORY LANE

Yesterday, Larry, his brother Casey, and I took a walk down memory lane.

When my brother died, Casey suggested saving a small amount of his ashes and leaving them at Granada Park, where we all had spent much of our childhood.

The bulk were spread off a boat in the ocean in May. The next day, we took some to my father’s grave. (Some of my mother's were spread there when she died in 2011.) Ron’s friend, Chris, was willed his Schwinn chrome-plated Paramount bike with the promise he’d take some of Ron’s ashes to Newport Beach.

So, we only had the final tablespoon left to dispose of.

We drove up in the morning. My, how everything has changed! Without our GPS confirming our location, we’d have thought we were in a different town.

But the park remains beautiful—perhaps even more so than when we were kids. The charming entrances are still there as is the big hill. The trees are large, providing lots of shade.

Larry and I wrote about the park in the book based on Ron’s original idea, Dominic Drive. Because the book was set in the 1950s and ’60s, we had to include it in the story.

The playground has changed completely since our youth.

Gone is the big double metal slide where we burned the backs of our legs in the summertime. The merry-go-round, which we used to spin as fast as we could, is no more. The equipment there today looks much safer, and I’m sure the current batch of kids enjoy playing on it as much as we did.

We hiked to the top of the hill. The gym looks bigger (and maybe it is). They have sprinkled covered eating areas throughout the park. They looked cool and inviting. Definitely an improvement.

Casey suggested we use the area above the new pool, still in the same position as the old one had been, but much newer and nicer.

Swimming lessons were in progress. Somehow, this felt perfect since Ron learned to swim in the old pool here. We liked the idea of having a separate kiddie pool instead of the big Olympic-sized one.

Once we picked the spot, Casey took the small container and spread half in the grass.

Then I sprinkled the rest.

We had brought some blue daisies like the ones we had dropped into the ocean with his ashes. For a day or two, they will mark the spot.

After we strolled around the park, we took a drive around the Midwick Tract, where we lived as children. Most of the houses look well-kept, and most have been added on to. A few are gone, and some new ones have taken their place.

Larry and Casey lived on Hitchcock Drive. The southern end is now blocked off. We used to be able to drive directly onto Garvey Avenue, but people began to use the drive through the tract as a shortcut. They went far too fast and endangered others on the streets. Closing it made sense.

The old Gully, mentioned in the book, has been filled in, and new buildings are being constructed there.

The parkway trees in front of my old house and the two on either side are gone. They were lovely liquid ambers. From our kitchen window, we watched them change colors each year. I was sad they were missing.

Since it was lunchtime, we capped our visit to the past at Twohey’s in its new location in South Pasadena. This building appears smaller than the old one, and all the hard surfaces make it a bit noisier. They do have quite a bit of outdoor seating, however. Casey ordered the original “Stink-O” burger. He said it tasted exactly the same as he remembered.

We enjoyed our visit to the past. Contrary to the popular notion, you can go home again as long as you are prepared for changes and surprises.