I sure wanted to go. I was 13 and a student at Fremont Junior High School in Pomona. It was over 400 miles to the Bay Area. I had been there before. My Aunt Majorie lived in Berkeley and I had been there when I was 10 or 11. We went to a Knowlton Family (my Mother's family) picnic at the Golden State Park in San Francisco. We rode the ferry all the way from Oakland to San Francisco because the Oakland Bay Bridge was not yet built. It opened in 1936 when I was 11.
How to get to the Fair? At 13 I was an experienced hitch hiker. So off I went. North on Highway 99 (now 5) over the mountains, through Bakersfield and Fresno. At about Manteca I turned to the west to Berkeley.
Aunt Majorie went with me to the Fair the first time I went. Then I went by myself. I really enjoyed the Fair. They had a huge outdoor play (horses and stage coaches). They used jets of water for a curtain! The Fair was on Treasure Island and now is a Navy Installation. When I returned to school I gave a talk to a class (home room?) on my trip. I was notorious for a moment.
Where did I get money to eat on and pay for Fair tickets? At 13? About this time I started washing dishes at the U and I Cafe.
Today's 13 yr olds can't put down their phone to get across the street, plus all the bad actors walking the streets nowadays. Not safe.
ReplyDeleteGreat story from your historical life.
Thank you.!!