The e-mail

This was an e-mail I recieved on Thursday 29JUN2006 and I am posting it here with permission...

<I remember trolleyway and dockweiler and the lagoon! I grew up in playa del rey on a place called surf street believe it or not! but I graduated from the private school so I wouldn’t have to go too far. I remember the Joneses both places and the Gradys and the Watkins you could occasionally catch a glimpse of Buffy (Anissa Jones) who lived two streets up from us and Jody (Johnny Whittaker) whose agent was also close and Susan Olsen from the Brady Bunch who stared with her in that movie. When I was nine Anissa Jones had a birthday party and I saw Sissy (Kathy Garver) go in to their house and my girlfriend Alice who lived over on redlands street and I rode our bikes back and forth all day hoping to get a good look at the stars but all we saw was high school kids sneaking off and smoking weed.

When she died my mom went over and baked something for them but she said they were really hurting and couldn’t answer her call, but I don’t remember if she left the cookies or not. The newspaper said there was no services and told us where to donate in her memory and a bunch of kids in the neighborhood and paseo del rey gave my dad their change and he threw in some cash and we sent in two hundred bucks in her memory!

I think it was when I was in my last year at high school we heard about her brother dieing and we were aware that Mrs. Jones had now lost everyone, her husband her daughter and her son and was alone in that house save for her renter! I remember other families that lost kids but hers was the most tragic. I think she even had one of her daughter's friends move in and ended up dieing by drugs too!

After I graduated and moved down to San Diego to attend UCSD, my parents sold the pdr house and bought a place in coronado. And we have only been back on rare visits; most of the old pdr people are gone!

It’s nice hearing about old pdr memories but sad in this particular context! Wish she had survived so we could swap neighborhood stories and remember and share the good times of which there were tons! My GRANDSON!!! Gabe’ the most beautiful baby boy ever!!! was born in January this year, does that tell you how long ago that was!>

What a coincidence; I have THE most beautiful Daughter (Sadie Rose) and Goddaughter (Baby Anissa) ever as well! -JSL