Go West, Young Man, Go West. So He Did--From Missouri to Denver to Los Angeles

POP'S ADDRESSES

The following is a list of cities and towns where my dad lived growing up.  All of the indented sentences and paragraphs are his words.

MT. WASHINGTON, MISSOURI 

Mt. Washington, Missouri is a few miles east of Kansas City, Missouri.  Here is what their Union Station looked like in 1914, the year my dad was born.

 Union Station, Kansas City, Missouri, 1914

Birth:  County of Jackson, the township of Blue, Village of Mt. Washington, Missouri on October 7, 1914. with the name of William J. Walgenbach.  We lived on C Street, three blocks from this depot.  

Well, I couldn't find any C Street in the village of Mt. Washington.  The only prominent structure in Mt. Washington seems to be the Mt. Washington Cemetery, and that was built in 1900, a full 14 years before my dad was born.  So he lived somewhere near there; just that I can't find a C Street in Mt. Washington.   

PUEBLO & DENVER, COLORADO 

1915, we moved to Pueblo, Colorado.  

1919, we ventured to Denver.  Our first home in Denver was somewhere in North Denver on Alcott Street, near Elitch Gardens.  The site is now the home of the Denver Broncos, a football team.

Okay, so Elitch Gardens is down at the intersection of Speer Blvd. and I25.  Speer and Alcott is only a mile or so from Elitch Gardens, so Dad is correct that his home was "near Elitch Gardens."  When he states that "the site is now the home of the Denver Broncos," he's right again.  Alcott Street, if it were to continue, would head directly through the center of Mile High Stadium, where the Denver Broncos play each fall and winter.  

Then we lived on 12th and Curtis in an apartment for a while. 

Okay, first, these coordinates are not specific.  He doesn't specify whether 12th is 12th Avenue or 12th Street.  But since Curtis Street does not continue south of Colfax, we can assume that the coordinates are 12th Street and Curtis Street, but that doesn't work either since Curtis Street basically ends a couple of blocks north of 12th Avenue at Cherry Creek that runs through Denver.  Curtis literally ends just north of Denver's Performing Arts Complex.  

From Curtis Street's cramped quarters, we went three blocks to 1315 W. 14th Avenue.  

That would be 3 blocks south.  

We moved to 2707 Arapahoe Street.  We had an old 1919 Overland and drove it to Orchard, about 20 miles from Denver to visit my Aunt May and Uncle Charlie.  

That's interesting.  Looks like Dad lived in the Five Points neighborhood, about 8 blocks northeast of Mile High Stadium where the Colorado Rockies play baseball.  

Here's what a 1919 Overland looks like

Regarding Orchard being 20 miles from Denver, I cannot find that.  Orchard is a town near Ft. Morgan, which is 69.1 miles northeast of Denver.  

 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

We arrived in Los Angeles, CA on March 18, 1925.  My dad slept all night at the Lark Theater on Main Street near 7th Street to save the rent money.  He took us to the Bear Cafe where we had breakfast then to 555 S. Crocker, where we lived in a one-bedroom apartment.  

Grand Central Market at 3rd and Broadway

Good Fellows Grotto on Main near 3rd Street, located at 341 S. Main Street.

A brief note on the Good Fellows Grotto

Until it closed on New Year's Eve in 1953, Goodfellows Grotto, 341 S. Main St., was the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the city. Founded in 1905 by Matteo Dujmovich, Lucky Baldwin's cook, Goodfellows was in the heart of what was once the theater district, near the Orpheum, Belasco and Adolphus and two blocks from the opera house.

Sarah Bernhardt was a patron, as were Clark Gable, Adolphe Menjou and Edward G. Robinson. Over the years, Goodfellows served every mayor and police chief of Los Angeles, every governor of California and countless attorneys and executives. 

I liked this: 

Peterman's Restaurant on the corner of 3rd and Main.  

Lyceum Theatre on 2nd and Spring Street for movies. 

House where I lived on 601 E. 22nd Street, Los Angeles.

440 Annandale Blvd. (now Figueroa) new bungalow with one bedroom--loved it--there was Hill on Roy Street off of Annandale--was perfect for rollerskating.  

1440 1/2 Toberman Flat Apartment, neat and clean.  

around the corner on Pico Blvd. was movie [theater]--saw many silent pix there.  

859 S. Wall Street--a 3rd-floor tenement community bath and toilet--one bedroom--however, this abode held much joy and happiness--had a newspaper corner on 8th and Maple Street.   

to be continued . . .