Leimert Park Memories
Joe Applegate’s article on Leimert Park (April 2) recalled memories of my early youth.
I attended 39th Street Elementary School (renamed Dublin Avenue Elementary School) and Audubon Junior High. It was a real treat to attend the (long gone) Leimert Theater and to ride the merry-go-round at “Tinker Town,” (Crenshaw and 39th Street), and after taking a recent drive past our old home, I realize that the area has never looked better!
The Angeles Mesa Library on 52nd Street, still remains, and while driving down Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, (formerly Santa Barbara Avenue), I noticed the “Memory Lane” nightclub is still functioning, except that it’s now called “Marla’s Memory Lane.” Considering the status of Baldwin Hills today, it might seem remarkable to some that jack rabbits once abounded there, but abound they did, and a kid who wore his first suede jacket and/or suede shoes (purchased at the May Co. or the Broadway) knew he’d truly “arrived!”
EDDIE CRESS
Los Angeles
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