‘Can We Go Home Again?’

I read your article on Lynwood with a great variety of emotions.

I was born in Lynwood on Aug. 4, 1925. Even though the Depression was coming, I remember a wonderful childhood. We lived close to the railroad track, which my mother disliked, but I loved. I remember waving to the engineer who drove those old steam engines.

We all survived the 1933 earthquake, where there was so much damage; all of the brick buildings fell to the ground. I remember we had to attend school in tents with wooden floors for quite some time, but being kids, we loved it.

Our town was so nice--a main street with a drugstore that had its own fountain, where I remember I had my first Coke.

A big Saturday night out for us would be when my sister and I and my parents would drive all the way to Huntington Park, where they had a Rootbeer Cafe--for a nickel, you were given this huge, frosted glass full of froth and root beer. We would all go window shopping for a couple of hours. Of course, there was no money to spend, but it was fun and very special.

What wonderful memories. I went to Lynwood Jr. High School . . . one of the very few junior high bands invited to enter and march in the Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena. Harold Anderson was the director of our band and march we did, for the honor of our hometown. This was the year of 1940.

Then came the war! We all matured a little more rapidly than we would have, naturally. I married in the Lynwood Methodist Church during the war and some of my classmates made the supreme sacrifice.

I live in Orange County now and have for many years. I’ve been to Lynwood recently, and I actually shed tears at what I saw. It is my fervent hope Lynwood will once again come back to being the wonderful town it once was.

Thanks for the memories.

VIVIAN WILLIAMS

El Toro