50 Years of Precious Memories

Rick Wartzman’s column “Lifting the Lid on Precious Memories” (From First and Spring, May 21) really hit home. I have been collecting memorabilia since the year I first dated, circa 1940. Living in a large house in New Jersey with an attic and basement, it was no challenge to bag my restaurant menus, theater programs, tickets, matchbooks and other mementos in yearly batches.

As we readied ourselves to move to a condominium in Southern California, my wife happily discarded everything that wasn’t nailed down. I was faced with years of memories. I boxed and dated them, hired a U-Haul truck and deposited them in our condo storage bin.

Our 50th wedding anniversary is June 24, and I’m in the process of creating a slide show of our life together for our upcoming party. I was able to go to our storage bin, find the box labeled “1956” and come up with souvenir postcards of the Miyako restaurant in New York City, where we had our first date, and the Harwyn Club, the “in” nightclub at the time. They will be part of my slide presentation. Who says being a squirrel doesn’t pay?

Mel Schrier

Rancho Palos Verdes