Whit's Whittlin` Part 7

by Whit Cromwell,
Between Times December 2006 page 4   

Donated by Awandi Cromwell

What do you think about this? I'm in the hospital again! I went home for a week and suddenly things happened that put me back in Esperanza.

I shouldn't tell you such personal things, but really, Awandi couldn't stand me. She said the nurses at the hospital spoiled me rotten. Ha -- all they did was come a runnin' when I pushed a buzzer and ask for water and a back rub, or a fluff of my pillow.

I still don't know why my good wife of 42 years would object to me asking for a bell to call for service at home, or for a menu to order my meals for the next day. However I do hope that Awandi will accept my apologies and let me come back home in a couple of days, for there is just no pace like home, in spite of the good service in the hospital.

Hmmm-Last week we were still talking about Main Street, so I guess we had better continue.

I had a chance to set and whittle with Fay and Fanny Young a few weeks ago, and we had fun talking about Yorba Linda when the Youngs opened a café on Main Street in 1927, and we all talked about many other interesting things in those days.

By the way, they both think there was no better place in the world they could have picked to live and raise a family than Yorba Linda. They are still enjoying their comfortable home on the corner of Avolinda and Eureka.

Fay has a garden in her back yard along with fruit and avocado trees. While I was admiring the tomato plants that he was growing in containers, I discovered a fat green worm on one of the limbs. Hmmm-I can assure you the worm won't eat any more of Fay's plants, for I placed the worm on the ground and flattened it with a solid stomp of my foot.

There was a big dinner bell mounted in their back yard that is over 100 years old and that came from Arkansas. Fanny said it came from her Grandpa Drake's farm, which was about 10 miles from Fayetteville. I am told these bells were used to call the family fro the fields when dinner was ready. I reckon Fanny keeps it to remind her of the early years of her life in Arkansas, and it also should remind her of all the meals she has cooked in the restaurants that she and Fay owned in Yorba Linda.

They bought their first café from Nina Bowerman, and it was located on the west side of Main Street where the jewelry store is now. Their second café was at the corner of Imperial and Yorba Linda Blvd, where the real estate office is now located, and in about 1935 they had Mr. Curt Morris build a new building which was located next to the Liberty Garage, and they opened their third café.

The building that housed this café has been torn down, but the memory of good food, and good fellowship still remains with many of us who traded there.

I have many fond memories because I worked for Fay and Fanny when I graduated from Fullerton High in 1935. I still remember the delicious pies that Fanny baked more than the $10 a week I received in wages.

I'll tell you more about this café and other things that come to mind in our visit next week. Don't run away; we will join you again then.

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