MY TITLE MENTIONS GLENDALE

......MIGHT BE GOOD TO MENTION IT ONCE IN AWHILE.  I WAS FIVE IN 1944 WHEN MY PARENTS MOVED FROM TULSA, OKLA TO GLENDALE.  I PERCEIVED AS A FIVE YEAR OLD PERCEIVED.  WE MOVED FROM AN ACERAGE IN THE COUNTRY IN OKLA TO A BLOCK IN A HUGE AND ENDLESS PLACE CALLED LOS ANGELES.  MY FATHER WORKED FOR A MEAD BROS DRILLING CONTRACTOR HERE IN TULSA.  HOMER MEAD WAS WELL TO DO, AND WHEN HE RETIRED, HE MOVED TO HOLLYWOOD.  HE PRECEEDED US TO CALIF.  WHEN MY FATHER WAS TRANSFERRED TO LOS ANGELUS OFFICE OF AMERADA PETROLEUM CORP., HOMER AND HIS WIFE MARIE, PUT US UP IN THERE LOVELY BIG HOME IN HOLLYWOOD.  I FELT SO DIS-PLACED...A SENSE OF NERVOUS AND INSECURITY IN THIS STRANGE PLACE.  MY FOLKS FINALLY FOUND A HOME ON NORTON STREET  IN GLENDALE.....839 NORTON.  MY FIRST MEMORY OF NORTON WAS ALL OF THESE KIDS STANDING AROUND IN A SEMI-CIRCLE WATCHING OUR MOVING VAN UNLOAD OUR THINGS.  EVEN AT THAT EARLY AGE, IT OFFENDED ME...NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS...BUT I COULD NOT ARTICULATE THAT THEN.  I REMEMBER THE REALTOR SHOWING US WHERE WE TURNED THE SPRINKLERS ON IN BACK YARD.  THERE WAS ONE PLACE I TOOK SHELTER...MY ROOM.  SMALL, BUT NICE TWO BED ONE BATH HOUSE....IT TOOK A GREAT DEAL OF TIME TO ADJUST TO ALL THE DIFFERENT KIDS ON BLOCK.  SOME OF THEM WERE BULLIES.  I LOVED CLIMBING TREES AND HIDING UNDER SECRET BUSHES....I DID QUICKLY DEVELOPE FRIENDS MY AGE VIA KINDERGARTEN AND ON...GIRLS....I BEGAN TO NOTICE THEM...THE WAR WAS STILL ON AND WE LIVED TWO BLOCKS NORTH OF GRAND CENTRAL AIRPORT.  THE SOUNDS OF ENGINES RUNNING DAY AND NIGHT.  SAN FERNANDO ROAD WITH HUGE TRUCKS BLOWING BLACK SMOKE.  THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC TRACKS WITH STEAM ENGINES PULLING LONG TRAINS. I WAS FASCINATED WITH ALL THE MOTION AND NOISE OF MY NEW HOME.  IT WAS A DANGEROUS PLACE IN THE SENSE OF TRAFFIC...BUT NOT BAD PEOPLE.  AS I GREW A LITTLE OLDER, MY PARENTS TRUSTED ME FAR MORE THAN THEY SHOULD HAVE.  MY BICYCLE ALLOWED ME TO TRAVEL TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH!   I DISCOVERED THE GREAT DRAINAGE CHANNEL CALLED WASHES.  I FOUND WHERE I COULD CLIMB OVER A CHAIN LINK FENCE AND USE IRON RUNGS TO CLIMB DOWN INTO A WASH AND FIND MYSELF AT THE LOS ANGELES RIVER,,,BACK THEN...LOTS OF RUSHES AND BAMBOO...FROGS AND TADPOLES....I BECAME FASCINATED WITH THE OLD, RED-GLOBED KEROSENE LANTERNS THAT WERE SET AROUND CONSTRUCTION SITE.  I LIKED THEM SO MUCH, I STOLE ONE...I TRIED TO HIDE IT, BUT MY FATHER FOUND IT AND I WAS PUNISHED BY NOT BEING ALLOWED TO STAY ALL NIGHT WITH DEANY HURD,,A SPECIAL FRIEND OF MINE....TOO MUCH TO TELL..I REMEMBER SITTING AT MY LITTLE DESK AND I SAW A TINY BUG CRAWLING ACROSS THE DESK.  I CRUSHED HIM BENEITH MY FINGER,,,AND LOOKED AT A LITTLE SPOT AND BEGAN TO CRY....."IM SORRY LITTLE BUG."    I AM SURE I EVENTUALLY WENT TO BED THAT NIGHT AND ASKED MY MOTHER TO LEAVE THE HALL LIGHT ON.  I HAD WONDERFUL PARENTS....ONE LAST MEMORY...V=J DAY.....I KNEW WE WERE AT WAR...MY FIRST MEMORY OF THAT DAY WAS I WAS WALKING HOME FROM SCHOOL AND A FRONT DOOR OPENED ON OUR BLOCK, AND I SAW A WOMANS ARM STICK OUT AND SHE WAS RINGING A BELL...THAT EVENING MY FATHER DROVE US AROUND AND EVERYBODY WAS HONKING THEIR HORNS,,,GAS STATIONS WERE GIVING GAS AWAY AND MY DAD PULLED IN AND FILLED HIS TANK.......SO, TO YOU, GOOD NIGHT...ENOUGH FOR TONIGHT.......THE B