4056 N. Mariposa, Fresno 3, Calif

4056 N. Mariposa, Fresno 3, Calif   (Locate on Google Maps)

In 1956 I was five years old and we moved into a new house. It was the first house purchased by my parents. My recollection is that it had 1300 square feet and cost $13,000. I'm very sure about the 1300 square feet since we lived in the house until a month before my high school graduation. Not so sure about the $13,000 but I'd be very surprised if I was off by more than $1,000. (After re-reading this, it occurs to me that it may have been 1955 that we moved into the house--1956 may stick in my mind because of the whole school thing.)

The house was in a tract of homes called Brookside Homes and there actually was a brook of sorts--an irrigation canal that bordered one side of the development. The canal was a source of tadpoles and frogs and occasional trouble with the parents when I forgot to get permission before I went there with my friends. So, while the "brookside" part of the development name was somewhat misleading, it was great place for the adventurous among us.

This being the 1950's, Brookside Homes--if not the the epi-center of the baby boom--was certainly participating in the baby boom with great vigor. Finding people my age was no problem--Mike Young lived two houses to the north, Duane (pronounced when we were young as D'wayne-ee) Brown two houses further down and Michael Gartner two houses beyond that. Across the street on Sussex Way there as Chuck Eller (who went to Catholic School but still participated in most of the neighborhood activities) on the corner, Candace Lindsay (who's father was a policeman) next door to Chuck and Sue Zander couple of more houses down. Behind us lived Richard Rodkin in a big, custom-built home. (Apparently his family had money but I was too young to notice.) My siblings could name as many (or more) people there own age in the neighborhood as I could--there were kids everywhere.

When I was in kindergarten, I spent a lot of time Richard Rodkins house. We were in the same class and we lived back-to-back with no fence separating the houses so I could walk out my back door, through my back yard, through Richard's back yard and knock on his back door. We'd play with his trains or play cowboys (a big deal in the 50's) or go next door to what was then a vacant lot or as it was always called: "The Vacant Lot." There we would build forts and trenches and use the kind if imagination that only 5-year-olds have. 

1956 was also the year I started kindergarten at Ernie Pyle elementary school. My teacher was Miss Noorigian, probably the greatest kindergarten teacher I ever had. There was play time, story time, recess, rest time, more play time, some short discussions about the alphabet/numbers/colors but, at this time, the USA was the undisputed economic leader of the world so there was no pressure to "catch up" to the Japanese/Chinese/Germans/Swedes or any other nation so there was no homework (or in-class work) or pressure of any sort other than to develop our social skills to prepare us for the first grade. The highlight of each day was the milk and graham crackers and the highlight of each week was Friday when it was chocolate milk instead of regular milk.

At my kindergarten we had the usual assortment of amusements: monkey bars, blacktop for games of four-square, tether ball, sand-boxes and the like, but the most prestigious and sought after amusement was the "big blocks." The big blocks were hollow wooden blocks about 4"x8"x12" so they were big enough for some serious building. Because of their limited availability, you were only allowed to use them by permission of Miss Noorigian and it wasn't a "please, my I play with the big blocks?" kind of thing--you had to be selected by Miss Noorigian as recognition of your worthiness and maturity. Needless to say, I was the very first person in my class to be granted the big-blocks privilege based on my exceptional politeness complemented by my blonde hair and blue eyes. I'm not sure that the blocks themselves were that much fun or if the prestige elevated their values. I think it was a lot of both.

Another memory of kindergarten was Dwight David Eisenhower. There was a picture of him on the wall next to the American Flag. I guess I vaguely knew that he was the President but I'm pretty sure that I didn't have a clue what that meant. Anyway, one day Miss Noorigian told us that there was an election for president and that she would put up the picture of whoever won the election. No need to tell you how excited we all were the next day to find out who won. That is to say, I'm sure someone was excited. I, for one, had completely forgotten that there was an election and could only think about the graham crackers and milk until Miss Noorigian pointed out that President Eisenhower's picture was still on the wall.

Before I finish, a short explanation of my address. 1956 might not have been pre-historic but it was certainly pre-zip code. Before that, towns of any size were given local postal zones to assist with the sorting of mail. We lived in zone 3, hence the Fresno 3 Calif (since this was also before the advent of the two character state abbreviations). The address eventual evolved to 4056 N. Mariposa, Fresno CA 93703 (and then 93726 after a zip code split).

That's all for now. Next time it's BAldwin 9-0860, party-lines and operator-assisted long distance calling.