The Vargas Cow vs the Train

                                       

                                       By kiki

In the Simons Brickyard most people had animals of all kinds, chickens, roosters, pigs, rabbits, goats and cows. Some of the animals were slaughter for food. Pigs who were slaughtered were soon made into tamales and chicharróns. A stolen goat made great birria on a Saturday afternoon when men were drinking, and it didn't matter whom goat was stolen. Some chickens were saved from having their neck twisted because of their ability to lay eggs. Others were not that lucky. The cows were saved from been slaughtered because people needed milk to drink.

The people that lived in El Hoyo (the hole) would take their cows, goats and other animals to a meadow that laid up a hill by the railroad tracks, at times you could see ten or more cows and goats grazing in the tall grass that grew in that beautiful-meadow. In late spring-early summer the grass would grow about 3 feet tall, tall enough for some serious romping by the teenagers (know what I mean?) that were supposed to be keeping an eye on the livestock

One day in a late 1940’s summer one of the Vargas girls, don’t remember which one of the girls it was, had walked the Vargas family only cow up the hill to pasture. Soon after reaching the meadow the Vargas girl met her boyfriend Jess, and within minutes they were romping in the tall grass. The cow with nobody to keep an eye on her made her way to the railroad tracks, I guess she wanted to see how the people on the other side of the tracks lived. As the cow was standing on the tracks a South Pacific Streamliner passenger train came roaring down the tracks, I still remember that it was heading east. The cow didn’t move and the train didn’t stop. The stampede of people was on as soon as the word got down in El Hoyo that the Vargas cow had been killed by a train. People by the dozen were running toward the cow, some of the people with knives in both hands were sharpening them against each other as they ran to get their piece of steak for that night dinner…We missed out!

New Year’s in the Simons Brickyard

New Year’s Eve in Simons would find the Brick People eating left-over Christmas tamales, and washing them down with shots of tequila, those that couldn’t afford tequila would do so with cheap wine. As the sun would begin to set over the brickyard the men would light-up fires to gather around and play their lidas (guitars) and sing old Mexican songs. Their ladies in a joyful mood would soon join them. The men usually built the fires in their backyards. And with the promise of better times to come with the new-year the men would sing romantic songs to their wives/girlfriends. Every now and then a guy would be singing too romantic to somebody else’s wife or girlfriend and a fight would break out, only to end up with the two guys hugging each other as only compa’s could. As the clock was nearing the midnight hour the teenage couples would disappeared into the cornfields, and as they were doing so the old people would bring their guns out. As the clock struck 12 with gun shots in the background the dancing, hugging and kissing would start and wouldn’t end till sun-up. The men without TVs to watch the Rose Parade, or the Rose Bowl games in those cold 1940s winters would spend New Year’s Day around the fires and talking about their plans for the new-year, as they talk a bottle or two would be passed around, a drink just to keep warm they would say. In a day or so the festivities would come to an end and it was time to go back to work making bricks.

“El Rancho

     

                      

                                             By kiki

My dad had a Japanese friend who had a farm on Greenwood Blvd., just north of Telegraph Road in South Montebello. Not sure if it was in the Montebello City limits. Soon after the Dec. 7, 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor my dad’s friend was roundup with his wife and young family and send to a “War Relocation” camp.

We were living in the Simons Brickyard at the time when my dad’s friend was roundup. I remember pops going to say goodbye to his friend the day they were going to be to be driven away from the farm, when pops got back home, he told us that we were moving into his friend’s farm. I don’t know what kind of arrangements pops made, or with whom he made them with.

I don’t remember actually the year we moved into what we called “El Rancho”, but it was during the early days of the war.

I really don’t know why we called it a “ranch” when it was a farm. My dad’s friend, how I wish I knew his name, but I don’t, grew black-eyed beans, tomatoes, cabbage, green chilies and lettuces, etc. The house on the farm was pretty good sized. It was the first time I had had a bedroom to myself. There was a small irrigation channel that ran alongside the house. Don’t remember ever jumping in the water, but that channel gave “El Rancho” character. In the winter that we lived at the farm I remember that my older late sister, Rachel, and I, all bundle up in our winter clothing had to walk through frozen farm land, that area was all farms in the ‘40s, on our way to school at Vail Elementary, which was about a forty minute walk. Back at the farm after school I remember picking black-eye beans for mom to cook, also picking up a cabbage that mom would cook, I love cooked cabbage!!

For some reason or other we didn’t stayed at “El Rancho” long, maybe six months. Couple of memories still embedded in my mind from those days we spend at the farm: remember Rachel and I sitting by the window, looking out of our dark house as search lights lighted up the sky to identified unidentified aircraft…One memories that comes to life when I close my eyes is when we had retired for the night, I would be lying in bed in my dark bedroom listening to the big rigs as they roared up and down Telegraph Road. Will never forget those months we lived in “El Rancho”

This old building in Simons used to be a Mom and Pop store back in another life. In the mid to late '40s the owners used to show movies at the store one night of the week. My grandma Lupe and grandpa Francisco used to take my older sister Rachel and me to watch the movies.

Life without a TV

 

                                                Gentler & Simpler Times

 

What was life like for kids in those gentler and simpler times before the TV age? Kids growing up in the 1940s in the Simons Brickyard had lot of things to keep them occupied during the summers, what with daily chores of taking care of animals, chopping wood for the wood burning stoves, turning bricks to dry. But what did the kids do once their chores were done and no TV to watch? The boys would get a football game going in the big empty field by the pond, most of the time it was the pre-teens against the teenagers, and the teenagers always won. When not playing football the boys with the girls would get a baseball game going, now that was fun! The teams were made up of boys and girls mixed. There was one boy who was not a particular good player, nobody wanted him on their team, but he didn’t care, he knew that in the end he would get a chance to play right field and to strike out, no, there were no dandelions for him to watch grow. There was one girl that everybody wanted in their team, she was a great player and she was gorgeous, she was stacked like a brick outhouse. 

The kids would get one of the local winos, Doñ Blas, to umpire their softball games, and there were lots of winos in the brickyard to pick from, but Doñ Blas in particular loved to umpire. He would get behind the pitcher and with a big staggering flair would yell out ‘stik-a-te one” (strike one) or “bola” (ball). When he would get tired or needed a drink of wine he would say “no mas” and would stagger off into the sunset looking for his twenty five cent bottle of Tokay. With the sun going down and no street lights in the brickyard the baseball games would come to an end. Some kids would head on home to fight for the radio so they could listen to their favorite mystery/detective/comedy/western radio programs, some of the programs were Boston Blackie, The Shadow, Red Ryder, Hopalong Cassidy, Abbott and Costello and the Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.

Some of the boys would stay out, light a fire and wait for the local chota (cop) to harass them. Kids from that generation did just fine without a TV, of course they didn’t have a choice, but that was to their benefit, they got to experience playing ball with an umpire that was real funny. They also play marbles, spinning tops and yo-yo's. They played cowboys and Indians in the hills of the brickyard. The later generations with their rabbit eared TVs were to become known as “couch potatoes“

B-Western Movies

                                         By kiki

Early this morning, before the sun came up, I turned the TV on and watched the local news for a short while, there was nothing new on the news, same old thing, some homie got shot and the shooter got away, no, it was not the Zimmerman-Martin case. I then decided to switch to the Western Channel. An old B-Western movie "Stage to Mesa City" circa late 1940s, staring Lash La Rue and his sidekick, Fuzzy Jones, AKA Al St. John was playing. I sat up in bed to watch it and as I started getting into the movie nostalgia started to creep in, “bang, bang, I got you, you're dead” I said as I’m shooting at the TV with my fingers. Connie looked at me and rolled her eyes back “crazy old man” she muttered under her breath as she walked out of the bedroom.

But, crazy old man, or not, watching that old cowboy movie bought back lots of old memories. Memories of how hard I had to work in the late 1940s, turning bricks to dry, shining shoes, delivering breakfasts to the Simons Brickyard workers, selling newspapers, to come up with the twenty eight cents it cost to go watch my beloved silver screen cowboy heroes at the Royal Theater on Whittier Blvd in East Los Angeles. Some of the cowboy stars we kids loved to watched were, Johnny Mack Brown, ‘Wild Bill’ Elliott, Tim Holt, Allan ‘Rocky’ Lane and Sunset Carson. And of course there was Roy Rogers and Gene Autry too. And who can forget their beautiful horses. The sidekicks were, Gabby Hayes, Smiley Burnette and Andy Clyde, among others. On the villain side there were many, too many to mention, but one that you could count to be in most of the movies was Charlie King, King was called ‘Blackie’ in all the B-Western movies he played in. One thing we, even as kids notice; was that the good guys never lost their hats in a fight or falling off their horses, and the bad guys always died with their hats on.

On Sundays, after Mass at Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Simons, we had to go to Mass or our parents wouldn’t let us go to show, the gang, around six of us would walk to the corner of Greenwood and Sycamore to get the Montebello bus. After dropping our seven cents bus fare in the coin box and getting our bus transfers we would go sit in the back of the bus, not that we had to, we just thought it was cool to sit in the back. We were cool guys, so we thought. The bus would take us to Whittier and Montebello Blvd’s where we would than take the bus heading west on Whittier Blvd to East Los Angeles. We would get off on Atlantic and walk one block west on Whittier Blvd to the Royal Theater where we would pay our fourteen cents to watch two full length B-Western movies, a series, cartoons, newsreel and coming attractions.

After watching the movies we would pay our seven cents bus fare to get back to the brickyard. In the summers we would get back home while there was still daylight, which gave us time to play cowboys. I would strap on my home made cardboard gun holsters, yes, I would make holsters out of cardboard for my two cap guns, we, were poor! I would mount my horse, a broom stick, and with guns a-blazing I would go after the bad guys….Days of Innocence!!

A 1940s Summer Day in the Life of a Young Simons boy

                                                           By kiki

 The boy had to get up before sunup to make sure his mom had enough firewood for the wood burning stove that she used to cook for her family. The boy’s mom would get up at quarter to four in the morning to see her husband and her children’s father off to work. The boy’s father worked at the Simons Brickyard, which was a stone throw away, about two hundred yards north of their front door. In those hot 1940s summer days the brickyard workers would start working at four in the morning in order to get off before the sweating heat hit. The boy’s mother would start getting breakfast ready for the boy’s siblings, four girls, one sister was older then the boy, soon after her husband was out the door. The boy would have his breakfast with his father when he was done delivering breakfast’s to other workers.

The boy would go out into the warm summer dawn and gathered firewood for the stove as his mom was making tortillas for breakfast. When his mom head was turned away from the tortilla basket he would steal a hot tortilla, put some hot chili salsa on it and run like hell, laughing as he did, his mom, laughing too would try to grab his ear to give it a twist, sometimes she missed, other times she didn’t, when she didn’t she would give his ear a good twist as both would laughed. While the boy would be eating his tortilla he would go about giving the family animals, rabbits, chickens, a goat, and a hog their morning feed. He would then water his father’s vegetable garden.

By six o’clock the boy’s mother would have his father’s breakfast ready, including some for the boy, sometime it was eggs in hot salsa, other times eggs and chorizo, but always with bean and always in tacos. About quarter after six the boy would walked out with a lunch pile and a big jar of coffee, he would go around the side of the wooded shack that was their home, he would then take his wagon that he had made out of a wooded box out of a small garage that he had constructed for it on the side of the house. He would put the breakfast and coffee in the wagon and head out to other workers homes to pick up breakfasts that he would deliver to the hard working men for their 7:00 o’clock breakfast break. In every home he would stop to pick up a breakfast he would find a woman hunched over with her rolling pin making tortillas as she listened to Maria Ellen Salinas play Mexican music on her radio show. The ladies would all give the boy a hot tortilla to eat on his way to the next pick up.

After delivering all the breakfasts and having breakfast with his father the boy would returned home to chop some firewood, enough for a couple of days. Done with the wood chopping the boy would go and join other boys at the rackas (racks) to turn the bricks to dry. While turning the bricks he would go through a daily ritual, one that he was not happy to partake in, but thought that in order to keep the other boys off him he had to do so, so on a daily bases he had a fist fight with a boy who was his next door neighbor, most of the time the boy would kicked the neighbor’s boy’s ass. Of all the boys in Simons of his same age, twelve-thirteen years old, he was the only one without an older or younger brother, so all the boys would picked on him figuring he didn’t have a back-up, but he soon earned their respect by beating the neighbor’s boy more times than not. Turning bricks, delivering breakfasts and shining shoes at Nacho’s Pool Hall on the weekends gave him enough money to go the Royale Theater in East Los Angeles to watch his beloved western movies. So yes, the boy would fight on in order to earn money to go watch his favorite cowboy heroes.

Done turning bricks by noon, and after having lunch the boys; if they didn’t have a baseball game going on with their Vail Elementary School team would head out to the swimming hole, “the main ditch” as it was called. The boy and his friends would ride their bikes to the main ditch which was by the railroad tracks, about a hundred yard east off Sycamore Street and Bluff Road in South Montebello. In the days of passenger trains the boys would be on the lookout for approaching trains as most were skinny dipping. As the trains were approaching most of the boys would jump in the water, lest the passengers would see their brown butts, but not all would jumped in the water, there was always one or two that would turn their butts to the passengers and moon them.

Getting back home in time for dinner and the late animal feed was a must for the boy. After feeding the animals and having dinner the boy spent the rest of the daylight hours picking on his younger sisters, pulling their hair and ears, he didn’t pick on his older sister, because she did some picking back.

At dusk the boy would head to the fire-pit, which was about one hundred yards west of his house, with his boxing gloves hoping to get one of the boys to box with him in the dirt floor ring they had constructed next to the fire-pit. Sometimes there were takers, other times not, it seemed like none of the boys loved boxing the way the boy did. The first boy to arrive at the fire-pit would get the fire started. As soon as the sun was over the horizon the boys would start arriving, as they did they would set out to gather firewood. Sometimes firewood was hard to come by. Because all the houses used wood burning stoves; wood was like gold in the brickyard. When there was no wood to be had the boys would go into the rakas and dump the bricks off the paletas (pallets), using paletas for firewood was not taken kindly by the local chota (cop) who would chase the boys when he caught them burning paletas, when they couldn’t burn paletas they would burn somebody’s white picket fence. There was always something new happening at the fire-pit, a boy burning his new shoe, looking for ways to get back at the chota, stealing somebody’s rooster to roast over the fire, throwing 22 caliber bullets into the fire as the boys circle the fire-pit, the boys would try to dodge the flying shells. Sometimes one of the boys would get hit by a flying shell.

The boy would go back home about ten o’clock to find his parents and siblings sitting outside by the apricot tree as it was too hot in those 1940s summer nights to get any sleep inside their wooded shack. After sitting and talking for a bit the boy would go into the hot house to try and get some sleep in the bedroom he shared with his four sisters, which sometimes it was hard to do because his older sister would lay in the dark chewing and popping her gum, in order to get some sleep the boy would get under the blankets and cover his head with the pillow. The boy would go to sleep and tomorrow would be another 1940s summer day in the Simons Brickyard for the boy.