More Paper Memories and a story about that time I waited on Cher--by Bryan F.

I have for you today a potpourri of paper items. Just the leftovers from my other posts and some Valentine's cards I couldn't find when I did that post a couple months ago. 

This will probably be the last of the paper, although I still have some items. I have some really old hymnals and some old cookbooks/ pamphlets, but I don't think they are all that interesting to stand on their own. There are still some cool postcards I could share. Some very old European ones come to mind that would make a pleasing presentation, I think. But perhaps a little time in between will make that even more appealing. 

I'm not sure if it will happen next week, it might, but very soon that I'll be doing some LGBTQ+ history. I just ordered a new and excellent book that should get me going in that direction.  

I don't remember where I got this sheet music, but I'm thinking it was from my brother Chuck a few years back. I'll have to ask him, my memory is better on things that happened a long time ago. 

So a little story to go along with the Cher sheet music: The year was 1987 or 88. I was managing a Zale's Jewelry store in the small Southern California town of Hemet. Florida Avenue was the main drag. This is important because if you're visiting the very cool and laid back village of Idyllwild in the San Jacinto Mountains and you needed to get back to Los Angeles you would probably take the Hemet side off the mountain rather than the extremely treacherous Palm Springs/ Banning side and drive the length of Hemet on Florida to get to the highways that'll take you on to LA. 

Well, that's exactly what Cher and her assistant did one early evening on their way home from Idyllwild, stopping at the mall to pick up a small gift, I'm guessing. I was alone in the store, my fellow employee was at dinner and the store was dead as it often was that time of day. They walked in and no, I did not immediately recognize her; celebrities often dress down and try to blend in when on holiday and she was indeed dressed down. I even think I remember a baseball cap. 

I started getting very nervous as it became more clear to me that I was waiting on Cher. Her assistant did most of the talking and knew what she wanted. I can't remember exactly what it was she bought but probably a gold chain or earring, I was very nervous. 

I never let on that I recognized her, I think I was way too nervous to ask but when her assistant took Cher's wallet from her to pay, the name on the credit card left no doubt in my mind, Cherilyn Sarkisian.

I'm glad I didn't bother her, she has already given me so much since I first listened to her and Sonny on a 45 rpm record back in 1963 when they were Ceasar and Cleo, and of course the TV shows I watched in my youth and the way she just took over the large screen and stunned us all. Moonstruck is still my favorite. 

I've had very few celebrity run-ins living in Southern California. I once waited on the singer Jose Feliciano's second wife Susan Omillian, when I worked at Slavick's Jewelers in the Orange Mall in Orange, California back in 1985. They had a home in the beautiful enclave of Villa Park at the time, just across the freeway from the mall.

My only other encounter with a celebrity was at the first jewelry store I worked in, Arthur's Jewelers at the Central City Mall in San Bernardino, California back in 1980. It was actually two people, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. The famous TV stars from the 50s that later retired to Apple Valley, in the High Desert of California, in 1980, not two miles from where I now live. They were often spotted in malls and stores in San Bernardino in the early '80s because there simply was no shopping in the high Desert until 1989 when a mall opened in Victorville. 

They were a lovely and very friendly couple and while they didn't buy anything they chatted with us for a few minutes until Dale started gently pulling on Roys's arm because he was paying too much attention to one of the saleswomen who was indeed a beautiful woman and an unrepentant flirt. She liked to say that a girl's got to make a living. My fellow workers at Arthur's were an interesting and fun bunch of folks. Coming up in that Jewish owned store/chain was the best education I could have ever hoped for in the jewelry business.

That same year, if it was indeed 1988 that she came into my store Cher threw a free concert on the Battleship Missouri where my little brother served as a signalman. He still speaks of the moment in time with excitement, like it had just happened yesterday. 

I fell in love with her when I was a little boy and I've only grown to love her more with every kindness she shows the world. Her outspokenness at this time is needed and her loving support for Chaz is heartwarming.

Some Old Valentines cards:

Both of these pop out cards are to my Maternal Great Grandma from my maternal Grandparents.

I have no date. They could be anywhere from the '40s to the sixties. 

This ornate card was given to my Maternal Grandmother in 1918 when she was only four years old. I don't know whether it was from an adult friend of the family or from another youngster. Note that 1918 was during the Spanish Flu. It was very hard to hold open for a photo. It is very well preserved with all pieces attached and only one mended area. 

A birthday card to my maternal Grandfather from his Mom, Dad, and brother.

I have no idea of the year. Perhaps after he moved from Missouri to California in 1946 with his family.

A true family heirloom. My Great Grandmother's marriage certificate.

The witnesses were the Thurmond's. One the matriarch and the other possibly a daughter. I don't think Mr. Thurmond could have been bothered to attend the maid's marriage. 

To read more about Ellen Miles/ McCall see the Consortium of Seven archives and look for the article titled CinderEllen. My Great Grandmother was left by my GG Grandfather to be a servant to the Thurmond family when she was no more than four years old because she was half Native American and unwelcome in the home when he remarried. Mrs. Thurmond did treat her with some compassion and even went against one of her own sons when an attempted assault occurred. 

Minister J. F. Norris. Year of marriage 1907.

I love this artwork.

Instead of listing guests, someone entered their children's names. I don't think Ellen could write, so I'm not sure who entered this, perhaps her husband John Fletcher McCall.

I'm not sure you just received a lovely booklet like this when you got married back then. My guess is Mrs. Thurmond probably paid for it. I have no idea though, that's only speculation and probably wrong.

A menu for the very famous Southern California Knott's Berry Farm restaurant. 

Judging by dress and hairstyle this is most likely late 60s or 70's. 

Chicken dinner for $3.75. I can tell you from experience it was the best chicken dinner in all Southern California. 

I knew a waitress that worked there in the late 70s when I lived in Orange County. She said she made a killing on the tips. People came from all over the country to visit Knotts, usually along with a Disneyland visit that is in the same city of Anaheim. 

This menu was actually a postcard that could be mailed.  

Knotts was only a small roadside berry stand in the beginning and then they added a ghost town and then a train and some other fun stuff. Admission was free but I think you had to pay a nickel to ride the train. During the train ride, robbers would come through guns blazing. I used to shake in terror, but I was with Grandma, so I knew I'd be OK.

 My Grandma loved it and took us often. I can still smell the odor of the caps from the guns, I think the guns smoked, too. Maybe it was like that liquid smoke we'd put in my brother's toy train when we were kids.

Knotts Berry Farm in 1964

Knott's Berry Farm today

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Knott%27s_Berry_Farm

This is a Sunday School teaching aid from 1899. My Grandma never showed it to me when she was alive. I don't know who's it was, but a guess would be that it was my Grandma's, who was born in 1913. Looks like it might have had more than one owner. There are so many things that I wish I could ask the dead.