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REMINISCENCES
FROM AIVLIS
STREET ORIGINAL OWNERS, JOHN
AND BETTY RANK By
Judy Courdy John and Betty Rank
moved into their home on Aivlis Street in April 1954. When they chose their home from a big plot posted on one of
the walls in a model home on Lees Avenue, they had their choice of the entire
tract—not one “sold” flag was yet pinned on the chart.
They finally settled on their house location, which was just a patch of
dirt on an empty field at the time. They
had to borrow the $450 that they needed to close the deal from a brother-in-law,
but they saved and were able to pay him off before they actually moved in.
Their monthly payment increased from $49.50 (that included utilities) for
an apartment, up to $56 a month, not including utilities; John and Betty lost
some sleep worrying about that huge hike in monthly outgo!
They were the first
residents on their street, and remember the eerie feeling in the evenings, with
streetlights not yet installed and absolutely no neighbors around.
To go shopping at the Iowa Pork Shop on Palo Verde and Stearns, folks had
to drive down Studebaker to Willow and up to Palo Verde, as Stearns Street did
not yet come as far east as Studebaker Rd.
The Ranks, like many others
in the area, ended up in California after Uncle Sam issued him an invitation in
1944 to join the military. He was
drafted from his home state of Oklahoma, even though he had two young children
at the time. Betty followed and
first lived with his sister in Wilmington, and worked for 15 cents an hour at
Kress department store while John was stationed in San Diego, and then later
while he attended radar school in Georgia.
And even though John made only $30 a month with the military, Betty was
able to save money! Once their
third son was born, John was allowed to leave the military, and first worked for
the post office delivering mail. Afterwards,
he worked for Dow Chemical digging ditches, tried his hand at working for Fuller
Brush (he HATED that!), and then back to Dow Chemical where they asked him if
he’d be interested in learning drafting.
John was thrilled to have a Monday through Friday job and a twelve-day
annual vacation! Dow Chemical
transferred their business to Shell Chemical in Wilmington, where John worked as
a draftsman until he retired in 1980. The parents of four boys,
John and Betty had no fear about letting their sons play in the fields which
were to become El Dorado Park. There
was a farmhouse in the area near where the El Dorado Clubhouse is today, and the
boys had fun building forts with bales of hay left in the fields after harvest.
One of the designers of the future El Dorado Park was Chance Hill, one of
the Rank’s neighbors on Aivlis Street. Betty
remembers Chance spreading out a huge planning design for the park on their
living/dining room floors when the park was still just an idea in progress.
The Ranks remember just
once during their tenure here that they were seriously concerned with flooding,
when the water crested to the brink of the San Gabriel flood control.
But luckily, no damage was done. Many
housewives, home all day without transportation, enjoyed each other’s company
for lunch, playing bridge, or visiting with each other when the Helm’s Bakery
truck came around each evening. According to John, the
cement-mixing area for our neighborhood construction was located at El Paseo and
Volk; spilled cement made it difficult for the folks who eventually bought homes
in that location to grow lawns. John’s
lawn had been a paint-mixing location, and when he could not grow grass in one
area, he dug down to find a piece of plywood and paint buried there.
Obviously, the 1950’s were a different time in the practice of waste
disposal!
Although John and Betty
love their new life, they still have a special place in their hearts for Aivlis
Street. Sitting on their table is a
small wooden replica of their house, given to them as a parting gift from their
neighbors. And they come back every
year to renew acquaintances at Aivlis Street’s annual block party!
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