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My High Spirited Grandmother and the Earthquake of 1933
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Title
My High Spirited Grandmother and the Earthquake of 1933
Series Title
Collection Guide (External)
Created Date
November 2007
Description
Pamela Chesney-Algar recalls her grandmother in the 1920s and during the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. Recorded at San Clemente Library
San Clemente, California.
San Clemente, California.
Transcript
This is the story about my high-spirited grandmother and the Long Beach earthquake. My grandmother, Helen, and my grandfather, Glen moved from Eu Claire, Wisconsin to Long Beach, California in the late 1920‚s. My grandmother was called high-spirited and she was a bit of a flapper. I have a photo taken of her in which she and my grandfather drove up to Lake Tahoe. This must have been circa 1929 and in the picture my grandmother is sitting on the spare tire on the back of the car. Her stockings are rolled down, her skirt is hiked up, and she looks like she‚s having a wonderful time. Anyway, on the back of the photo, she has written to her sister, my Great Aunt Edith, ‚Very immodest but no one to see but the cactus ‚Äì I'm a wild woman.‚ Included is a note that says ‚Taken on the way to Lake Tahoe way up in the mountains.‚ So, a few years later after my mom was born, these grandparents were still living in Long Beach during the big earthquake in 1933. The story is that after the quake, there were lots of strong aftershocks, so they camped out in their backyard until the house was safer. My Great Aunt Edith told me that my Grandmother tried to keep up their spirits by singing camp songs and pretending they were on vacation. I'm sorry to say I never met my grandmother. She had very bad asthma and the medical treatment was not very advanced back then. So in spite of their hope that the beautiful California climate might help her asthma, she passed away in 1936.
Creators and Contributors
Genre
Spatial Coverage
Temporal Coverage
1920s
1933
1933
Language
Media Type
Format
mov
Extent
1
File
Color or Black and White
Color
Silent or Sound
Sound
Copyright Statement
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This item may be used for non-commercial and educational purposes.
The opinions expressed in OC Stories do not necessarily reflect the position or policies of OC Public Libraries or its partners and no official endorsement should be inferred.
Images are courtesy of story tellers and affiliate organizations or used in accordance with fair use and Creative Commons.
Music and sound in accordance with fair use and Creative Commons [ http://creativecommons.org ].
Country of Creation
United States
Contributing Organization
Contributing Organization Contact Information
Email: ocstories@occr.ocgov.com
Phone: 714-566-3055
Phone: 714-566-3055
Organization Websites
Link to Internet Archive
Additional Technical Notes for Item
Original file was named My High Spirited Grandmother Pamela Chesney-Algar.mov, which was renamed as corcl_000049_prsv.mov. An access file was produced from it and was named corcl_000049_access.HD.mov.