While looking through the dusty scrapbooks piled here and there in the Lauderdale Mansion, I chanced upon this grainy old photograph that was taken in the late 1930s or early 1940s, I believe, showing one of our family’s many trips to Maywood.
Of course, we had our own Olympic-sized pool at the Mansion, but sometimes we hopped in the gleaming new Hispano-Suiza (shown here) and journeyed down “old” Highway 78, to spend the day at “The Beach Within Reach.” I so clearly remember the gleaming white sand, the ice-cold water, and the adoring crowds that would surround our car as soon as we pulled up, hoping we would toss baskets of money their way.
As you can see, the Lauderdales were actually allowed to park on the beach itself, so we wouldn’t have to push our way through the regular folks to get to our reserved spot.
I can’t believe that woman in the foreground had the nerve to actually touch the Lauderdale limo, leaving her smeary fingerprints all over our chrome bumper! And look at the bold fellow in the back (a possible assassin, no doubt) reaching through the back window! It’s a good thing the chauffeur didn’t see these ruffians, or they would’ve been tossed into jail.
Oh, such happy, happy times!
