(Left to right, back row) Linda (Shena), Patsy, Dottie being held by Judy)
(Left to right, front row) Bill King, Ken (me)
Linda (Shena) The bow in the hair is to remind us that Shena is a girl.
I was five in 1948. My little sister was under a year old and my big sister was eight. Our neighborhood was at the foot of eighth street with one house between us and the tracks of the Alameda belt line. It was a busy place during the second world war and was winding down in the late forties and early fifties. The block we lived on had lots of elderly people and a few young families with kids like us.
The block was in dire need of kid-like leadership. In comes my big sister,now known as Shena, Queen of the jungle. Nothing escaped the watch full eye of Shena. I, of course, was the perfect little blond five year old. Shena led us on adventures into the wilds of the open fields of the rail yards with tall grass and piles of sand that were used by the trains and kept in huge boxes. We would hear a train coming and hide so we wouldn't get run off. We built forts and dug tunnels. If you dug too deep in Alameda you would hit water, so we had shallow tunnels.
After any Christmas we would gather up all the neighborhood Christmas trees and stack them up to make log houses. They really smelled great, but we would always be covered with pine pitch.
The rail yard would have areas that were filled with water and always have frogs and tad poles and toads. Great fun for a bunch of kids. It was great to have a leader and organize our adventures. Way down the rail line was a lumber mill with piles of sawdust and boards to build things with. We built rafts on the ponds and had raft wars. At this age we didn't go to the bay or the estuary,which was a good thing. That will come in a few years for me.
At the back of the train roundhouse, at the end of the tracks, stood a hill of dirt. It was put there to stop any runaway rail cars, or trains. It was most likely one of the highest points in Alameda. Us kids had trails and paths over and around it that we could even ride our bicycles over. We called it "windy hill". Not too long ago my little sister and I were talking about the good old days and Dottie mentioned windy hill. Our step mom, who was also raised on the same block as we were, perked up and said "I remember windy hill" I played on it as a little girl. Eloise is ninety four this year. I guess us kids didn't invent the area, did we?
Shena's reign only lasted for a few years. Once she turned eleven or twelve she turned into a girl and took up other interests. The eighth street hood was broken up and found other things to do.
(Left to right, front row) Bill King, Ken (me)
Linda (Shena) The bow in the hair is to remind us that Shena is a girl.
I was five in 1948. My little sister was under a year old and my big sister was eight. Our neighborhood was at the foot of eighth street with one house between us and the tracks of the Alameda belt line. It was a busy place during the second world war and was winding down in the late forties and early fifties. The block we lived on had lots of elderly people and a few young families with kids like us.
The block was in dire need of kid-like leadership. In comes my big sister,now known as Shena, Queen of the jungle. Nothing escaped the watch full eye of Shena. I, of course, was the perfect little blond five year old. Shena led us on adventures into the wilds of the open fields of the rail yards with tall grass and piles of sand that were used by the trains and kept in huge boxes. We would hear a train coming and hide so we wouldn't get run off. We built forts and dug tunnels. If you dug too deep in Alameda you would hit water, so we had shallow tunnels.
After any Christmas we would gather up all the neighborhood Christmas trees and stack them up to make log houses. They really smelled great, but we would always be covered with pine pitch.
The rail yard would have areas that were filled with water and always have frogs and tad poles and toads. Great fun for a bunch of kids. It was great to have a leader and organize our adventures. Way down the rail line was a lumber mill with piles of sawdust and boards to build things with. We built rafts on the ponds and had raft wars. At this age we didn't go to the bay or the estuary,which was a good thing. That will come in a few years for me.
At the back of the train roundhouse, at the end of the tracks, stood a hill of dirt. It was put there to stop any runaway rail cars, or trains. It was most likely one of the highest points in Alameda. Us kids had trails and paths over and around it that we could even ride our bicycles over. We called it "windy hill". Not too long ago my little sister and I were talking about the good old days and Dottie mentioned windy hill. Our step mom, who was also raised on the same block as we were, perked up and said "I remember windy hill" I played on it as a little girl. Eloise is ninety four this year. I guess us kids didn't invent the area, did we?
Shena's reign only lasted for a few years. Once she turned eleven or twelve she turned into a girl and took up other interests. The eighth street hood was broken up and found other things to do.
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