kevin_standlee (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kevin_standlee) wrote2018-07-15 04:48 pm
kevin_standlee) wrote2018-07-15 04:48 pm
I Can't Go Home Again (Literally)
I didn't realize how busy Bank of America was going to be on Saturday morning, and the hotel room was so nice and air-conditioned, and I had the Wimbledon tennis to watch, so I didn't check out of the hotel and go to the bank until about 10 AM, at which time they told me that they could make an appointment for me for 12:30 PM and that I was lucky to have that because they close at 1 PM on Saturday. This couldn't be easily postponed because the purpose was to close the no-longer-needed safe deposit box before it automatically renews next week, so I took the appointment time and lumped it.
I did have one specific errand to run, which I did, but I still had time to kill (and no hotel room left to do it in), so on a whim I went out to Sutter, where I lived for many years with my grandparents and from where I graduated high school. If anyone remembers me from the MythAdventures Fan Club days, you might remember that the club's address was a PO Box in Sutter, on account of where that's where I was living.
I visited my grandparents' grave, then decided to take a spin by the old house at 1853 Second Avenue where I lived with them.
Here's what's on the lot as of yesterday. The whole thing has been leveled, including some good-sized grapefruit trees.
I don't know who owns the lot these days (it passed to cousins of mine when my grandfather's brother died two months after my grandmother; they allowed my grandfather to stay at minimal rent until he died per his brother's request), but my guess is that they've decided the place was a write-off. Besides, the lot is so large that I bet they could built two modern houses on the lot and make a pretty good profit on the transaction. That house had terrible wiring and insufficient electrical service anyway. Before municipal water was brought in, you had the choice of running the pump for the well or running the air conditioning; doing both would blow fuses.
Here's one of the last pictures I have of my grandfather (my mother is on the left), taken in the living room of that house. I think the painting in the background was done by my late grandmother.
I'm glad I just happened to come by at this point to see the lot in this state. I'll probably visit again someday to find out what ends up happening to the place.
I did have one specific errand to run, which I did, but I still had time to kill (and no hotel room left to do it in), so on a whim I went out to Sutter, where I lived for many years with my grandparents and from where I graduated high school. If anyone remembers me from the MythAdventures Fan Club days, you might remember that the club's address was a PO Box in Sutter, on account of where that's where I was living.
I visited my grandparents' grave, then decided to take a spin by the old house at 1853 Second Avenue where I lived with them.
Here's what's on the lot as of yesterday. The whole thing has been leveled, including some good-sized grapefruit trees.
I don't know who owns the lot these days (it passed to cousins of mine when my grandfather's brother died two months after my grandmother; they allowed my grandfather to stay at minimal rent until he died per his brother's request), but my guess is that they've decided the place was a write-off. Besides, the lot is so large that I bet they could built two modern houses on the lot and make a pretty good profit on the transaction. That house had terrible wiring and insufficient electrical service anyway. Before municipal water was brought in, you had the choice of running the pump for the well or running the air conditioning; doing both would blow fuses.
Here's one of the last pictures I have of my grandfather (my mother is on the left), taken in the living room of that house. I think the painting in the background was done by my late grandmother.
I'm glad I just happened to come by at this point to see the lot in this state. I'll probably visit again someday to find out what ends up happening to the place.