Vintage Photo Friday

Roxbury Park, Beverly Hills, 1956

It's birthday time again. Above is a picture of one of my childhood birthday parties at Roxbury Park in Beverly Hills. That's me in the center, looking at Dad, taking the photo, waving. From left to right, my cousin, Amie (wearing glasses), Aunt Frances (looking gorgeous), me (with the bottom half of Grandma Freda behind me), Margie Bovill, my cousin, Barbara, Mark Borden (standing) and the back of my brother, Ken (wearing a paper party hat).
Since I was only 4 in this photo, I hadn't started school yet, so all of the guests at the party were either relatives or kids of my parents' friends. Roxbury Park was the scene of many of my birthday parties. We lived in a duplex one block away on Bedford Drive. Our backyard was non-existent, so the Park served as our play space. It was great. There were open areas to run around, a playground, areas of trees to climb that we called the "jungle", a barbecue area with picnic tables, tennis courts, basketball courts, a recreation center and the lawn bowling course. Once, I spotted Walt Disney in the Lawn Bowling area.
Roxbury Park is much the same today. Some of the buildings have been updated and changed. A few of the tennis courts are gone.....so is the "jungle." I drive by the park all the time. It's on the corner of Roxbury and Olympic, just east of Century City on the edge of Beverly Hills. I hadn't actually been in the park in years, so about a month ago, I parked and walked around the grounds. It's still a great place to hang out, sit and knit a bit, read or just stroll the walkways. When I was a kid I thought this park was absolutely huge. Now, I realize it's small. We call this "kid-vision." Even though it is a petite park, it's still large on atmosphere.
Have a great summer weekend. I certainly plan to enjoy myself!
More Vintage Photos here.