Flashback Friday – where we hung out

Robert and I met in 1964. It was love at first sight (for me). But we had lived parallel lives when we were children in the early 1950s.
We both loved to go to Holmes Books at 274 14th Street in Oakland, California. I used to walk over to Holmes from my father’s business at 18th and Jefferson. I’d settle down on the floor in the children's section and read Bobbsey Twins books. Robert used to take the bus to downtown Oakland from his home on East 33rd. He would hunker down on the floor on the boy’s side of the section and read Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan and Mars books.

We both remember the marvelous smell of Holmes Books and the wooden floors. We had money to buy books, but we would read a complete book while sitting on the floor before we made our purchases. We compared memories years later.

We took classes and workshops at the Snow Museum by Lake Merritt and we both knew the names of the resident skunks – Rose and Petunia. Of course back in day he was one of those “boys” and I wasn’t at all interested.

This memory came back to me strongly when I read Warty Mammal’s blog about books yesterday. I think we have just as many books as she does only ours are not arranged so neatly.