MEMORIES OF A GREAT FRIENDSHIP

MEMORIES OF A GREAT FRIENDSHIP

This is a repeat… I posted it actual one year ago..  actually January 4, 2021….  Wow…   you see this is my friend Judy… who passed away January 9, 2022…. Her daughter called me last week.. we talked for a hour or so..  remembering so many things about a wonderful gal who we only had a 2 year close friendship,(before we drifted apart as our lives got busy) that lasted 60 years… as you can see by this post from last year… 

 

MEET ME AT BEANIES…..

Or maybe I should have titled it, the things we do when we are young. I am kind of surprised I didn’t write about this before. As I have told the story many times…to friends and family. As I always thought our adventure was funny.

This goes back to 1959, I was working with a gal name Judy at a place in San Diego, called Ratner’s Manufacture. Both of us were single.  We worked in the payroll dept. Our job was to total up daily and then weekly tabs from the workers in the factory that sewed the suits that Ratner’s made.  The tabs kept count of the pieces they did.

That is where I found out, how silly it is for a person who buys at Sears or Montgomery Ward, or J. C. Penny’s to argue that their suits were better made than the other companies. Because we made men’s suits and sports jackets for all 3 companies.   The only difference was the label… with their name on it. The suit itself was the same.

Anyway.. Once a month, it was Judy and my job to work on a Saturday. We were to strip the front page off of all the sheets with the tabs on them. The front sheet had the total of the weeks labor plus the wage for it, and total for that person wages for the week. The rest went into a barrel to be thrown away or burnt, not sure which. And the front pages were stapled together.

One week, Judy and I were doing our stripping of the sheets. There was just the two of us and the janitor.  He was to do some work and then lock up after we left.  We decided to head to the bathroom before we left that day.  The janitor did not see us go in there, did not yell or check, Just left, figuring we were gone. And locked up.

Judy and I came out, headed for the door and found it locked. That was in the days that they locked with a key.. Which he had.  So what do we do now?  Before cell phones..  and we didn’t want to call the police to have them open it or find someone… so we decided to look around before we would have to do that. Found out that when he left, he did NOT flip the switch for the alarms on the windows.   So we decided to climb out the window… got up on a chair and climbed thru..  Me standing on a chair and Judy boosting me thru…Judy next, as she was  taller one. I lowered myself down, then she came out..

Now you have to understand ..these windows were about 4 feet wide by maybe 3 feet tall.  AND we were dressed in the latest fad clothes. They were toreador pants. TIGHT pants.. called spandex now days. Hers was yellow with black scribble down the sides.. and mine was white (why I ever bought white is beyond me) with the same scribble down the side.  She… Judy is 6 feet tall, and me being 5’2” .. yes the Mutt and Jeff of friends. For those not old enough… Mutt and Jeff were cartoon friends .. one really tall the other short.

We shut the window and headed down town.. We came up with the idea to go to the EL CORTEZ Hotel.. This hotel was pretty special and it had a restaurant at the top. We figured after all the work we did, we deserved it.  Which you got there by elevator which was glassed and on the outside of the building.  Pretty fancy in its day. (now days it is just a small hotel, as San Diego has gigantic tall buildings that makes the El Cortez look really small.

We got to the hotel, and was passing a store near by when I got a glance of myself… And then I looked at Judy. And started to laugh.  I told her… that if I looked anything like what she looked like, there was no way I was going in to that hotel.  We both looked into the window and at each other and laughed.  Our white pants and yellow pants were so dirty from climbing thru the window, plus our hair was ashrew and dirty with some maybe cob webs in them.  Why we had not looked at ourselves as we were walking, I don’t have a clue.

We left the area at a very fast pace before someone recognized us.

Working with Judy was a hoot. We always found things to do and hung out at work as well.  After we would walk down to the Plaza and catch our buses to go home.. She lived on the beach and I lived in Claremont area.  One time we went to this fudge store.. that had excellent fudge.   Judy thought I was right behind her. So  she turn and said.. “do you want to go to the nut house?”  That was the name of the fudge place. Only trouble it wasn’t me, it was an elderly lady who glared at her, horrified… and her trying to explain to her, it was a store and Judy, came over to me and glared at me.. and said..DON’T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN!! I’m laughing.. asking her what…  she explain what happen..  I asked her, why that was my fault… she said because you should have kept up with me..  .

Near the end both of us had gotten married and were pregnant. And we would go for lunch around the corner from the factory, to a Mexican restaurant that we loved.  I grossed her out as I would have for desert… vanilla ice cream and SALSA over the top of it..

First time I did it… I was so enjoying it.. and went to say something .. only to see Judy with a wide open mouth, saying WHAT THE HELL?

Over time we drifted away, as I had moved to Washington state. Later years, my second husband and I had gone down to visit my aunt.  I called Judy… I said to her when she answered.. Hey want to go to Beanies?   She yelled CIS!!! We didn’t get to go, but did go have coffee.  The next time I came to San Diego, Judy was busy… so we didn’t get to meet up.. But the phase, HEY YOU WANT TO MEET ME AT BEANIES? Was always remembered.

Beanies was a bar.. and we went by it every day as we headed to the bus stop.  Neither one of us was 21. She was 20 and I was 19.  So we weren’t  legal.. but we always said some day we were going to go in there just to see what it looked like.  The bar front had a large 4 foot or more… sign with its name in sequins on the sign.. and the rest was blue, the building was blue.. and we suspected it was a dive.

Over the years Judy and I kept in touch with Christmas cards and birthday cards… and then the birthday cards faded away.. But still kept up with Christmas cards…  Last year 2019, she lost her beloved Steve. And her daughter sent out the card explaining..  Even though Judy and I haven’t work together for 60 years.. and haven’t seen each other for at least 49 years.. I still keep in touch.   Judy was some one who was a kick in the pants funny… with the kindest heart.. and a friend who you could really depend on.   Some day, one of our daughters will have to notify the other, of the passing of one of us.. But to me Judy is top notch.

As you read above…. That call came last week from her daughter.. Broke my heart… and filled with “WHY THE HELL DIDN’T YOU CALL HER?”  going thru my mind.    So if you have a friend you have not been in contact with.. CALL.. you know the phone goes both ways..  but for some reason.. we never exchanged phone numbers…  don’t have a clue why…  SO  call that friend. We are not going to be around forever..