We had no place to stay when we arrived, but our relatives, the Alpert’s, took us in. Meanwhile, Joe’s cousins Hattie and Julius were able to get Joe a job for a company that took apart airplanes and sold the parts. The job was physically demanding and didn’t pay very well. Joe didn’t last long. We stayed three weeks with the Alpert’s and then moved to a tiny studio apartment in a building owned by Julius on Ingraham St. We couldn’t afford much. The building was old, and the apartment was not what I would call homey.
We were robbed once. Someone broke through a window and stole cash from my desk. Unfortunately, it was not just our cash. Some of it belonged to WLA, a political organization. I was the treasurer at the time. I had to replace the stolen WLA cash out of my own pocket.
Despite our busy days trying to get a business going to support ourselves, we found time to play. Walking on the beach, playing horseshoes, visiting the observatory on Mt. Palomar – these were all things that were fun, and we could do on the cheap.
