Mark Twain (1900s). "If Man Could Be Crossed With The Cat, It Would Improve Man, But It Would Deteriorate The Cat".
Ha... 1958 Hawaii? Hello, The timeline fits in our own Westside of Long Beach neighborhood from the early 50s through high school. Even after we moved out, the community still had its traveling sales trucks coming by each week. The house wives, like our mom, loved fresh fish, fresh vegetables and other items brought right to our doorsteps weekly. We knew where the freshest fish came from as the nearby Terminal Island fishing fleet was well known to the locals. But, to have the quality stock from the boats directly to the consumer far surpassed the “fresh” fish that is days old from the local markets iced displayed cases. As young kids, playing outside on the streets was just a part of “go outside and play…” command given by most moms to their kids. We heard it enough to know how to use our backyard and surrounding communities. But to have a delivery service for the area was pretty outstanding. We were the recipients of the freshest fish from the ocean delivered right to our front door. (Well, steps out to the street…) As far as the fresh vegetables, there were countless vegetable farms in and around the whole area where we lived. So, stopping off at any one of the stands was a given, when we were out and about. But, most of the time, since our mom and most moms did not drive in the 50s, a curbside delivery service of the freshest vegetables from our local farmers and growers hit the spot with the community. The drivers/owners of the fresh fish and the other driver/owners of the fresh vegetable group did no come on the same days of the week. Jnaki Those service trucks knew their clientele and locked in consumers, so they came on different days of the week. Each mom knew the days and prepared the purchases to fit their needs for the families. Our mom was always buying for the week as our dad was a fresh fish fanatic from his early days growing up in San Pedro and Terminal Island communities. He had fresh fish almost daily and when they were out and about on the weekends, the days at the rocky shorelines always had fishing lines out to catch a meal or two. No need for a fire, fresh caught, sliced fish was a staple and although the late afternoon snacks sometimes had grilled fish for an early dinner. Note: Think back to the Helms Bakery Trucks/Vans coming down the neighborhood streets… That company also came down our streets, especially during the summer vacation hours. Well, just think of fresh vegetable and fresh fish trucks with opening sides, packed ice cold display cases and the abundance of the freshest fish and produce available anywhere… Plus, the resulting meals were some of the best in the world!!! YRMV
The Jalopy Journal
