IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE!

Ever since I was a young child, I dreamt of living in Southern California. Back in 1955, I watched a special on my black and white Olympic TV of Walt Disney and his opening of Disneyland.

The thing I remember is the palm trees and the sunny openness of the place and how enchanting it seemed to me. As I looked around my Brooklyn flat nothing seemed as wonderful as that far away place of enchantment.

Today I go out there about 2 to 3 times a year to visit my grandchildren and son. It has not lost any of its charms for me, as the years go by the more I dread the day I have to go home and leave my little family in California. The six-hour flight is well worth the time and discomfort just knowing what is waiting for me at the end of the flight as I land in Bob Hope International Airport.

One of the things I love about the area is that it is historic and remains that way in many ways. As you arrive at the airport, Burbank has maintained a lot of the flavor of when it opened way back when in 1930 when Herbert Hoover was president. It has no terminal access from a central point, but each airline has its own gate that you access from the main entrance then step out onto the tarmac and climb the steps to the plane.

Many of the streets are lined with multistoried palm trees, aligned in a straight row, as you would see them in old Laurel and Hardy or Buster Keaton movies. The homes are most fascinating, following the Old Spanish or Mexican style with red tile roofs. There are small single-family homes and next door a mansion stands out, all cared for by the owners, all beautiful in either simplicity or grandeur.

Then you head downtown to Burbank itself and you find some great and many different restaurants, all offering something special from seafood to Sushi, from the Mediterranean Café’ to Chinese or Mexican cuisine.

But the biggest attraction besides the movie lots or the beautiful cemetery called Forrest Lawn and Mt. Sinai is a house that houses my two beautiful grandchildren, Darby Shea (La Principessa) and Bobbie Courtney (Muscles Marinara.)