apartment, 811 East First. This picture is not too clear but is a valuable 1927 record
showing that the outside walls still were exposed brick (soon to be plastered). The name
Santa Catalina is on a small sign between the two front doors (referred to in recent
years as "The Territorials"). Sign was not replaced after remodeling. WCP
we have sun as well as abundance of shade. Be careful and do
not step on the grass. Taken in Jan. 1927. Our apartment faces the
south." Comment about stepping on the grass was a joke - there was none. IP
The transom over the door (and in the doors between the rooms) give light and ventilation. The windows are as high as the transom and, with the high ceilings, gives a spacious feeling to a small room. The tall windows had roll shades. My father liked to keep everything in good repair at modest cost. To make a worn shade look new he would cut a little off the shade, and my mother would sew a new pocket for the wooden rod on her treadle sewing machine. He also would repair shades by removing them from the roller, reversing, re-tacking and sewing in a new pocket. As the shades were unwieldy, my parents would move the sewing machine to the center of the room: my father would hold one end of the shade, and mother would treadle away to make a new pocket. Sometimes he would just cut a little off and have her sew a new pocket. With forty rentals and many windows, this not only saved a lot of money (my mother did not get a salary), but helped keep the apartments in good repair.
Since I have the books recording the renters for so many years, a glance through the books reminds me of so many different friends. January to May 1933 John Winchcombe-Taylor rented apartment 1, 811 East First (shown on opposite page, door to left) Rosemary Drachman Taylor recalls in her book Chicken Every Sunday her introduction to him by Mr. Ferry, one of her mother's boarders. "I've got a friend coming out to visit me," he told me one day." He's a writer, too ... John Winchcombe-Taylor is his name ... He's an Englishman ... You'll like him."
Rosemary wrote that for her it was love at first sight. "Being English and conservative, it took John a little longer to grasp the situation. In fact it was three weeks to the day before he got around to proposing".
gives privacy. When mother took these photos, my parents did not know they would
soon move next door to the west side of the duplex. They were glad to be living in
Tucson, so near the University. WCP
