Taken at Kohler Studio in Pasadena, California.

Marengo Avenue, Pasadena, California dated 1910

My mother was a nurse at Queen of the Valley during the 50s through the 70s. I remember her talking of Dr. Finch and of how he and his mistress killed his wife, Barbara Finch. She told me to read A Murder in West Covina. 

The editorial review reads:

Rampant greed, sex, and a considerable dose of comedy ensured that this trial of a wealthy doctor and his mistress as joint defendants on charges of murder dominated newspaper headlines for months.

By 1959, Finch, 42, a wealthy Los Angeles, California physician, yearned to elevate his affair with 20-year-old Carole Tregoff to something more permanent. Standing directly in the path of this ambition was Finch’s wife, Barbara, backed by the formidable California community property laws.

Divorce would entitle Barbara Finch to half of Finch’s estimated $750,000 fortune. Furthermore, if Barbara Finch could prove adultery-and there was every indication that she intended to do just that-Finch faced financial ruin, since the court could then apportion any percentage of the community property it deemed fit to the aggrieved party.

Despite overwhelming evidence in favor of conviction, a jury deadlocked, primarily because racial tension had pervaded the jury room. Dr Bernard Finch and Carole Tregoff, his 20 year old mistressMy mother also told me that Dr. Finch was very charismatic. Her aunt would often go to his office with “ailments” just so she could see him. All I have to go from are these photos and I don’t see it.

The Broadway cemetery,whose decedent`s are long since dead, has been converted into The Founders Memorial Park. The headstones have been removed & one large marker listing the names of the dead is located in the second half of the park. Often the park is covered by a mysterious fog patch that does not extend past the roads to the houses on all sides. The fog also does not cover the road that dissects the two halves of the park. Locals say that the fog is the combined anger of the dead at the removal of the headstones. The park has very few visitors per year. Records of this information was once located in the old Whittier museum record room. Additional rumers include the bodies being moved to Rose Hills Cemetery, joggers reported the feeling of being watched, dead cats mysteriously found on the cemetery grounds, and the list goes on.  This photo Photograph depicts two young women helping to clean the Broadway Cemetery.Two gravestones are pictured. The one in spanish is for Refugia Aguirre and the other is for Mary Alice Jones, wife of J.H. Jones. This photo is from the Whittier Public Library Digital Collection http://digi.whittierlibrary.org/wpl/index.html

A photo of a Halloween Party in West Covina, Ca., 1956. It can be purchased on ebay. Could they be people you grew up with?

This photo is dated 1919. This is Charter Oak, California.

Identified on the back of photo as ISABEL& EMMETT HAYES. Any relation to you? It can be purchased on ebay.

In 1942, racing at The Santa Anita Race Track was suspended because of WWII. From 1942 to 1944, Santa Anita was used as a Japanese American internment center with as many as 17,000 people living in horse stables, including actor George Takei. This photo is of Lily Okuru, a Japanese-American women held at the Arcadia, California Race Track, posing with the statue of Seabiscuit, 1942.

This photo is of Mrs Rosemary Merrill. It was taken at The Boys Market,  5531 Monte Vista, Los Angeles California. It is dated Jan. 20, 1948. It can be purchased on ebay.

Griffith Park, Los Angeles, California. Does the woman look familiar?