The Tile Shop
Perhaps faced with having two kids, when I was about four years old, my dad, either invested in or opened with a friend, a ceramic tile shop in El Monte, on Peck Road. The friend took care of it during the week, my dad took care of it on the weekends. It is my memory that he took me with him on those weekend tile store days, or maybe just on Sunday.
I have childhood memories of those times. Children’s memories usually stand alone as separate stories. There is little continuity. Those memories are not always reliable.
This would’ve been in 1957 or 58 and the San Bernardino Freeway was not open yet. To get from East LA to El Monte we had to go by streets and pass by Potrero Rd, and Durfee Rd, both those streets are now just wide busy streets, but no longer highways. A favorite landmark for me was a giant neon chicken on Peck Road that laid neon eggs, a sign for a grocery store.
A distinct memory was of the diner next door. We would go for a little breakfast, later my dad would send me to get us sandwiches for lunch, and then maybe a little bite before going home. The owner/cook was a shaved head ex-military man, a big strong tough guy, with a pack of cigarettes rolled up in his T-shirt sleeve. As he cooked he would keep a cigarette going in his hand or in his mouth, and he would never flick the ash.
I was so damn impressed.
And the waitress. I thought she was such a beautiful woman, with a beehive, and such makeup, and showing lots of skin, and she paid attention to me.
A big four year-old crush.
In the tile shop, my dad had set up mock walls that showed off the different types and designs of tiles.
There are also View Masters that showed the various tiles in various bathrooms and kitchen designs. Showing these to customers was fun. Of course my own disks were there to look at when there was time..
I learned not to ever talk to the contractors. But greeting the couples that came in, showing them the tiles and features of the store, the weekend customers, this was the job I gave myself.
The mock bathrooms were my place to hang out. There were these mosaic tiles that came on a fiber glass matrix so that all you had to do is put on the grout. I played with the matrix, and could make the tiles move in waves and patterns. There were also the trim pieces for the mosaic sheets that I played with for years after the tile store days.
I wonder if the shop closed or if my dad sold his interest.
The tile shop was a happy time for me.
If we went to the shop by Rosemead Boulevard from the south, we would pass by an area near a dam where people used to run go-karts. My dad would stop so we would watch for a few minutes. I’m not sure when this happened, but he bought me a go-kart. It had a governor on it so it couldn’t go very fast, but it was still lots of fun.
He sold it when we were thinking of moving to Mexico.