I was a pretty big baby, over 10 lbs, when I was born.  When I was born, my Dad was not allowed in the delivery room.  This made my Dad crazy as he witnessed both my sisters births.  My folks tell me that right after I was born, Dr. Dalke appeared and said:  "Congradulations, Glenn, you hve a wonderful, big, healthy boy.  I thought about taking him by the hand and letting him walk out to you, but perhaps you had better come in."

It seems that I was almost given the name Robert.  As the story goes, if either of my sisters had turned out to be a boy, I might have been named Robert.  Subsequently, and having 4 years to think about it, Mom and Dad had falling in love with Gregory LaMont.  So that became my name.  Gregory LaMont McMurry.

My parents must have felt so lucky to now have a boy.  Two girls and a boy, the perfect family.  I think they ultimately wanted to have one more, but three was all that were in the stars.  After all, I must have been a tough act to follow.

Here is the earliest picture I could find of me and my Mom.  I couldn't have been more than a few months old.  I would call this Summer 1952.	Here are Jean, my Dad, me and Glenda.  I look a few months older in this picture, don't you think?	I like this picture as well.  Mom and Me, in front of our "house".

In the above picture, you can see the "new" trailer.  Mom and Dad bought yet even a smaller trailer, right after I was born.  It was a Terry Rambler and we had it for over 20 years.  I have written an entire section on trailers so I won't go into much here.  I am not sure where we all are, but I suspect that we are on that same Flower Street lot where we lived in the older Liberty Trailer.

My Mom tells me stories of how I slept in a wash tub on the sink.  I know that old trailer pretty well as it became my own when I got older.  There was a small stove/oven and an ice box powered refrigerator.  You could hook up running cold water, but there was no bathroom.  I guess that showers and toilet issues were taken care of in the home where we rented the space.

Bursting out of our now "smaller" trailer, we moved to Culver City.  This was our first family home.  3567 Helmes Avenue.  It was a duplex.  I don't remember anything about the people that lived in the rear, but I imagine that the attraction of someone paying rent to help with the VA assisted mortgage was more than Mom and Dad could resist.

That's me about one year old.  I am standing in front of the Helms house.  That's our 1947 Ford in the background.  The very same one that brought the family to California a few years earlier.	There are a few of these photos floating around.  One of them is of me fast asleep with my head in the tray.  I could only find this one.  I think I actually remember this high chair.  Is that possible?

I have quite a few memories of living on Helms.  I will only cover a few here.

It was the place where Dad and I had our first O-Gauge Lionel train.  He built it in a raised section in the garage.  I also remember there was a milk door.  In those days, you had milk delivered by a milk man.  He would come around and place a bottle of milk in a little door on the side of the house in the kitchen.  We could open the door from the inside and get the milk without going outside.  It would also keep the milk from getting too hot during the day.

I remember that my sisters attended Washington School.  It was some distance away and I believe they walked to school.  Since I wasn't in school at that time, Mom was typically home with me all day.  When my sisters would leave for school, I remember seeing them walk down the street, off into the distance.  I was really jealous of them getting to go to school.  One day I just decided I would also go.  I grabbed my favorite book, probably Smokey Pokey, and started walking down Helms, just as I had seen my sisters do day after day.  I had no idea where I was going, I just started walking.

At some point in time, I discovered that I was lost.  I don't really know if Mom had called the police, but I remember a police officer pulling up along side me asking where I was going.  "To school" I replied.  The the officer told me that he would like to give me a ride.  I jumped on his 3-wheeled motorcycle and he gave me a ride home.  I was certainly not dissapointed that he didn't take me to school.  I was happy to be home with Mom.

I had a little friend next door named Johnny Russ.  I don't remember much about him other than that his father had the house under construction all the time.  The whole place was a mess.  It was the topic of discussion on many an evening.

MOVING TO KRUEGER

Just a few months before I started Kindergarten, we moved to a new and larger house on Krueger Street.

I thought these Christmas pictures were fun.  I remember getting these pistols, fest and wristlets.  They were really cool.	This was Christmas, about 1956.  I am sure these were taken at the Krueger Street house. I recognize the heater in the wall.  Notice that the Christmas tree is in front of a wall.  Soon after this picture was taken, Dad removed that wall and joined the front bedroom to the living room to make room for his Hardman piano.	Here you see me holding up one of my prized possesons.  A brand new pair of "tractor pants".  My grandpa McMurry, a REAL farmer wore these.  We spent many a summer at the farm in Kansas and I required a new pair of "tractor pants" for each visit.

Here in the backyard of the Krueger Street House are me and my two sisters.  Ready for the beach.  The back yard is missing the addition to the house that was done to make room for this growing family.	Just back from Disneyland I am looking dapper.  That hat was purchased by Gundolf Goethel, the first AFS student to visit Culver City in 1957.	One of my fondest memories is visiting my grandparents on the farm in Kansas.  It was such a substantial part of my childhood.  I feel extremely fortunate to have had the experience growing up both in Culver City, CA as well as having the farm experience in Hutchinson, KA.  Here I am at the roadside "watermelon stand" with my Grandpa Fred.  Notice the "tractor pants"?

KEN BAKER
Prior to starting school, there was one kid on the block that became my best friend.  Ken Baker was a couple of years older than I but we got along terrifically.  I remember one time when we had returned form several weeks in Kansas, that Ken and I ran full speed down Krueger to greet eachother in a big hug.  Most of the pictures I have of Ken Baker were taken after I started school so they will be in the next section, Section Three.

THE STUDIOS
Krueger Street was and still is, only two blocks long.  The block that we lived on was dead end to a giant gate.  Behind that gate was the Hal Roach studio.  There was only a little bit of activity at that studio that I could see.  That gate must have been 12 feet tall.  There were two 5 inch square holes in the gates where the chain and lock secured them closed.  They were right at eye level for a 5 year old.  Ken and I used to look through those hole, always hoping to see a movie star or some other adventurous activity.  Quite honestly, I can't remember seeing anything.

The busy Higuera Street separated my block from the then forbidden other block of Krueger.  At the extreme end of that other block was the Desilu Studio.  There was plenty going on there and I had many an adventure after sneeking on the lot, but I was a little older.

The Desilu Mansion on Washington Blvd.	Desily Studio from the Air.	The 40 Acre Back Lot

The Hal Roach Studio on Washington Blvd