Frank and the California convertible.
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Coming Home
to California
By Frank Persides
In 1946, just after the war, Bill and I were living in Washington, D.C. Bill was in the Navy in public relations writing speeches for Admiral Halsey, Admiral Nimitz and Secretary of the Navy Forestal. I was attending American University.
We found ourselves on a corner waiting for a bus one freezing, windswept night. Bill said spontaneously, "What are we doing here when we could be in California?" So we moved.
Of course, living in sunny California required adjustments so that we looked the part. We had a perfectly good car, but Bill decided we must have a convertible. One of our first purchases was a snazzy white convertible with a black top and wide whitewall tires. We were Californians.
One day we were driving through Hollywood. We stopped at a traffic light. Out of nowhere a swarm of teeny boppers surrounded the car, asking Bill for his autograph. He didn't refuse.
Later we became involved in a building project that required more cash than we had. Necessity forced us to sell that snazzy convertible at a tremendous loss. Sunny California looked a little bit grayer.
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