Platinum
Today was my parents' 70th wedding anniversary. :-) They got married in Phoenix, Arizona, this day in 1951. Why they went to the trouble of going out of state to get hitched, I don't know, but Dad also married his first wife in Arizona, so maybe at the time it was a place to go for 'quickie' marriages? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Whatever the reason, it was the third marriage for both of them, and third time's a charm as they say!
The betrothed couple were accompanied to Phoenix by Dad's brother, Bill, and his wife Lila. I know from photos in the family album that they drove there in two separate cars: identical 1951 Fords, in fact, doubtless both purchased from their eldest brother's Ford agency in Ontario.
Strangely, there was no official wedding photo. (At least I never saw one.) There's only this day-after picture of them where they stayed, at the Desert Inn in Phoenix. Perhaps not the most glamorous place to spend their first night, but I suppose it served its purpose.
The newlywed Mr. and Mrs. Edward Shannon by the pool at the Desert Inn, Phoenix, Arizona, October 1, 1951.
The Desert Inn, 950 West Van Buren in Phoenix.
And according to the black-and-white postcard, after the ceremony, they had their wedding dinner Sunday night at the Green Gables Restaurant.
The Green Gables. The verso of the postcard reads (in Mother's hand): "This is where we had our wedding supper, following our wedding Sept 30, 1951, Sun - at 8:30 PM. Bill & Lila Shannon were our witnesses."
I only learned just yesterday that this was one of the earliest-ever 'theme' restaurants: sort of the 'Medieval Times' of its day. Cars were greeted in the parking lot by an armored knight mounted on a horse, and the servers all wore period costumes. (I can imagine my father hated every minute of this, but endured it for the sake of his new Anglophile bride.) The building still stands today at 24th and Thomas Road, but it's an office complex now. (At least it was spared the fate of becoming a Starbuck's.)
All my mother ever told me about her and Dad's honeymoon was that they went to Havana, Cuba, but I now know - also based on dated photos in the family album - that they swung up to Las Vegas on a roundabout way back to LA. There, they stayed at the old Last Frontier, one of the first resort hotels on The Strip. (Long gone, of course.)
Hotel Nacional, Habana, Cuba. It hosted a legendary casino in Batista's time.
Then, I suppose, they returned to LA and got ready to fly to Havana. I know from this telegram that they were at the Hotel Nacional on October 9. It surprised me to learn that this is still in existence; indeed, it appears to be THE place to stay in Havana to this day.
No idea who 'Pat' was - a secretary, I imagine. Couldn't have been my half-brother of that name because he was only 5 at the time.
Not sure how long they stayed in Cuba. Probably just long enough for Dad to gamble his money away in the country's famous pre-Castro casinos.
Anyway, the next 3 years until I came along would be a disaster for my father. He would lose his post-war fortune in a series of bad business deals his partner made with the Federal government, underbidding on contracts they were bound to fulfill, and adding insult to injury, the government also levied a $599,635.00 penalty on the partners: an absolutely crushing debt. (About $6.5 million today.) Those must have been dark days for my parents. I can only guess how dark, because those times were never ever spoken of in our house. (I only know about them because of surviving papers that attest to the circumstances.)
In any case, with Mom's help, Dad did get back on his feet eventually, and they lived happily (more or less) ever after!
PS: Today is also my mother's mother's 105th wedding anniversary!
The betrothed couple were accompanied to Phoenix by Dad's brother, Bill, and his wife Lila. I know from photos in the family album that they drove there in two separate cars: identical 1951 Fords, in fact, doubtless both purchased from their eldest brother's Ford agency in Ontario.
Strangely, there was no official wedding photo. (At least I never saw one.) There's only this day-after picture of them where they stayed, at the Desert Inn in Phoenix. Perhaps not the most glamorous place to spend their first night, but I suppose it served its purpose.
The newlywed Mr. and Mrs. Edward Shannon by the pool at the Desert Inn, Phoenix, Arizona, October 1, 1951.
The Desert Inn, 950 West Van Buren in Phoenix.
And according to the black-and-white postcard, after the ceremony, they had their wedding dinner Sunday night at the Green Gables Restaurant.
The Green Gables. The verso of the postcard reads (in Mother's hand): "This is where we had our wedding supper, following our wedding Sept 30, 1951, Sun - at 8:30 PM. Bill & Lila Shannon were our witnesses."
I only learned just yesterday that this was one of the earliest-ever 'theme' restaurants: sort of the 'Medieval Times' of its day. Cars were greeted in the parking lot by an armored knight mounted on a horse, and the servers all wore period costumes. (I can imagine my father hated every minute of this, but endured it for the sake of his new Anglophile bride.) The building still stands today at 24th and Thomas Road, but it's an office complex now. (At least it was spared the fate of becoming a Starbuck's.)
All my mother ever told me about her and Dad's honeymoon was that they went to Havana, Cuba, but I now know - also based on dated photos in the family album - that they swung up to Las Vegas on a roundabout way back to LA. There, they stayed at the old Last Frontier, one of the first resort hotels on The Strip. (Long gone, of course.)
Hotel Nacional, Habana, Cuba. It hosted a legendary casino in Batista's time.
Then, I suppose, they returned to LA and got ready to fly to Havana. I know from this telegram that they were at the Hotel Nacional on October 9. It surprised me to learn that this is still in existence; indeed, it appears to be THE place to stay in Havana to this day.
No idea who 'Pat' was - a secretary, I imagine. Couldn't have been my half-brother of that name because he was only 5 at the time.
Not sure how long they stayed in Cuba. Probably just long enough for Dad to gamble his money away in the country's famous pre-Castro casinos.
Anyway, the next 3 years until I came along would be a disaster for my father. He would lose his post-war fortune in a series of bad business deals his partner made with the Federal government, underbidding on contracts they were bound to fulfill, and adding insult to injury, the government also levied a $599,635.00 penalty on the partners: an absolutely crushing debt. (About $6.5 million today.) Those must have been dark days for my parents. I can only guess how dark, because those times were never ever spoken of in our house. (I only know about them because of surviving papers that attest to the circumstances.)
In any case, with Mom's help, Dad did get back on his feet eventually, and they lived happily (more or less) ever after!
PS: Today is also my mother's mother's 105th wedding anniversary!