The Patio - 1980
By this time - after extensive interior renovation and a very brief stint as our home improvement showroom - the patio had become the workshop for Mom's latest interest: miniature dollhouses. That's part of one behind the newspaper.
It sits on a Montgomery Ward bumper pool table Mom bought second-hand. No one ever played bumper pool on it. We also had six or eight of those white chairs surrounding it. I never saw more than two people sit at that table. On the left edge of this photograph (behind the macrame in the foreground) you can see our patio bar, with the "Cocktails" sign above it which we got from an auction of the goods from a bowling alley. We didn't drink. You can also see our unused gas barbecue sitting in its own patio extension.
I mention all this because it sort of represents a leisure scheme that ran consistently through our patio, pool and back yard decor: Ready For The Party That Will Never Happen. Furniture-wise we were equipped for elaborate back yard pool parties which we never had. Mom worked too hard at the cafe, and simply wasn't interested. Consequently, we didn't give parties.
That glass globe at the top edge of the picture was connected to a big wood tone plastic ceiling fan. Mom claimed it circulated the air in the patio, but I never felt air motion of any type from it (or from its mate in the den). It was also noisy.
Before we view the back yard of the house on Lincoln Street, we need to go back in time to when we lived in Los Angeles.