By 1962, Mom (Aldine Marie Busch) had landed a job (PBX operator, of course) at the huge Retail Clerks Union 770 Dental Clinic on Hollywood Blvd. (This was before there was even ONE star on the ‘Hollywood Walk of Fame’!)
We had a nice one bedroom furnished apartment one block south on Carleton Way (Gramps, Thomas Earl Garrett, got the bedroom. Mom and I slept on corner-to-corner day beds in the living room.)
Soon after, Mom and I attended our first Hollywood Christmas Parade (gramps was not interested in going). There were no bleachers, only wall-to-wall people filling the sidewalks, craning their necks to see.
Looking for a better vantage point, we wandered behind the crowds, up towards Grauman’s Chinese Theater (one of my favorite hangouts those days!). I got a little further up the block, when I realized I’d lost mom, and started back.
Imagine my amazement to find my totally UN-star struck Mother, with her arm around the base of a light post, staring face to face at James Gardner, whose Limo was stuck in a turn at a corner in a pre-parade area! Mr. Gardner had his window rolled down, and was in the back seat of the Limo alone. His car was stuck there for a few minutes, and my Mom stared at him, arm wrapped around pole, the entire time – no one else seemed to notice.
I teased her about it for days…
