When I was about age twelve, in 1929, I lived in an apartment on Cloverdale off 6th Street. A girl friend and I met with other youths to play in our "back yard" -- La Brea Rancho -- Tar Pits.

We rode our bicycles on dirt roads around the oil derricks and pools, climbed the pepper trees, aimed rocks and sticks at the bubbles always forming.

More than once I saw a boy place an old plank across a pool, then ride his bike - not me. Some of my most treasured memories.