History of John Smith Griffin
page 76
La Canada - 1947
We had previsouly lived in the Los Angeles area and had many friends there and so the prospect of returning there seemed wonderful. When I told Dorothy, she was more than happy to make the move. I wrote to Mr. Hunter and within a few weeks (early in January, 1947) I left San Francisco for Los Angeles.
Prior to learning of my possible transfer to Los Angeles, I had decided to take the California bar examination, so that if the opportunity came along I could get out of the government and enter private practice. I had signed up to take the course given by Mr. Witkin (Witkin published a "Summary of California Law" that is the leading text on California law). When I was transferred to Los Angeles I had to give this up. I was nevertheless determined to go ahead and take the bar examination and so signed up for a refresher course with a professor Burpy from the University of California.
Because of the shortage of housing I knew that I would have to come to Los Angeles alone and find a place to rent or buy and then send for the family. I rented a room out on Bronson Street near Olympic. It was about a block away from the boarding house on Norton where my sister Elsie' stayed. It was in a big old home owned by a widow, a Mrs. Asborne, who lived alone and rented the rooms to roomers. There were two other roomers, both old maids. The rent was very reasonable and from the looks of things the lady who owned the house did not need the rent that she collected. I spent most of my time studying for the bar examination but found it awfully lonely without my family. While it was a very difficult period, it was a blessing in disguise as I had lots of time to spend on my bar exam studies. Even at the office, work was awfully slow and I had time to spend on my studies there.
Looking back, I can see how the Lord was answering my prayers, and blessing me in the things that I did. At the time, though, I found life very difficult. On week ends I would catch a bus and ride all night from Los Angeles to Berkeley and then all night Sunday night coming home. It wasn't much fun but it helped me keep up my spirits. We had the problem of selling our home in Berkeley before we could think of buying anything in Los Angeles. Homes for rent at rentals within our means were just non-existent.
As our house in Berkeley was sold to us with a very low down payment and a very liberal monthly payment plan after my cousin had interceded in our behalf, I felt that I could not turn around and six months later sell it at a profit. Accordingly I wrote to the owner and told him that I had been transferred to Los Angeles and because of his kindness in letting us have the house at the price quoted my cousin and under the same liberal financial arrangements I would be willing to turn back to him the house with all of the painting and improvements and pay him rent at the rate of $45 a month (the same rent that my cousin was paying) if he would refund to me all of the principal I had paid on the loan.
He wrote back saying that he thought this was a fair deal and so that is what was done. Within a few weeks, he sold the house again at a profit of more than $1000 over what he had sold it to me. Anyway I had my down payment back and a a little more, and was free to look for a home to buy in Los Angeles.
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