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BABY HORTENSE (JANET) IS BORN
When Birdene became pregnant, she decided she didn’t want her children to be born in the “small town” of Ocean Park. So on the day she went into labor with me, she took the Red Car to downtown Los Angeles, where Sidney met her and drove her to the Presbyterian Hospital. I was born on December 11, 1922. The conductor clanged the bell and made good time, or I could have made news by being born on the Red Car! For a time, our family of three lived peacefully in one of the four units on Third Street owned by my Grandma Fannie and her second husband, Mr. Abraham Cohn.
Birdene named me Hortense because it was French, and her wealthy cousins had named their daughter Hortense. Ihated the name; friends teased me with the nickname “Horsie,” and repeatedly told the cruel double entendre popular at the time: “Is that Hortense?” “No,” they’d shout back. “She’s relaxed!” And then they’d howl with laughter. Finally I couldn’t take it any longer and wished I had a name as plain as Jane. So in eighth grade I changed it to Janet.
Above
I visited Grandma Fannie’s duplex on Third and Strand in Ocean Park in October 2008, and found that nothing much had changed since I sat on the steps in 1924 in the sunshine with my doll.
Left
Birdene pregnant with me.