There is something positive about beginning a New Year. It is a time to "wipe the slate clean" start anew.
There are several New Years Days that stick out in my mind. The first was at the City Club. Anyone that owns a business knows that you have to "take inventory" at the end of the year. It is necessary to calculate the cost of goods that were sold during the year and calculate profits correctly. My Grandma Myrna shut the City Club down on Jan.1 each year to count inventory. I would help her. It involved counting barrels of beer, candy bars, bottles of alcohol and lots of food products. In the basement of the City Club was a room that was padlocked. The room contained bottles of brandy, vodka, gin and many upscale liquors. When a bottle of brandy was emptied at the bar while serving a customer, someone had to go into the locked basement room to procure a new bottle and bring it upstairs for use. Only Myrna did this. Apparently many bottles of booze had been pilfered over the years and it resulted in a locked room with only one person having a key. There must have been 500-700 bottles neatly orgainized on shelves in that basement vault. Each bottle was worth from $5-35 each. New Year's Day centered around the counting of booze bottles. Of course roaming wild in an empty bar room on New Year's was fun too
The second New Year's day I remember was at the Stegers who lived on Plymouth Street "on top of the hill". They purchased one of the first real color TV's in Plymouth. It meant they could watch the Rose Bowl Parade in "living color". They must have been really rich! The Stegers would invite several friends to join them and of course I "horned in". It was a big deal. The Rose Bowl in color on TV! It meant munchie foods and beverages of choice. Two to three hours were always filled with ooooh's and aaaah's. Only the privledged got to watch. Interestingly, many years later, Grandpa George and Nana went out to Pasadina to visit George's brother Clarence and the highlight of the trip was to personally attend the Rose Bowl Parade.
Yes, I will watch part of the Rose Bowl Parade today. I have to. History beckons.
Maybe you will be able to make this New Year's Day a "memory". I hope your New Year is prosperous and rewarding.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Dad