Show theo johnson writes dear mr it has been a long time since you I 1 wrote us your first splendid letter and its a shame the way I 1 have neglected writing to you the delay has been pure negligence and not for your interest in us because one of the things that make life worth living Is the realization that you have real friends it if I 1 were to write all the things that might be ot of interest to you it would take a very long time so ill stick to some of tile the more interesting things first ot of all the weather it is wonderful california sunshine can baldly be overemphasized over emphasized by its supporters of course in the summer time there Is too much of it and everything that Is not watered artificially Is burned brown but along about now with rains not long over it is delightful today is not an exception although the sun has just come up it Is warm and bright and there ther is sot not a cloud in the sky my universo university ity the university of california at tos los angeles la Is a splendid institution ution it has one of the highest scholastic ratings of any college in the united states the faculty Is efficient sympathetic and well trained the buildings are modern and two physical education buildings being completed in 1830 1930 and a new wing on the chemistry building being in the th process of construction and the equipment is 13 quite complete the student body of about Is friendly the students are tor for the most part rather poorly off financially and there here Is consequently little indication of high hat bat being shown they dress simply live moderately and avoid expensive social functions I 1 have enjoyed my year so far immensely and I 1 believe that I 1 shall continue to do so ill have to tell you about yesterday afternoon A friend of mine found that on saturdays the battleships in the los angeles harbor at san pedro sent launches I 1 in to dock and took visitors out to the ships tree free he persuaded me to ta go agreeing to help furn furnish ish the transportation therefore the three of us started out mary ellen ot of course included we went west on wilshire boulevard to santa monica then south on speedway along the ocean then inland across acro s the peninsula to san tedro pedro we found the navy dock alter after a good deal of searching along the waterfront water front and alter after waiting tor for perhaps fifteen minutes we got in the launch for the B S S maryland which had lust just arrived the launch held about go CO people and was loaded to capacity As luck would have it we had picked out the battleship that was farthest away so mr clifford dreitzler pon ion of mrs ms walt wait we were able to review the whole fleet on our way out the maryland was about six miles from the san pedro harbor so that our little boat trip was about 12 miles in length axt board the ship everything was in ship shape order 1 I suppose that would be the proper adjective to use in this case everything was clean and shining we were shown over the whole ship chip the little and big pins guns the largest ot of which was a 14 inch gun tired fired a shell weighing something 1 over a ton and costing so many hun bun 1 deeds of dollars 1 I forgot the last item the anchor chains each link ot of which weighed 90 pounds the ships store and the lounging rooms down stairs and the signal tower we also saw the three airplanes and the machine which cata catapulted them away the airplane carrier the lexington was visible toward the south and was the only ship of the fleet we passed at we started back for harbor heading directly into the I 1 setting sun which was a blazing ball ot of vivid red before we docked the sun had gone down and night had fallen alien when we got home we ate supper and at once went to hollywood you see last night santa claus lane was opened officially hollywood boulevard had been decorated tor for the christmas season thusly all the light poles were converted into christmas trees the I 1 lower part ot of the pole was covered with I 1 I 1 wood and the upper was incased encased in a paper cone painted to represent a pine tree this was completely covered with colored lights each of the two lamps at the top was vas incased encased in a star and from a 11 staff near the top hung bung the hag flag ot of on one ot of the states ot of the union all the 6 t aces ot of the union and the territories and possessions were represented along the route big wreathes ot of lights bung from every trolley cross wire in the center ot of the road and the combined effect along the mile or two of decoration was quite striking after we had escaped from a couple of traffic jams and had eventually found a parking place we hiked up to hollywood boulevard and found a place in the crowd near graumans chinese theatre where we could see the street the parade started t ar t rye immediately it was preceded by a special crack squad of los angeles I 1 motorcycle policemen resplendent in shiny tin hats and neat uniforms they rushed up and down the street with their sirens going weaving in and out coming to four abreast eight abreast executing circles figure eights and everything I 1 can tell you that it Is quite an exciting thing to see twenty tour four motor cyclists 1 executing these figures with such bre breathtaking breath th taking king speed then came hollywood notables in cars floats advertising flirtation walk and the merry widow low buck jones and his organization ot of riders tom dixs band of horsemen and scads ot of other riders both women and men I 1 dadja t realize that there could be so 50 many horses and good riders in this automobile city the bond band from the university of southern california and from TJ C L A were vere also in the parade arade and perhaps a dozen more bands and n cdrum drum and bugle corps at the end ot of the parade came santa claus on a huge float with reindeer his sled underneath der neath was a representation of gnomes making toys all ot of them busily hammering and sawing of course I 1 dont spend all my time galivan gallivanting ting around like that but I 1 have to have some respite from studying perhaps I 1 suppose by now I 1 have used up enough paper and have bored you sufficiently clent ly so ill close lor for this time yours truly TED I 1 los angeles california |