My Home Town

I was born at Rio Hondo Memorial Hospital in Pico Rivera California. If you were to look closely at my birth certificates you would see that one of them lists my birth city as Downey. So I decided to do a Google Search for the address listed on my second birth certificate. It does show that address as being in Downey. The picture below shows the hospital being between Pico Rivera and Downey. When asked where I was born I have always stated I was born in Pico Rivera so I will continue to do so.

The home that holds the most memories for me was located in West Covina, CA. It was a modest 1500 square foot home in a sea of homes in the Southern California area. My earliest memory of living at this house was on my fifth birthday. My birth dad Joe Sattler came by the house to give me a birthday gift. We stood at the front door of the house and he handed me a box that contained a brand new transistorized radio. That was the last time I ever saw him. 

I lived in this house till I left for the U.S.A.F basic training at the age of 22. My parents sold the house in 1990. 

There were so many homes in this area it was not too hard to make friends since there were a lot of kids my age on my street. My friends lived across the street and in the house next door to ours. Now that I think back my early childhood was a very small world compared to how many people that lived around us.

I did have other friends that did not live on my street but did not really get involved with them until I started Jr. High. 

The summers in Southern California were hot and very smoggy. As a kid we would go swimming at my friend Bob Hillenburg's house. Bob lived right across the street from us. After swimming our lungs and eyes would be burning from all the smog. The mountain range to east was only about 10 miles away yet was normally shrouded by the air pollution. When the Santa Anna winds would blow and after a winter rain storm the smog would clear and the mountain range would become vibrant and really stand out.