When I recently went to stay with Pat to see some shows at the Edinburgh Fringe, it was my first visit since the publication of ‘Bedpans & Bobby Socks’ in 2011, and a chance to finally look through her USA photo albums – an exciting experience for me! Once again I was transported back to Cleveland, Ohio, sixty years ago. That 1950s look – the cars, the fashion, the buildings – is so stylish! An era I’d love to return to in my writing one day.
I am sharing some of the photos here, with more to come soon. Today’s are from Pat and Gwenda’s first months in Cleveland, when the idea of setting off on a road trip the following year probably hadn’t yet been voiced.
Pat, car-shopping for Flatus, soon after their arrival in Cleveland
Pat and Gwenda outside their apartment on E 100th St, Cleveland
Gwenda’s birthday party, with Pat and Molly and the two Joans – fellow Brits – also in the photo. I wonder where the other people are today …
Pat outside the Capitol on their April 1957 visit to Washington DC. Their morning tour, which included the White House, was followed by Pat’s new favourite lunch of fried shrimps and an afternoon trip on the Potomac.
Pat writes to her parents: ‘We had an address for the good old YWCA, right in the centre of New York, and were lucky to get in when we arrived at midnight. We got a double room for 4 dollars, which is fantastically cheap – we had to pay more to park the car!’
Bedpans & Bobby Socks 