Francesca Filanc

Category: Del Mar

Summer Time 2014 and Memories of Growing Up in Old Del Mar!

The Author and Artist Francie – Del Mar Beach

Now that summer has arrived I am swimming in the ocean almost every day! The water has been especially warm this season, in the 70°s F most of the time.

Usually these days I go to Swami’s in Encinitas CA to swim. Two days ago, not having as much time as usual, I went over to Old Del Mar and found a great parking space on 27^th Street (a real find nowadays) and walked down for a dip in the ocean in the late afternoon.

It was the last day of June and we were having what we call June Gloom which we don’t seem to have much of these days! The water looked rough, the waves were big and the air had a slight chill to it. I was meeting a friend for dinner and my hair looked good so I almost did not go into the water! Then I thought, Oh I will just walk in the shallows and then I decided to go for it!

I was the only swimmer in sight, save for a lone surfer off in the distance catching humungous waves and riding them expertly, one after another! At one point it did cross my mind the immense power the ocean has that one needs to treat with a healthy respect. While the ocean teems with life, it can destroy in an instant. Only six years ago a swimmer was taken by a shark not two miles from where I was swimming! A very rare event in southern California. While living in Hawaii I was warned by the locals not to swim before 8:00 a.m. or after 5 p.m. because that is when the sharks come in close to shore to feed. I suppose that would be good advice to heed anywhere!

The water was so WARM it felt like Hawaii! The really warm current amazed me, so much so that I thought

I hope this water is clean!

I got busy body surfing, riding the waves, not always that successfully, and all of a sudden the sun peeped through the clouds and I felt ecstatic happiness! I was a little girl again, reliving the experiences of swimming at beach parties in the early evening. I recalled swimming with my father and I could just hear his voice in my ears

Francie with Her Daddy

Isn’t this fantastic!

And then Daddy throwing his head back with a look of exuberant joy on his face, scanning the horizon for the next big wave!

My body felt deliciously wet and satisfied in the warm salt water! A funny thing, I love the feeling of water going up my nose! It reminds me of learning to swim as a child and also swimming in the ocean as a child on Del Mar Beach!

Have Fun this Summer Enjoying one of your passions!

Have a happy and safe Fourth of July!

Bye for Now,

Francesca

Meteror Shower By Francesca

July 2, 2014
Summers Growing Up in Del Mar

Del Mar was a sleepy little beach town when I was growing up, coined Gasoline Alley by some. There were at one time thirteen gas stations in our little town when Highway 101 was the main thoroughfare to the City of San Diego. The County Fair was a big deal for folks when it came to town! Within a few days of the County Fair closing the Races would start. WOW! Movie Stars all up and down the beach! Summer Days in Del Mar

Lucy and Desi Had a House on The Beach!

I remember summer mornings swimming in the ocean, warm, sleepy afternoons painting and playing with our Barbie and Madame Alexander Dolls and plastic horses with my sister and friends. Our step-grandpa was John Lloyd Wright and we lived right next door to him. We called him Grandbot. Grandbot invented five toys. The most famous one was Lincoln Logs. He also invented a toy called Wright Blocks. They were sooo much fun to play with!!! Wendy and I loved making horse corrals and pastures on the grass for our plastic horses to run! The most fun part of our play for me was setting up the elaborate houses and pastures and placing our plastic horses in them, dressing and undressing the dolls in different outfits!

We also loved playing Indians (Playing Indians) and I loved playing Queen and Geisha girl. I would get bored of those two games quickly because once I was dressed up there was nothing for me to do except sit on the throne and be waited on. I remember one time my sister and our friends bowed down in front of me and said Salami Salami Baloney Baloney! We all fell into gales of laughter! My mother would help me get all dressed up to be a Geisha in a kimono with an obi. But once I was dressed up all I could do was sit, the outfit was so binding! After all that I would ask my mother to please help me get out of the outfit!

As a child I would become bored with some of the games. Looking back on it I am so happy to be an adult! Sometimes with all the stresses of adult life we may look back on childhood as an idyllic time of endless freedom and happiness.But in actuality many of us have more freedoms as adults. I guess what I am saying is even with all the seriousness, grief or traumas that we go through, when immersed in happy work, exercise, helping others we can free the passion of life!

Happy summertime! On that note I am going to go take a swim in the ocean!

Happy Swimming or whatever you love to do for exercise in the summertime.

Have a safe, Happy Fourth of July!

Bye for Now,

Francesca

“Beauty”
By Francesca

July 2, 2013
SUMMER DAYS – OPENING DAY AT THE RACES

Beauty

Good morning my little Gigi!

My father would exclaim as he burst into my bedroom kissing me and then opening the blinds.

Hurry out of bed and we can go down to see the horses.

As I raised my sleepy head and yawned I quickly made my bed and pulled on my bathing suit not wanting to be left behind! This was a very special time with my father that I cherished.

We jumped in the car and traveled the mile down to the beach.

Riding on the Beach in Del Mar

During the racing season in Del Mar, California which Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Jimmy Durante were all instrumental in starting in the 1930’s. The horses would be ridden in the early mornings from the race track to the ocean. The trainers and grooms, men and women both, would walk them into the ocean because the salt water was good for their joints. Some riding bareback would take them swimming through the waves. The riders also galloped the horses up and down the beach. What a sight to behold!

Daddy followed closely as I would scurry out of the car and down onto the beach. The delicious smell of salt air mixed with seaweed, horses and horse manure is one that I will remember the rest of my days. Exhilaration and anticipation abound because if I dilly-dallied or daddy did not wake me early enough on those Saturday and Sunday mornings the horses would be gone back to the track and I was sorely disappointed!

Grabbing my hand we would walk down the beach. Then I would set myself free of his hand and run towards the horses, which seemed like an eternity away! Once we arrived huge smiles plastered on our faces we would watch these most elegant, stunning creatures as they were walked, run and cajoled into the waves for a swim! Many of the thoroughbreds had their legs wrapped with white tape. Some were hurt. Limping, the healing salt water must have felt so good to these athletic horses.

What a shame this practice was outlawed on Del Mar Beach.

Dog Beach is now where Horse Beach was up by the cliffs on the north end of town.

When I was a girl, the horses were on the beach from about 6:30 -8:30 a.m. I was allowed to kiss and hug them. My father would lift me up to pat the necks of some. At the end of this magical period of time Daddy and I would say goodbye to the horses and watch as they left the beach walking under the 101 Bridge and back to the racetrack. It always felt a bit sad.

Pushing me out of my dream world where I was riding the magnificent beasts I faintly heard my daddy’s cheery voice

Ok my little Gigi, let’s go have a look and see who is on the beach today and have our swim!

As we walked away from the horses, me feeling sad wanting to be bigger and having one or many of my very own, I hear my father’s voice,

Look who’s here– Betty Grable and Benny Goodman.

My father Lou, a showman himself, would walk right up to these people and say hi. On occasion there were some other exciting events to occur.

One time my father walked up to a very pretty redhead on the beach.

How do you do Lucy, this is my little girl Francie. She just loves watching you on TV!

Well hello there!

Lucy bent down to shake my hand with her brightly painted red fingernails that matched her vivid red hair.

The Author Running into the Ocean

Sweetheart this is Lucille Ball.

Oh wow!

I shouted,

I watch you on TV every week!

You just keep doing that baby!

Lucy replied in her deep husky voice.

The water felt so amazing as it hit my face. I dove under the waves and swam feeling so perfectly content, daydreaming of how it would feel to ride bareback into the ocean waves. Daddy laughed and I giggled as we played in the sea.

Time to go sweetheart, breakfast will be waiting.

A shower never felt better! I felt fresh and tingly all over and boy was I hungry! Mama would have a delicious breakfast waiting for us. We would eat in the top patio looking out at the sea where I had just been but half an hour before. Blueberry pancakes with hot crisp bacon and fresh squeezed orange juice never tasted so good!

Bye for now,

Good Luck at The Races!

Francesca

July 17, 2012
SUMMER DAYS – FOURTH OF JULY, DEL MAR

OUT OF THIS WORLD

The 4^th of July is just around the corner and I am reminded of summer days growing up in a sleepy little beach town in southern California, Del Mar. Not so sleepy now, but back then it actually was, despite the fact that it was a Mecca for the movie stars.

Stay tuned for more in my Blog on Movie Stars and Del Mar California once the racing season begins in a couple of weeks. In the mean time, here is a true story about lazy Summer Days Growing up in Del Mar.

My parents had a 4^th of July party every year. My father was a lawyer in Los Angeles. Daddy commuted by train, leaving from the train station on Monday morning and arriving home on Friday night. Orange County was considerably far away to drive in those days. Back in the day, home fireworks were legal. They were illegal to buy in San Diego and maybe in Los Angeles too, but in Orange county fireworks were sold. I remember vividly Daddy driving to Orange County a week or two before the fourth of July to buy fireworks for our party. The excitement my sister Wendy and I felt was palpable! With anticipated glee Wendy and I counted the days till we would be able to light our fireworks!

It was like Christmas in July when he would come home with all the beautifully wrapped fireworks! Packages labeled with the names: Sparklers, Sky Rockets, Black Snakes, Fountains, Roman Candles. Wendy and I adored the sparklers! It was like shooting stars on a stick. In the night air you could write with them and they twinkled like little stars or fireflies. Being California girls born and raised we did not have fireflies. We did experience them when we traveled to see our grandparents in Pennsylvania.

The morning of the fourth would always start with a swim in the ocean. Oh, how good the water felt! After breakfast Wendy and I and the other girls in the neighborhood would have a parade. I think it must have been one of my mother’s ideas. We dressed up like revolutionary war characters and would march up and down the streets once I started playing the flute. I played I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy and other patriotic songs. Wendy brought up the rear playing the drums.

FIREFLY

The evening festivities started about 5:00 or 6:00. So exciting! Wendy and I got to have our Black Snakes on the driveway! For those of you who are not familiar with these fireworks, after lighting a small tablet, the tablet starts smoking and an ash resembling a snake is created via an intumescent reaction. Then it was all we could do to wait for darkness to fall and light our sparklers.

As much as I loved the 4^th of July there was only one part that I dreaded, making it a some what bittersweet experience. Being hugged tightly by the grown-ups! By the 4^th, I had had three weeks of ocean and sun. Back in the 1950’s and 60’s they did not have sunscreen except for the hideous white paste, Mercurochrome. So by the 4^th of July my back was red as a lobster! My front side would be all freckled and brown but my back would be on fire with sunburn. I would try to tell people please don’t hug me because I am sunburned but everyone was drinking and smoking and my little voice did not get heard. So I would wince when the company arrived and wince when they left! Otherwise, hot dogs, hamburgers, potato chips, watermelon —Yummy. J

Once it was dark the real fun began! Daddy would give us our long anticipated sparklers. After that Daddy would start with the big fireworks.

OOOH AHHHH We would sigh — SOOOO Beautiful!!!!

After we finished our family fireworks show, the whole family walked up the street to the top of the hill to watch the spectacular fireworks from the nearby fairgrounds. It was really dark back then so you saw lots of stars. We had lots of bats in Del Mar and on one occasion a bat flew into my hair and I screamed! We sat up on the vacant lot and waited till 9:00 pm when the fireworks started, oohing and ahing at the colors, all the colors of the rainbow brilliantly lighting up against the inky black background.

Artists’ works are influenced by events and emotions of their lives. Perhaps my subconscious mind took the colors and hues of those remembered fireworks into the artwork that I am producing today.

Happy painting and dreaming… Fireworks in the sky!

“Saturday, in the park, think it was the fourth of July.” Chicago

Chicago Performing Saturday in The Park

RED PLANET

I hope you all have a Safe Happy Fourth of July!

Bye for Now,

Francesca

July 3, 2012
A WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE

Last weekend I was invited to a friend’s 65^th wedding anniversary party. It was also the friend’s 90^th birthday. This particular friend looks 20 years younger and acts it also! I overheard her say the other day to her 27-year-old granddaughter, I love your tattoos. They are so beautiful. If I were a young woman today I would have many of my own! My grandmother Frances used to say, “Age is a condition, youth is a state of mind.” Frances was also of the young club! All my friends loved being in my grandmother Mimi’s presence.

Honey, there’s nothing new under the sun. Your generation does not shock me. We were doing all these things back in the roaring 20’s.

After the party I drove my car to the end of the road and lo and behold it was where we all used to go to watch the fire works when we were in high school. A flood of memories rushed into my head. Young love, giddy flirting, bodies close together, dances, trips to the mountains with my friends. Fun memories. I took another road and there I was at Feather Acres Farm and Nursery. My mother use to buy plants from the man and woman who owned it when I was a little girl.

The lady who has owned it for many years teaches riding and gives pony rides to youngsters on the weekends. What a beautiful piece of land overlooking the Del Mar Racetrack and the ocean beyond — a little piece of heaven, I thought. I will bring my grand-kids for pony rides and riding lessons.

I walked into the tidy greenhouse and bought a hydrangea and some lovely cut flowers. I also bought a couple of new ornamental bunnies for the garden.

It’s been a great day down memory lane. :)

Bye for now,

Rippin’ Lips

Francesca

May 9, 2012