The Victorian – referred to as the Bembridge House – is decorated each winter holiday by various neighborhoods and historic districts in Long Beach. Rose Park Neighborhood and Historic Districts decorate the ‘middle bedroom’ and offer a tale for those that visit.

Everybody’s Doin’ It Now-1911

Holidays at 925 Park Circle, Long Beach

(A work of fiction except for all those pesky historical notes)

This was not Edith Bennett’s first visit to this room. She vacationed here last Christmas, enjoying her first winter holiday in California!

After returning to Chicago she knew her future needed to be in Southern California. A young, eclectic woman named Sam she’d befriended while visiting 925 Park Circle in Long Beach wrote to her and encouraged a visit after she graduated from Miss Ravenewood’s Academy for Girls in June.

Edith was more than excited about moving west but she had to convince her parents. They might not be so enthusiastic about sending their only child thousands of miles away.

It turned out the parents were all for it. They liked the idea of some  “socially acceptable schooling” in the Golden State. Apparently they’d surveyed the local eligible bachelors in their social circle and found them wanting.

Barely containing her giddy self, Edith helped the porters with her baggage at Union Station in downtown Chicago. She arrived in Los Angeles no less excited and jumped into life at the University of Southern California’s undergraduate program taking classes in French, music and joining the Literary Society (women only).

Edith discovers whole new groups of people on campus and relishes the lack of  formality compared to Miss Ravenwood’s back east. She learned a new dance called the turkey trot-the newspapers called it a dance craze-then found herself spending evenings at private clubs

When the Green’s learned Edith had returned but didn’t yet have time for a visit they were a bit disappointed but made sure that she was invited to this year’s holiday festivities and to stay in the guest bedroom.

With the invitation Edith remembered a young man by the name of Jens.  Jen Wastlund, who came to last year’s gala and then disappeared. As if floating into thin air.  “I’d love to meet him again,” she thought. Continue reading Does a Close Call lead to Romance at 925 Park Circle Drive? →