Kids in the San Narciso 'hood

Here’s a picture of the tough neighborhood kids, known to wreak havoc all over town creating despair among parents and local officials. Don’t be fooled by the innocent looking faces and gorgeous smiles.

This was taken around 1937 in San Narciso.

For suspense I won’t point out all the names until the end of this post. Some clues, however. Not a very flattering picture of my mom on this one. #11 and #9 are siblings and currently live in the San Francisco area. #4 and #6 are also siblings – look at the smile of the pretty kid in #6. Contagious. I’m smiling as I write this. #2 and #10 are siblings, the only ones dressed up in more than their Sunday best. There are Firmes, Labradors, Adamoses, Farraleses and others.

Mom doesn’t remember the actual event but believes this was a birthday party, either her’s or Auntie Luz’s. The reason why mom has many pictures is that Lolo Satur was away in the navy. Lola Pinay had pictures of the kids taken and sent to him. In addition to that, Lola Pinay just loved pictures in general. In her older years she would make scrapbooks out of pictures of actors and actresses she would cut out of the newspaper society pages.

Lolo Roding Labrador (although I used to call him uncle because he seemed too young for a lolo) is in this photo. He turned out to be a cook for the rich and famous. Dad watched his first Los Angeles Dodgers baseball game with Lolo Roding because then-manager Tommy Lasorda gave Lolo Roding tickets after being impressed with his cooking while a guest at his employer. When I last saw him in the Seattle area in the 1980’s, he was the cook for some magnate and was living in a house with his family in the magnate’s huge, sprawling, gated compound. He hated the nuisance from the Canada geese in the compound, one time taking out his shotgun to drive them away, but of course he was told by the magnate to stop it.

Lola Moding Labrador and mom grew up together and remain close confidantes up to this day. She and Lolo Roding were orphaned early in life and so they lived with mom’s family. Smart and very pretty, she had many admirers in her time. Including Americans during the war. I have to ask mom or her about that sometime. There’s more about her in the book.

1. Lydia Firme Fontalera
2. Minda Farrales Bello
3. Marshall Eugenio
4. Rudy Labrador (Lolo Roding)
5. Alberto Labrador Platero (Abet)
6. Modesta P. Labrador Espiritu (Lola Moding)
7. Catalina Aquino
8. Esperanza Eugenio Milan (Auntie Panching)
9. Florencio Fernandez Adamos (Uncle Waying)
10. Luz Farrales Villanueva
11. Cleo Adamos Carbonel (Auntie Cleo)
12. (Uncle Amang) Eugenio