Adventures of an L.A. Ranch Kid

Starting with his earliest memory from about age three, Art Rozell wrote stories spanning his entire life. He was born in 1927 to a milliner/beautician mother and a father employed by the local water company who described himself as a "Missouri Mule Trader," much to his wife's dismay. Rozell, the youngest of four children, was a handful from his youngest days, a bright child in a world filled with challenges and surprising incidents. Drawn from the stories he told his daughters throughout their lives, this volume of tales covers his life from a precocious toddler through junior high school at Narbonne Junior/Senior High School in Harbor City, California. It ranges from the family ranch and branches out to Lomita, San Pedro, and the Palos Verdes Peninsula. In his world, the streets were dirt, neighbors looked out for each other, and lessons came from everyone: a Mexican American family friend, a former house servant, a stranded circus performer, and many more.

From his very personal interactions with friends, horses, and surprising house guests to an encounter with Aimee Semple McPherson, he wrote the stories as he remembered them, full of surprises and lessons he passed along to his daughters. Written as a collection of remembrances late in his life, they cover incidents that struck a chord in his memory and which will thoroughly entertain those who may barely recognize the world they describe.