Dear Miss Lovelace

Maud Hart Lovelace described her memories of 333 Center Street to Bonnie Gardner, who lived in the house in the early 70s.

845 E. Bonita, L52

Pomona, Cal. 91767

July 14, 1975

Dear Bonnie,

I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed your letter. It was very kind of you to write it. I still love 333 Center Street in which I had such a happy childhood and I’ve started a number of replies to you but they never got finished. I could see I wasn’t giving you the picture, but here’s another attempt.

I’ll begin with the outside which is much more like the house of my early days than the inside is now. I was six months old when my parents and Kathleen moved in. My father planted those beautiful trees on the front lawn, and the ones around the front porch, yellow rose bushes along the wall which passed two dining room windows and ended in the side kitchen door. There were lilacs on that wall too. In front was a square little porch with one side on the north and west, I believe. Anyway, just like it is now. The front door went into the dining room and the side door into the parlor. The parlor had the piano, of course; the back parlor had a stove which warmed the whole house at first, a desk and book combination, a cozy corner (when they were the fashion) and a very comfortable big couch. When daddy and mother knew another baby was coming, a bedroom was added - that had a door in front and back, the front one looked into the back parlor. It also looked into the kitchen and the stairs. Kathleen, older sister, and I had the front bedroom and the hired girl had the back room.

Every room showed mother’s skill in making rooms attractive and comfortable. She liked for the house, as well as herself and her children, to be in the latest style. Much later, when we girls were married, we could have priceless old chairs and tables, our grandmother's and even hers, which she had just packed away over the years. She sewed beautifully and made us children such pretty clothes after we moved to Fifth Street and Daddy was earning more money, she had a dressmaker spring and fall to help her, but when we were children she did it herself. I hope you have read my Betsy-Tacy books for they so bring my father and mother to life, and they were wonderful parents and we were a very very happy family. We didn’t have a bathroom in the first house. We took our baths in the kitchen on Saturday night, one at a time. When we moved to Fifth Street we had a beautiful bathroom and how we enjoyed it!

Does all this bring you the picture? Thank you again for your letter and my hope that all of you are as happy at 333 as we were.

Maud Lovelace

Here's the letter Bonnie wrote to Maud:

I am writing to you in regard to the article you had in the Mankato Free Press, Dec. 26, 1973. In the second paragraph you mentioned you once lived at 333 Center St. Well, my name is Bonnie Gardner. I’m 17 years old, and I now live at that address. I would like to describe to you, the best I can, how the house looks now. Perhaps some day if you have time you could tell me how it has changed, if at all.

The three front steps going to the front door are almost completely rotted, we’re having them replaced next summer. There is the screened in front porch. The floor is wooden and painted grey. As you walk in to the porch, there is a door straight ahead, and one to the left. The door to the left is a bedroom. Mine as a matter of fact! My room is orange. I suspect at one time it may have been white. There is a wall opposite the windows. Has that always been like that? It looks like it was once just an entry way to another room.

The other door leads to the living room. When we moved in, there were hard wood floors. We have carpeted them since. To the left of the living room is another big room. We have it as our dining room. Straight ahead from the living room is the kitchen. The floor is two shades of brown squares. I think it’s linoleum. The walls are paneled, so are the cupboards. The sink is porcelain, I think, with 2 cold and one hot water faucets. The plumbing isn’t the greatest. The hot water comes out rather slow. Straight ahead from the kitchen is the bathroom. The bathtub is beneath the small window and has what seems to be a wooden case or something built around it. The bathroom sink is quite small. Above it is the medicine cabinet which is built into the wall. On either sides of the mirror are the two lights with small pull chains to turn them on, but there is a switch. As you enter the bathroom, to the right is a closet, with a small window toward the back. And to the left is another door that leads to another bedroom. As you enter the bedroom from the bathroom, there is another door to the left, past the closet, that takes you to the dining room again.

To the left of the kitchen sink is a small hallway. A door that leads to the basement. The basement has a cement floor and so do the other two small rooms in the basement. We don’t use them, only the larger of the three. A little way from the basement is a door that leads upstairs to two good size bedrooms, or one huge one.

There is also a garage that faces the large backyard. The trees are beautiful in the summer. There is one small tree in the corner of the yard. I think it’s an oak tree. That’s what someone once told me. I know nothing about trees so I couldn’t say for sure.

The outside of our house was yellow when we first moved here. Last summer we painted it light green with dark green trim. What color was it when you lived here?

Did you ever have trouble with bats during spring and fall seasons? One night last year, we had 4 bats in the house! My mother and I are terrified by them, so we left my brother home, and we spent the night in a motel! By the time we got home the next day, he had them cleared out!

On the side of the house, facing East Lewis St. there is also a large yard. Last June my mother was remarried, and we had the wedding and wedding reception in the yard. It was so beautiful. All the trees were in bloom, the grass was nice and green and the big tree in the middle made a perfect spot for shade.

Well, I think I’ve written more than enough for now. Perhaps if you have time, you could write to me and tell me how it has changed.

Sincerely yours,