Who Would Have Thought?

PART ONE:
January, 2018 

I woke up this morning, and I thought, 'Wow!  I have nothing to write today.  I finished the manuscript for the cookbook and history of Pickle Bill's, and it is in the hands of a Printer.  Now what?'

It is always a sort-of let down, bitter-sweet feeling when you finish a project.  This particular one has taken me 3 plus years to complete.  It was a labor of love.  The desire to finish it was sparked recently by my sister's idea to make Pickle Bill's T-Shirts to sell to the family.  I thought, 'Why not get the book finished and they can go hand-in-hand?'

Sometime today or early next week, I should have the "prototype" printing of the book/cookbook and will go from there.  Stay tuned.


PART TWO:
February through May, 2018

In the end, I had 100 plus copies of my little book published and sold or gave to family members over 89 of them!  I never dreamed that I would have such success with this little offering of a little bit of History.

The comments that have come back are all very kind and I am so grateful that it was so well received.  I will share a few of them here.

      From a good friend from Samohi, who lives in Tennessee now...she writes: "...(Pickle Bill's) was our family's favorite when we went out to eat.  My brother always had a chili size.  He didn't know he could ask for a slice of cheese, so he always brought a slice of cheese in his pocket to put on top.  My favorite was the french dip....My parents...found your parent's (restaurant on St. George Blvd.) in St. George, Utah once while traveling.  They ordered a dozen french dip sandwiches to go, wrapped them and put them in ther freezer in the RV."

     From another friend since Girl Scouts: "My eyes lit up when I saw the picture of Pickle Bill's!  It was my favorite place to eat!  Such happy memories...."  "The Pickle Bill book came today!  And I'm getting a kick out of it!  Very fun!  I remember my folks saying that during WWII, during a blackout, the light on the pickle was left on once!  Maybe that was an urban legend....I'm so glad you put all those happy memories in a book!  Those were good times!  I enjoyed your style of writing and the pride you have in your family."

     Another High School acquaintance, who works on the Samohi Alumni Association Newsletter, asked for pictures and an update.  So I sent her some pictures and a story update to publish in the upcoming issue of the Alumni News.  I read the proof copy and it was quite a complementary story.  Thank you, Carol.

     There was also some interest in placing a copy in the Santa Monica History Museum. 
So, to my delight, I sent them a couple of copies.  I was really lifted up by that gesture.

     A very dear friend of mine from "the good old days," (she now lives in Florida), had many kind words to say.  I appreciate her confidence in me as a writer, since she is a many times over published artist and writer herself.  Her words were very generous.

     A new friend, a young man who moved to Santa Monica Monica in the 70's (long after I was gone) had good memories of Pickle Bill's, even though it was for a short time.  He was happy with the book and said he remembered my family, especially my youngest sister.  He said: "It was a sad day when they closed.  It then became Sweeney Todd's Pub.  It's now an office building for Santa Monica College."  He said he is looking forward to trying the recipes for an upcoming reunion picnic in August.

What a joy it has been to (1) walk down memory lane putting together all of these memories for the book, and (2) hearing from so many people that wanted and enjoyed the book.  There were old friends I hadn't heard from in years, new friends that I didn't even know, and family members all across the western half of the United States.  They all have their copy and I hope they are enjoying it as much as I enjoyed bringing it to life.  God bless you all!