Yuma - wedding capital of the 30's and 40's

Ansel Marshall and Martina Wilkes were married in Yuma, AZ on September 17, 1940.

Ansel was racing at Aqua Caliente and living in San Ysidro, CA. He sent for Martina and she rode the train down from Prineville, Oregon. At the time she was working in the Prineville Hotel as a waitress. Ansel met her at the train station in his car and they drove directly from San Diego to Yuma to get married. They got their license, got married and headed back to San Diego directly. He said it was stifling hot, and they didn't want to hang around Yuma at all. He said his car had air conditioning... with all four windows rolled down and pedal to the metal.

At the time, California had what was called the "Gin Law" and there was a three day waiting period from the time you could get a marriage license and when you could be married. It was called the Gin Law, so that people could sober up before they got married. Figured if they were drunk when they applied for the license, three days was plenty of time to sober up and make a wise decision. Arizona did not have a waiting period or any residency requirements for getting married. In the 30's and 40's Yuma became the wedding capital of the nation. Many celebraties traveled over from Hollywood to Yuma to tie the knot. In 1940 alone, there were 17,000 marriages performed in Yuma.

The picture below is the bridge that they would have driven across from California to get to Yuma. You can't read it in the photo, but on the side supports it says, "Ocean to Ocean Highway, Yuma".Before this bridge was built there was a ferry crossing in this location. The completion of this bridge was the last link to finish the coast to coast highway. I think it was 1921 when it was finished.

This is the Courthouse where Ansel and Martina would have purchsed their marriage license. It was built in 1921. They have moved into new facilities and this will be the Yuma Heritage Center. It is only a couple of blocks from the wedding chapel.

This was the most popular wedding chapel in it's day. It was across the street from the infamous San Carlos Hotel and the river pictured below was just behind the hotel. The Yuma bridge was just a block to the North.

Yuma Territorial Prison

This was a Federal prison on top of a rock from the 1876's until 1909. It is now a state park and museum. It sit's high a top the Colorado River. Ansel remembered that no one ever escaped, but the ranger told him that 4 did try to jump in the river but they were plucked out of the river by the Mexico Federalies and met their fate at their hands.

The Colorado River looking NE. Ca in on the other side.

Ansel's scooter makes a great little pack horse too.

The cells each held 6 prisoners and were barley 7'x6' wide. There was a door in between these two cells. The cots are stacked three on each side and barely 2' feet wide. Maybe we should go back to this style of accommodations, in the horrendous heat.

Ansel made some new friends to tell some stories to. Imagine that??? These folks were from Vancouver BC, which segwayed nicely into some Hastings Park race stories.

there were displays of horse hitching and other cowboy items that the prisoners made. This bit caught my interest.

A belly dump buck board??? Ansel said they were actually quite common. I never imagined the technology started on a wagon so long ago.

It was a nice stop, here's a picture of across the river from the prison.

Yuma - more sunshine

We left Phoenix bound for Yuma. On the way we stopped at Dateland and had a date milk shake and a prickly pear cactus milk shake, and bought Ansel some prickly pear cactus candy. The shakes were actually really good. I think there was banana mixed in too. Anything banana is ok with me. Made me think of all the baby foods that are mixed with banana, and wondered about prickly pear cactus/banana baby food????? A tiny dino and a gigantic rattler, some where along the way...

Then it was on to Yuma, the weather was beautiful, lots of horizons to look at. It's so different from the Oregon high desert. Some day would like to take more time an check out the vegetation and animals that are native to here. We met Linda and Doug Johnson (from Burns) for dinner, they are now resident snowbirds of the Cocopah Community. It was nice to catch up and to learn more about the community and Yuma history.

Ahhhhh warm Phoenix sunshine at last

I absolutely love that they disguise the cell phone towers into palm trees. Very clever !!!
Ansel and his family raced at the Phoenix Fairgrounds in 1923 and 24. His brother Bailey was the jockey then. The fairgrounds are in the same location on the corner of 17th and McDowell. The house they lived in was just behind these grand stands. The race track in gone now and it appears that they use the grandstands for concerts and such. Ansel says they had the first auto race on this track in 1919.

We stayed with friends Janine and Vance Simms and their daughter Shayla. They were absolutely wonderful hosts. I was pretty excited that maybe I would get to see baby Blake Joseph before we had to leave... but he wasn't ready... so I'll have to wait until next time.

Shayla has her own computer key board that plays learning games on the big monitor, she's very good at them.

Janine and Vance in front of their lovely home.

Janine and Cyndy me. I knew Janine and her family from Burns. She's an Oregon State alum and has been living in the Phoenix area since 2001. It really was a great visit. It was so nice to catch up.

Beautiful precious Shayla in their back yard. Just before we hit the road again. Oh and on the way out of their neighborhood, we stopped and bought a 20 lb bag of oranges, really delicious oranges for only $10.00. I bet there is 40 oranges in this bag. Amazing...

Catching up with Nita and Tom in Phoenix

Nita Wilkes Russell, Martina's niece lives just north of Phoenix in the desert burg of Wittmann with her husband Tom. It was a bonus to our trip that we were able to make connections with Nita and her husband at their very cool Southwest Hacienda. It was a pleasant time, and Ansel just beamed.

Over the last couple of years as I've been sorting through "stuff" at the OB Riley house, I have made little collections for every one who I thought might be interested in having their memories jogged by reading the notes and cards etc and seeing pictures that they have sent Martina and Ansel over the years. I know it was fun for me after my mother passed away, to read the 20-30 year old letters from me that my dear mother had saved all those years. So I as I have been sorting I've been keeping envelopes of memories to give to the appropriate persons. Giving Nita her envelopes was just the first installment I told her, since there still is so much sorting to do in Bend. After all I'm sorting through 90 years of pack-rat-itis.

It was fun to share the Hellos and greetings to Nita that old classmates friends from Harney County had passed on with me.

Nita shows Uncle Ansel her remuda. I was very envious of the very efficient pipe pens and sheds that they have been able to build together to keep their horses in. Tom is obviously a very good welder, he built all the square panels.

We enjoyed a wonderful bbq dinner, in their rustic southwest great room. I missed the sunset by just a few minutes the sky was still purple of the cactus and neighbors adobe home. There's lot's of elbow room where they live, no side walks or street lights, just coyotes and desert flowers, it's just the way I pictured AZ to be...

That's Amore

Yesterday we went to The Venetian... it is amazing how they can create a life size city within a building. It feels like Venice, (for someone who's never been there) The only thing missing was the pigeons. The Gondola operators... (don't know the correct title for them ;o), sang to their passengers as they guided the gondola through the canals.

In the piazza (town square) we are entertained with a mini-opera by the street performers. Their voices were incredible, the live musicians accompanying them, are to the left of the stage. There was also a juggler, clown, and a mine on stilts.

Sitting on the steps of the living statue.
Security persons in the Venetian dress in Italian uniforms.

This was the living gardens in the Palazzio area... there is a beautiful woman in there that slinks and creeps around in most sensual way... Ansel was enamored with the attention. In the pic below they are waving goodbye to each other.

Jill's Condo

Jill in her quaint - perfect size (for me anyway) kitchen, having her last cup of Joe and looking pretty perky for getting up at 4AM before flying off to Tampa.

Hey Jill, It was a very nice birthday treat for us to come visit, Thanks for having us. I just hope we left soon enough, so you'll let us come back :o)

The lanai off of the living room is really a bonus room, it's about 12'x12' and the boys love it.

The pic below is me putting the dining room set together... It looked pretty posh after it was done.

And below... the finished project...

And did I mention the Pool and Hot Tub !!!! There are two separate pool and bbq/recreation areas. We used the hot tub every night and never saw another sole out there, it was pretty sweet. There is also a exercise/weight room that has more equipment than Body Wise.

Can't wait to come back when it's just a tad warmer... Hmmmmm isn't there a NASCAR race here in March???? (I'm not complaining about the weather, I know what I'm not missing in Oregon)