5. The Beat Goes On

To complete my Hawthorne tour, we travel to the corner of Hawthorne Boulevard and 119th Street.  On the SE corner is Chips Restaurant.  This restaurant has been a Hawthorne staple since the late 1950's and is considered one of the few remaining buildings with what is known as the Googie Architecture Style. 

Mere yards from Chips is St. Joseph Catholic Church, which was formed in 1915.  Click here for more of their history.  Even though I do not consider myself affiliated with any particular religion, I definitely appreciate the architecture and love that went in to many of the houses of worship across the United States.  St. Joe's is no exception and is still very well-maintained inside and out with many beautiful stained glass works-of-art windows.

What you may not know is that this is the church Sonny Bono was married in.  No...not to Cher, but to his first wife in 1954.  (FYI! The video shows the St. Joseph chapel that my aunt and uncle were married in and is the main chapel in use currently.  When Sonny Bono was married at St. Joseph, this chapel did not exist yet.  The chapel then is now the gift shop and other church buildings across the street.)

St. Joe's is also the church my aunt's family frequented.  Any of you younger gals reading this may be a bit shocked to know that neither my grandma (who lived with just one house between her and my aunt's mother) nor my aunt's mother ever learned how to drive a car.  Luckily, for my aunt's mother, Letitia, St. Joe's was in walking distance.  Her mother was a devout catholic, a wonderful woman and saw everyone as beautiful.  She was active at St. Joe's for years until she was no longer able to get around without a wheel chair.  And then, bless the church, they would send representatives to visit her.

The other thing I remember is in the early 1960's when my aunt and uncle were married at St. Joe's, because my mom and dad were not Catholic they were not allowed to be in the wedding party as a bridesmaid or groomsman.  My how things have changed.

The one Hawthorne claim to fame I did know about before becoming your Hawthorne Tour Guide Goddess was that Quentin Tarrantino filmed the diner shots in "Pulp Fiction" at the no longer there Hawthorne Grill.  Since the Hawthorne Grill no longer exists in the physical world, I could hardly get digital footage of it.  However, it's legacy will live on as long as people view the film "Pulp Fiction".

As I am sitting here trying to think of a clever way to end this, it occurred to me that there is one last thing that still exists that you may find interesting if you every find yourself in Hawthorne.  You will notice it if you ever travel by vehicle, bus or foot on Hawthorne Boulevard.  It is the way the street is set up.  Before malls and shopping centers, there was a town's main street.  For Hawthorne, that was Hawthorne Boulevard.  To accommodate the growing need for parking as the town grew, parking was added to the middle of the street.  This method of parking can only be found on Hawthorne Boulevard in Hawthorne.