Hey Hogface...

 hey hogface





      This story is torn from the pages of the Bobcat in Maywood anthology and was a favorite of both myself and Greg. Today our Mister Cat is a sophisticated and successful businessman and Glendale patriarch. When the cat was but a kitten he had his beginnings with a solid family life in blue collar Maywood. The Wood was very similar to South Gate with many Maywoodians plain working folk with down to earth attitudes and genuine family values. Fun fact In 1919, May Wood, a popular young woman who worked for the real estate corporation developing the 2,300 acres ranch into home tracts, agreed to lend her name to the property. Maywood! The Brians came out west from Colesburg, Kentucky in famed Hardin county and Jim found a good job with the railroad. After many years of toil he got work near home and with Isabel he raised two boys and a nervous chihuahua in a cozy home on Clarkson street. Allen and Bob went to St. Rose of Lima and one of them was a fine student. Maywood in the 50's and 60's was a salt of the earth, no bullshit kind of town where no one put on airs. Many of the menfolk worked at the Chrysler, Ford (Lincolns and Mercurys) and Willys (jeeps) plants over near the City of Commerce.  The men were men and the women were damn glad of it. I remember when my brother was a star baseball player a feared opponent in the older leagues were the Maywood Weekenders and the Hollydale Plumbers. Maywood Park may not be the size of South Gate Park but it was a place where the Brian lads learned their sports. The point of this story however was the good old boys of Jim's generation who were not that much removed from farms or ranches. After all,  Maywood celebrated its 25th Anniversary in 1949 with a rodeo, beard-growing contest and professional wrestling matches in the City park. On this occasion the Brian family was attending an Elks tribute and when they arrived in the parking lot they spotted some old friends, referred to by Bob as Old Man Hicks. Hicks was the Dad of Allen's first wife and was greeting a buddy parking his car. Not fellas to worry about decorum the two old boys greeted each other with "Hey hogface!" which was returned with "Hey double-jaw!" Those affectionate greetings are just Maywood to me.



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