She Smelled Like Lemons

My mother bent down and lifted me up off the kitchen floor. She was home and she smelled like lemons.

Since I was around 7 months old, I would spend my weekdays at my grandmother’s house (# 129). My mother, Carmen, would rise early enough to get my two older brothers and me ready to go next door to grandma’s house and still get to work by 7:30 a.m.

Like many women who lived in Rancho Sespe, Mom worked at the Sunkist Lemon Packing House. She would spend her day standing beside a conveyor belt as thousands of aromatic lemons bobbled along beside her.

This photograph was taken in 1953, the year I was born. My 30 year old mother is the second woman from the left. All the women on this line were responsible for grading the lemons after they had been washed. I noticed that Mom’s cart and another behind hers were turned at an angle that displays the “Gold Stripe” label. This, along with the "Sunday best" outfits the women were wearing instead of "work clothes," makes me think they had advance notice about the promotional photography that would take place that day.

The “Gold Stripe” was only used for top grade fruit. Its design was conceived by Eudora Hull Spaulding whose father deeded her the land in 1895. If you're questioning the presence of a rooster on a citrus and cattle ranch label, here's the story. During a visit to Chicago, she was so taken by a local hotel’s coat of arms bearing a white rooster that she decided to have one put onto her Rancho Sespe label. (Source: “100 Year History of Rancho Sespe 1888 to 1988,” Kenneth K. Glenn) In addition to the gold stripe, my research also revealed that there was a silver, blue, green, orange and red version. Each stood for a different grade of fruit.