| The Sandy Sides Collection Meet Sandy Sides Castor, a former Granite City resident and owner of the Sandy Sides Collection. The Sandy Sides Collection is a collection of vintage photographs depicting Sandy and her family's early life in Granite City. Sandy was born May 11, 1934 at St. Elizabeth's hospital to William E. Sides and Gladys Brewer Sides. Her father William was a welder, pipe fitter, and also worked at the steel mills. Her mother Gladys worked for awhile at the Army Depot during WWII, and also in the beauty shop of Sandy's grandmother, Viola Brewer, which was located in her home at 2215 Cleveland. Sandy and her family lived in several places around Granite City, including next to her grandparents, the Brewers, at 2217 Cleveland, where several of the photographs are taken. Sandy attended Neidringhaus, Emerson and Mitchell schools in Granite City. Her favorite school was Emerson, where Mr. Grover Norwood was the Principal, and her father's best friend. Her father William had saved Mr. Norwood's life when they were swimming in the Mississippi River, and Mr. Norwood got caught in a whirlpool. Her father rescued him....so she never got into any trouble at that school! Following are some of Sandy's fond memories of her childhood in Granite City, in her own words. Sandy and her family moved to West Los Angeles, California in September of 1945. Today, she and her husband, Jim Castor, live in Carson City, Nevada. Sandy returns to her old home town from time to time and keeps current on what's happening in Granite City through her many friends and the Internet. Thank you Sandy for sharing your collection and memories! "My grandmother, while living at 2215 Cleveland, had her own beauty shop in her home. We lived next door to her, and she would give me these permanents with this huge machine!! It looked like something from outer space! They would put these roller things on my hair, and they would heat up and my mom had to help hold up my head they were so heavy. I always thought I was going to be executed! When my parents, and my grandparents moved to West Los Angeles, CA, she had that monstrous machine put on the train !!! My grandmother was such a good seamstress, she could just go look at a dress in a shop, then come home and cut out a pattern from newspapers. She made most of my clothes, snow suits, etc. Of course, I never stood still while she had me stand on the table to pin a hem, or whatever, and when my dad got home she told him all about it. She always wanted to dress me like Shirley Temple, and made my doll's dresses to match mine, My grandfather worked in the office at the Steel Mill, also at a bank I believe. I took piano lessons from a lady named Monica Pitchford in her home. I had my own upright piano. My mom couldn't read music, but she sure could play well by ear. When I went to Ms. Pitchford's house I would try and get away with playing by ear, when she wasn't looking. She would walk around her home, clean house or whatever, and listen to my playing. I also had recitals which was fun. I took up tap dancing, and we all were in little shows for our church, YMCA or wherever. When I lived on Iowa, my grandmother opened a hair salon on the corner of our street and mom worked there also. I also have loved to do hair, and my girlfriends would come to my house, and I pretended I was a HAIR DRESSER! I remember many wonderful days taking our chicken dinner onto the SS Admiral, with my cousins and going up onto all the decks and checking out the ladies rest rooms, they were decorated so pretty, like in Hollywood. We moved to West Los Angeles, in Sept. 1945. For whatever reason, I thought we were going to move to New York City, I was eleven at the time. As we were crossing the Mississippi River, I told my father we were going the wrong way!!! When he told me we were headed for California, I think I cried half the way there. I always like the movies with the Bowery Boys, and all those kinds of movies. When we arrived in Westwood Village, west of Hollywood, my grandparents arranged for us to house sit for friends of theirs who were touring Europe. The day we got to their home, which was absolutely beautiful, the first thing I did while Dad was trying to unload the car (we looked like "The Grapes of Wrath", the car was so packed), they had a little telephone desk in the hallway, and I immediately started looking through it. My father asked me why I wasn't helping him, and I told him I was looking up Shirley Temple's phone number! My mom was pregnant and my sister was born January 2nd, 1946 and that was in early September. I missed all my friends so badly in Granite City. We didn't know one soul when we arrived in West Los Angeles. My grandparents arrived a month later. I return toGranite City for visits as often as I can, I even attended Old Grad's Nite a few years ago and saw four of my girlfriends, Brownie buddies." Click here to visit the Sandy Sides Collection |
