San Francisco, California (Summer 1964)

In the summer of 1964, Sandra travelled across the U.S. with Bill’s friend, Wendy Bolton, who had been a classmate of Lynn Wood’s at Connecticut College.

Context: Wendy Bolton, who was from Boxford, Massachusetts, had graduated from Connecticut College in 1964, with a degree in Studio Art. For her graduation, Wendy’s parents had given her a convertible Volkswagon “Beetle” car. Wendy wanted to drive it across the country but did not want to travel alone, so Sandra volunteered to accompany her, and the two drove from New York to San Francisco, often camping out in sleeping bags when other accommodations were unavailable. On their arrival, they went to a boarding house known as Baker’s Acres, then owned by a French family. The Manager, Felipe Monjeaux gave Sandra a job working in the office, in return for which Sandra was given her room and board. Wendy secured casual employment in San Francisco and also stayed at Baker Acres.

Context: Built as a single-family home in 1904, the building was converted to a boarding house in the 1940’s known as “Baker Acres”. Boardinghouses thrived in San Francisco during the Depression and World War II, before beginning a long decline in the ’50s, when people found they “could afford their own quarters.” The boarders were mostly young women, each having her own room and all sharing the kitchen. By the 1960’s, mostly younger people stayed at Bakers Acres. It was like a fraternity or sorority. If you were new to the city, it was a place where you could make friends quickly. A November 1967 Chronicle obituary on the house’s then-owner, Olga Lindemood, reported that the “sons and daughters of wealthy Americans all around the land have lived there … .

Sandra returned in August by bus to Canton, N.Y., to begin her freshman year at St. Lawrence University in the fall of 1964.