"It's part of my life - you become attached to the neighborhood," according to Prudence Myrland Haney, who grew up in the Sam Hughes Neighborhood. She and her family moved into their house on Hawthorne in 1928. There was nothing but desert across the street. Her father designed the house so it sat on an angle facing the Catalina Mountains because he had always wanted to have a view of the Catalinas from his windows. The house is Mission Revival style with Philippine mahogany doors and floor. The basement was never finished because the house sat on "Caliche Hill."
The land was homesteaded by the Erickson family but when the depression came along Mrs. Erickson (now divorced) could no longer pay the taxes so the county ended up with the land which they turned into a park. Mrs. Erickson asked that the park be given her maiden name "Himmel" which means "heaven" in German.
-Interviewed by Wallis Downer