“I was born and raised in California, where my maternal grandfather had been a pioneer before the state was admitted to the Union. \u00a0He had bought a gold mine and settled in Jackson, Amador County. \u00a0A few years later he crossed the Isthmus of Panama again and went to Brooklyn, where he married my grandmother. \u00a0There my mother was born. \u00a0When she was three years old, they went to Jackson.”<\/em><\/p>\n And then there’s Gertrudes’s take on Alice’s beginnings in THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ALICE B.<\/strong> TOKLAS<\/strong>:<\/p>\n “I was born in San Francisco, California. \u00a0I have in consequence always preferred living in a temperate climate but it is difficult, on the continent of Europe or even in America, to find a temperate climate and live in it. \u00a0My mother’s father was a pioneer, he came to California in ’49, he married my grandmother who was very fond of music. \u00a0She was a pupil of Clara Schumann’s father. \u00a0My mother was a quiet charming woman named Emilie.”<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n Alice B. , circa 1878<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n In celebration, what were some of Alice’s favorite things? \u00a0 Raindrops on roses minus the whiskers on kittens a la Julie Andrews may have topped the list, but here’s my compilation:<\/p>\n \u2022 \u00a0Gertrude.<\/strong> “It was Gertrude Stein who held my complete attention, as she did for all the many years I knew her until her death, and all these empty ones since then.”<\/em><\/p>\n Venice, 1908<\/p><\/div>\n \u2022 Needlepoint\/petit point<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Design by Picasso, petit point by Alice.<\/p><\/div>\n \u2022 Gardening<\/strong>. \u201cFor fourteen successive years the gardens at Bilignin were my joy, working in them during the summers and planning and dreaming of them during the winters.”<\/em><\/p>\n The house and gardens in Bilignin by Sir Francis Rose<\/p><\/div>\n \u2022 Entertaining guests<\/strong> (did she have any choice with a house filled with Picassos and Matisses that all wanted to see?) Here’s where Cooking comes in.<\/p>\n \u2022 Fashion<\/strong> with a focus on hats.<\/p>\n Alice on the left in a room full of hats, late 1950s<\/p><\/div>\n \u2022 Fauchon<\/strong>, the high-end Parisian grocer.<\/p>\n Birthday tea with Alice<\/p><\/div>\n \u2022 Organizing<\/strong>, \u00a0both as Gertrude’s “secretary” and as the\u00a0ma\u00eetre d’household.<\/p>\n \u2022 Letter writing<\/strong>. \u00a0Was it a pleasure or an obligation or a sign of a proper Victorian upbringing? \u00a0Luckily, there are hundreds, which we can enjoy today.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/ABTbaby-copy.jpg\" "\\"ABTbaby")
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