Garages with Attics

One of the features of our (later called historic) neighborhood was that some of the garages had attics. On the northwest corner of our block was a very large house with a VERY large garage, owned by several families while I lived at 918. The garage was a "carriage house" along the lines of the one in the movie Sabrina. In that film, Audrey Hepburn portrays a young girl, daughter of the chauffeur for a wealthy family. She lives above the garage and observes the rich people from there. Sabrina even tries to kill herself in that garage. The carriage-house-style garage on our block did not, to my knowledge, have a chauffeur living above it, but it had a suite of rooms up there, and there were at LEAST four garage doors.

Sadly, one of Mom's friends, Mrs. C_____, who lived in the large house on the corner, later committed suicide in the house, the tragic death of a dear shy woman.

The other memorable garage attic was the G________'s family garage, down near Monroe Street. It was also a corner house (what IS that about?), and above the garage was a dusty attic with mysterious trunks. It had a window, so we could see all the wonderful things inside. One glimpse was enough to burn it into my brain. Trunks and old fashioned furniture and clothing! How magical these things are to a child!