Traveled down the road and back again: Downey's Golden Girls

Left to right: Barbara, Susan, Pat, and Lola. The family has lived in the same Downey house since 1955. Photo by Alex Dominguez

DOWNEY -- From the perspective of an outsider looking in, the home of Lola Sanford and her daughters wouldn’t seem too out of the ordinary, but in actuality its walls echo with a deep family history.

The Sanford residency in Downey started in 1955 and built its way up from the ground; literally.
“We decided to move to Downey and bought a lot here,” said Lola. “I drew up the floor plans…I kind of designed it.”

The home was unique in that it was custom built, while most, if not all, the houses surrounding it were stock. It was here that the now 93-year-old and her husband, Thurman, raised their three daughters: Pat, Susan, and Barbara.

All three sisters - with only a handful of years between them – recall fond memories of growing up in the house until each of them graduated from Downey High School.

“We were raised in this house,” said 66-year-old Barbara. “We all were raised here and then moved away, went to college, and so forth.”

The family remained in the home for 20 years, until oldest sister Pat and her husband bought the property in 1975, where they remained until 2016. Meanwhile, Sanford and her husband moved to Crestline where they lived together until his death in 1991.

“My husband and I, we were here for 42 years,” said Pat. “Great house; a lot of great memories.”

Though the residents have changed in some way or another over the years, the North Downey home has consistently stayed within the family. It has been at the center of holiday gatherings, graduation celebrations, weddings, and even death.

Every room in the house has a memory attached, ranging from family get-togethers to the names of now ex-boyfriends scribbled into cabinets.

“It’s always been a gathering place for the families,” said Lola.

When Pat and her husband decided to follow their dream of living in Hawaii, the house was then sold to Susan and Barbara. Around the same time, Lola decided it was time to sell her Crestline home.

Barbara, now a realtor, took care of the rest.

“We had been wanting mom to move down and be closer with us,” said Barbara. “I went up there and sold her place up there, they took off for Hawaii, we bought the house from her and moved mom in with us; four households moving into one.”

The Sanford sisters in their Downey High yearbook. Photo by Alex Dominguez

If it sounds like something out of a television show, that’s because it’s not too far off. Now once again under the same familiar roof, Lola, Susan and Barbara jokingly refer to themselves as “The Golden Girls.”

With grandchildren coming in and out of the home on various occasions, Barbara says that “the home still feels as if the house is still protecting us.”

“We’re now in our fourth generation here,” said Barbara. “Sometimes it feels like the past and the present just overlap.”

“That’s how life is though,” added Pat. “It’s not linear.”

And how does Lola feel about the legacy she designed so long ago?

“I just feel very blessed that I’m here with my girls,” said Lola.