Old Highway Route 399

Conrad Wieneke, the brother of my grandmother, lived on Highway 399 in Ojai. His sister, Eutrophia Maude Brown, lived on a farm nearby. Mary Magdalene Rosamond lived in one of Conrad’s homes in Ventura. The third photo from the top could have been taken on 399.

What is key, my kindred are modeling. My two aunts are posing with their mother sitting on the runner of a vintage car, and Eutrophia is posing in the bottom photo. These people did not know they are kin to Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor. My later sister, Christine Rosamond Benton, became a famous artist and married into the artistic Benton family. Jessie Benton, the wife of John Fremont, held a salon at Black Point in San Francisco. My first girlfriend, Marilyn Reed, did some modeling when she was thirteen, and fit right in with all the beautiful Rosamond Women.

That is Conrad Wieneke on the…