Richard Nixon Slept Here

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Mrs. Dennis has a detective's instinct for charting the President's movements that would probably keep the Secret Service awake nights if they knew. "You can tell which church he's going to go to," she confides, "because the Secret Service checks it out for about a week beforehand. So that's where I go on Sunday, and sometimes he goes and sometimes he doesn't. Last week he didn't, but he's very fair about it, I think. He said he would go to all the largest churches in San Clemente this visit, and I'm sure he will."

Mrs. Dennis' interest is not unusual in heavily Republican San Clemente, which last year sent a John Bircher to Congress. Bob Kutcher, owner of the hardware store visited by Nixon, is equally rapt. "He was dressed casually, a dark suit and tie; he looked very nice," Kutcher recalls. "They had just put the pool in, and I guess he thought he needed some beach balls, so he bought four dollars' worth." A frame containing a picture of Kutcher talking to the President, as well as the four dollars, now hangs in the store. "And he sent us his official pictures," Kutcher adds. "They're almost impossible to get, you know, so it's very nice to have those."

Scrapple. Even some of those who have not met the President seem inspired by Nixon's presence. Says Nelda Sharp, owner of Nelda's Card Shop: "No, I haven't met him, but he got out of the car across the street to go to the hardware store. I didn't get to meet him but I know he's very nice. After all, he's the President." Pharmacist William Taylor, the recipient of Nixon's only other visit to town, agrees. He says that ever since Nixon's visit, "people come in to shake the hand that shook the hand, and we sell a lot of Nixon postcards." Secret Service men also come around frequently to Taylor's shop in order to keep Pat supplied with Russell Stover candy.

Others have also profited from the White House invasion. The Alpha Beta Supermarket, part of a chain, on El Camino Real takes in an extra $500 a week when the President is in town. Sometimes the White House orders put the manager, Leon Riley, on the phone to his food broker in Los Angeles, as the time when the chef ordered macadamia nut ice cream (it comes from Hawaii). "They've picked that up here and taken it back East with them," says Riley. And it took Alpha Beta a day and a half to get in Gruyere cheese. The store also had to call for longdistance help when the White House ordered scrapple. Another beneficiary is the Patio Furniture Center, which sold $2,500 worth of tables and chairs for the Western White House's outdoor mess.