Mapping Julia Child's Milestones Around The World Slideshow
Julia Child was born in Pasadena, Calif., on Aug. 15, 1912.
To celebrate Child's centennial, the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce is hosting a citywide cocktail party culminating with a simultaneous toast at 7 p.m. The citywide cocktail party kicks off the monthlong SIP-tember cocktail bracket challenge. The six-week long cocktail challenge pits restaurants against each other, ultimately whittling a field of 64 cocktails down to a taste-off among the top four.
Other Julia Child birthday celebrations include a Julia Child costume contest at Toro Sushi Bar and Lounge, and a 1950s-themed bowling night with Julia Child-inspired appetizers and cocktails at bowling alley 300 Pasadena that includes a Julia Child dress-alike contest.
Smith College (Northampton, Mass.)
Julia Child majored in history and graduated in 1934 from Smith College, a private, independent, liberal arts college. During her freshman year, Child lived in a corner suite in Hubbard Hall with Mary Case, the daughter of a family friend. Child, known for her height, was too tall for the standard-issue dorm bed. Child's first-year classes included English comp, hygiene, history, zoology, French, and Italian.
Each year since 2004, Smith College has hosted Julia Child Day with panel discussions and keynote speeches. The inaugural celebration featured a panel discussion, "Julia Child: A Zest for Living," and last year's keynote address, "Savoring Yesterday's Traditions Today," was given by culinary artist and radio host Carole Murko, from the class of '83.
On the 100th anniversary of her birth, the Campus Center Cafe is serving some of Child's recipes, the Office of Admission is raffling her iconic book, The Art of French Cooking, and the campus community is wearing aprons to celebrate.
St. Malo, Calif.
Julia Child's parents, John McWilliams Jr. and Julia Carolyn Weston, owned one of the Normandy-style houses in the small, private, sea-walled beach community of St. Malo, Calif.
New York City
While in an entry-level job at W. & J. Sloane, an upscale home furnishings company, Child was paid $18 a week. Child roomed with two recent Smith College graduates who worked in retail. The trio lived in an $80-a-month brownstone on the corner of East 59th Street and First Avenue. A woman with a simple palate at the time, Child often ate at inexpensive places like Huyler's, Chock Full o'Nuts, or Childs.
Like many restaurants across the U.S., several New York City restaurants are participating in the Julia Child Restaurant Week, including Alison Eighteen and Randolph's Bar and Lounge.
Kandy, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)
In Kandy, Sri Lanka, Child was head of the registry for the Office of Strategic Service. She worked for Lord Mountbatten, who oversaw the South East Asia Command (SEAC). He relocated the headquarters to a colonial estate nestled in a tea planation in Kandy. It was also here where she met her husband Paul Child in 1944, who would later expand her culinary horizons.
Kunming, China
After 10 months in Kandy, Child went to Kunming, China, to set up and run the OSS Registry as the conflict between Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong intensified. It was here where she and Paul ate out regularly, sampling Chinese food and shunning the mediocre Western fare available at the time.
Washington, D.C.
After Julia and Paul Child were married in 1946, they lived in an eight-room 19th-century house on Wisconsin Avenue in Georgetown. A year later, in 1947, she moved to 35th Street, and then the following year to 2706 Olive St.. After living abroad for several years, the Childs moved to 1745 N Street NW in Dupont Circle.
In honor of the 100th anniversary of her birth, an exhibit featuring Child's kitchen at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History has been refurbished and is unveiled to coincide with her milestone birthday.
Paris
In 1948, Paul Child was appointed Exhibits Officer for the U.S. Information Service in Paris. It was in France where Julia Child had her epicurean epiphany — sole meunière, at La Couronne in Rouen, France.
The Childs lived at 81 rue de l'Université in Paris' 7th arrondissement. It was here where Child, who by her own admission was not a good cook, first learned to cook, enrolling at Le Cordon Bleu, and where she taught cooking classes to expatriates. Child also began collecting kitchen equipment that she would eventually take back to the U.S.
Bonn, Germany
After Paul's appointment as Cultural Affairs Officer for the southern coast of France took the couple to Marseilles, the couple was posted in Bonn, Germany, where the Childs lived until 1956.
Ullern, Oslo, Norway
After a brief stint in Washington, D.C. where Child tested her recipes and refined The Art of French Cooking, the couple moved to a white clapboard house in Ullern, a neighborhood outside Oslo, Norway. For two years the Childs lived in Norway, where Paul worked as a cultural attaché in his final overseas post. When Child retired from government service in 1960, the couple moved in Cambridge, Mass.
Cambridge, Mass.
Julia Child's Victorian home at 103 Irving St., just blocks from Harvard Square, is best known for its kitchen. The kitchen in this home she shared with husband Paul Child for 40 years served as the set for her cooking show.
When Child left it to retire in California, the kitchen was removed and sent to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History where it is on display. The last meal served in the home was a charity wine dinner for 12 people prepared by Child and chef Jacques Pèpin, who filmed a series of show for PBS with Child called Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home.
Plascassier, France
Julia Child is said to have practiced her culinary skills with original owner Simone Beck at Domaine de Bramafam, a Provençal mas that is now rentable year-round.
The Childs stayed at La Pitcholine, one of two Provençal homes on the property, for six months in 1967. It is believed Child wrote part of volume two of Mastering the Art of French Cooking here.
Named for the olive trees that grow in Nice, the three-bedroom La Pitcholine has a fully equipped kitchen, salon with fireplace, plus a covered terrace for alfresco dining.
Santa Barbara, Calif.
As a child, Julia Child's family often vacationed in Santa Barbara and it is where she and her husband Paul would often visit during home leave from the diplomatic service. When Child moved to Santa Barbara in her later years, she would go to the farmers market in downtown Santa Barbara every Saturday. She liked to take visitors to the pier for breakfast or lunch and for a quick visit to the Moreton Bay fig tree at Highway 101 and Chapala Street, which is said to be the largest in the U.S.
For dinner, Child recommended the following restaurants in an article on Santa Barbara she wrote for National Geographic Traveler in April 2002:
"Santa Barbara's not a renowned restaurant town, but we have some perfectly nice ones. The Wine Cask is downtown. San Ysidro Ranch has a good, if rather noisy, dining room. Lucky's, founded by the fellow behind Lucky Jeans, is very jolly. There's Downey's, where the atmosphere is somewhat subdued, but the food is delicious. And La Super-Rica Taqueria on North Milpas Street is one of the most authentic Mexican home-cooking restaurants around."
Santa Barbara is where a big party was planned for Child's 92nd birthday but sadly she passed away two days before. Her last meal was French onion soup from her cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking.