Imperial Beach
Rosa Adams (continued)
In 2006 the HBO series "John From Cincinnati" came to Imperial Beach for filming and basically set up camp on the street
in front of her house and even in her yard. "They were cooking out in the front. They would put everything right here,"
Rosa says pointing to her yard and the street in front of it. "They would say 'Come and eat.'"
She eventually became an extra in the show with a speaking part. "Mr. Milch saw me outside," says Rosa of David Milch,
creator and executive producer the show. "I was outside pruning my flowers and he asked me 'Do you want to be in the
show?' I said, 'Right now?' He said, 'Yeah.' I said, 'Yeah I want to!'"
"So they came and got all the information about me," Rosa continues. "I was so nervous! It's my first time on television.
At the beginning I thought, maybe he's kidding. But he told me he was serious. 'I want you to be in the show,' he said.
They came and took pictures of me. After that, I got ready and they put me by the window."
In the scene Rosa is pruning roses in her front yard when one of the characters asks her for directions. "I talked to
the doctor, he was walking by. He said 'Oh, you have some beautiful flowers.' I said 'Thank you.' He asked me about this
motel in the back. 'Is this the way?' And I said 'Yeah.' Then he came back and we tried again. It took 30 minutes."
"They were here over a year," says Rosa. "The show was done in June (2007). We went to the premiere in May. Then they
came back and finished." Mr. Milch sent a limousine to pick up Rosa and bring her to the premier in Los Angeles. "I
liked the limousine!" she says. "It was fun. Then we went to San Diego for an interview with Channel 51. I went there
with one of my sons and my three little grandchildren."
Like many of the folks around Imperial Beach, Rosa wishes the show could have continued. "I liked all the people from
the show. They're very nice and friendly. I miss it. I miss everybody."
Back in Mexico, when Rosa was 3 years old, she contracted polio. "I've had a cane since then. I use a brace for my left
leg because I cannot move my leg." She never let it slow her down. "It was normal for me because I don't remember when
I could walk. All I remember is having polio. I don't feel it's a difference because I don't remember before it. I want
to move around and go everywhere. I don't give up. I don't want to feel like I can't."
Rosa grew up near Mexico City where she and her sisters would often go to the river to do some fishing. "I would
sometimes get up at 6 o'clock with my sisters and would go to the river and catch shrimp. I would fill up a big
bucket. It was really fun." The real fun came when Rosa brought the shrimp home. "My mother would make shrimp soup
with vegetables."
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