Thanks, Tony, for the memories. I, too, grew up in LA--born in Chinatown and as a kid moved a few times in the "Frogtown"/Lincoln Heights/El Sereno neighborhoods. In the late 1940s, I remember clear skies, Mt. Baldy was that crisp, sharp-edged hood ornament you mention, and I could ride my Schwinn along Riverside Drive, Los Feliz, all the way up to the Griffith Park Observatory, free to explore, an innocent in a wonderland of palm trees, beautiful homes and sweeping vistas to a shimmering sea. That was long before I read the likes of West and Didion and felt a bit of that ominous mental cloud besetting the newly arrived dreamers disillusioned in a place where failure is as common as the haze everyone describes. I left to see and live in the wider world, finally returning to a beach town in the LA basin. Now, avoiding commuter times, my wife and I can escape megalopolis on freeways to the deserts, to the mountains or, only a few hours away, even to Mexico.
Wonderful. How DID you get to Mexico and when and with whom. I remember a new Swedish wife and daughter arriving some years ago and then....what? I'm sure I can find all on Google but I love the storage room filled with driftwood of your past. Who were we then?
Thanks, Tony, for the memories. I, too, grew up in LA--born in Chinatown and as a kid moved a few times in the "Frogtown"/Lincoln Heights/El Sereno neighborhoods. In the late 1940s, I remember clear skies, Mt. Baldy was that crisp, sharp-edged hood ornament you mention, and I could ride my Schwinn along Riverside Drive, Los Feliz, all the way up to the Griffith Park Observatory, free to explore, an innocent in a wonderland of palm trees, beautiful homes and sweeping vistas to a shimmering sea. That was long before I read the likes of West and Didion and felt a bit of that ominous mental cloud besetting the newly arrived dreamers disillusioned in a place where failure is as common as the haze everyone describes. I left to see and live in the wider world, finally returning to a beach town in the LA basin. Now, avoiding commuter times, my wife and I can escape megalopolis on freeways to the deserts, to the mountains or, only a few hours away, even to Mexico.
I had a Schwinn too.
Great stuff, Tony. Didn’t know you were here. I’ll be a regular.
As I read your words, I could see everything you described. Even after all these years away, it's all still so clear and vivid.
Wonderful. How DID you get to Mexico and when and with whom. I remember a new Swedish wife and daughter arriving some years ago and then....what? I'm sure I can find all on Google but I love the storage room filled with driftwood of your past. Who were we then?