Thursday, December 31, 2015

On the Move

1983, I moved out of my parents' house for the second time.  Moved into an attached unit on Olive Street in Temple City, half-block west of Baldwin Avenue.  The building is gone today, replaced with a new development located on Olive Court.



1984-1986, lived at 2006 South Baldwin, Arcadia, half- block north of Longden.  I lived there with John Simpson, an old school buddy.  And by old school buddy, I mean I knew him from the 6th grade in Mr. Gallagher's class.  That Mr. Gallagher was terrific.  It was he who sent me with two other students from our grade out to March Air Force Base in Riverside for a tour.  It was there that we got to see German Shepherd attack dogs in training.  It was exciting stuff as an 11-year-old.  Guys in protective suits would meander out into the middle of a corral and someone else would let a single dog loose.  And the dog would attack the man.  Great stuff.

It was also Mr. Gallagher who played the acoustic guitar to the class.  I loved it.  He would sing the song "Cindy, Cindy."  Here are the lyrics:

You ought to see my Cindy
She lives way down South
She's so sweet the honey bees,
Swarm around her mouth

Git along home Cindy, Cindy
Git along home Cindy, Cindy
Git along home Cindy, Cindy
I'll marry you some day

The first time that I saw her
She was standing in the door--
Her shoes and stockings in her hand
Her feet all over the floor

(Refrain)
I wish I was an apple
Hanging on a tree
And every time my Cindy'd pass
She'd take a bite of me.

And here is Ricky Nelson singing the same song:




In that same class of Mr. Gallagher's, I performed a pantomine to Petula Clark's "Downtown."  I memorized the lines and rehearsed a routine at home.  And I remember that Karen Dirks, who sat toward the front of the class, really enjoyed my animated performance.



Looking at these two songs from that period, it's clear how my generation really was on the tail end of the 50s.  Yes, Ms. Clark and Ricky Nelson were both a product of the 60s, but their audience was really the kids who grew up in the 50s.

1987, When I left the 2006 Baldwin address, I moved into the front unit of a home at 2885 Nina Street in Pasadena.  I found this unit by going to the resource center at Lake Avenue Congregational Church on Lake Avenue.  I lived here for about a year.

1988, I moved to Pasadena on Villa Street.  I rented a back unit from Julia Fanara and her family. My brother, Joe, and I lived here for only a few weeks.  From here I went to live at Dan's units on Virgil in Los Angeles.

1989, from Dan's I moved to an apartment in Costa Mesa at 1887 Monrovia Avenue, Apt. #2, the ground floor apartment at the left of the stairs, while going to school at UC Irivne.  I lived here with Catherine for one year before I moved to graduate housing on UC Irvine.  If you were 25 or over, you qualified for graduate housing.  So I shared a unit with a young Chinese man by the name of Eric.  He was studying medicine.  The second roommate's name was also Eric, who was a traffic engineer and who invited me to a party of his in Arcadia.  He started making $40k as a traffic engineer while I began at $26k a year as a high school English teacher.

1990, I was still living in that graduate housing unit. But was soon joined by Catherine.  It was pleasant enough. We used to walk around the circle, called Adobe Circle.  I lived at 6461 Adobe Circle.

1993, I earn my Bachelor's degree in March 1992, and then spent one more year at Irvine getting my teaching credential.  When I left the graduate housing on Adobe Circle in 1993, I had no place to live. I stayed ten days at the Hertz's home while they were on vacation in June 1993.  From there I Cathy Fritchie let me stay at her place for one month while she was visiting her mother in Pennsylvania. From there I moved to San Gabriel and stayed there for 20 years to the month, September 1993 to September 2013.

2013, I stayed at Joe's for 6 months before finding my own place.

2014, I moved to Colorado for almost about 4 months where I drive a truck for Tye.  Jacob was my supervisor but his yelling didn't sit well with me.

It is amazing how songs of an era can shape if not one's thinking, then at least one's attitude.  I don't know how many times I'd heard "To Sir With Love" by Lulu.  The song reminded me of James Farentino and my great cousin, Chuck Pullman and his wife, Sally, who to me were the sexy, dynamic couple of the 60s along with Chuck's brother, Jack Pullman and his wife Cathy.  This song reminded me of their era.  The 60s really dominated my imagination.  I did listen to my dad's big band music and it was rhythmic and wonderful, but the symphonic, orchestral sounds of background violins of the 60's hits really lured me.



Saturday, December 26, 2015

Oak Glen in the Hills Behind Yucaipa

One month after harvest.

















I picked up some apples from this place.  Because harvest was already a month past, they didn't have much variety.  Their Fuji apples were quite good--sweet, firm, with the taste of mountain air.  I knew you'd like that.  They had cider.  All of the shops up here have cider.  They have tarts too--apple and berry.  Didn't get one because they were just too damn big, like something you'd find at Claim Jumpers.  Generally small is better tasting.  Generally.  You might spot two pillars of smoke.  One at the center of those chairs and a second fire on the other side of that rear gable.  It's on that second fire where they grill the tri-tip.  That's right, tri-tip.  You put that word "tri-tip" in front of anything and it will sound good: tri-tip sandwich or tri-tip chili.  See.  And this little kitchen on the corner there had these two items on the menu, so I sampled.  The chili had at least three beans in it plus the tri-tip. Nothing to write home about.   On a cold morning, I could imagine that the chili would be fortifying and warming.  But there wasn't much flavor.  The tri-tip sandwich was tri-tip and bread.  But it tasted okay.  That, more than anything, filled me up.  Quite satisfying.  This place along with most vendors up here in Oak Glen have festivals and events throughout the year.  Spread throughout the year. Harvest time is the best time for the apples--October.  Harvest time ends on Thanksgiving, so anytime in November before that and October and September and you will find a fantastic variety of flavorful apples.

Los Rios has several vendors' stands.  This one is the most popular from what I can tell.  It opens at 10am but the kitchen doesn't start serving the chili and the tri-tip until 11:15am.  So if it's cold be sure to get yourself a cup of joe to keep yourself warm.






Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Santa Anita Regional Park






I love this park for a few reaons, one of them is that I ran a couple of cross country races here while in high school.  Arcadia was not in the Rio Hondo League with Duarte.  We competed against La Canada, South Pasadena, Bell Gardens, San Marino, and Temple City, all of whom were tough.  We did have morning practice where we ran from Duarte High School to Arcadia Park, a six-mile run. The course here at Arcadia was also used for CIF Finals, meaning only the best runners, like Allen Ashcraft, Marc Greene, and Tom Ashcraft would race.  So it was a place for legends.  Arcadia had a very tough cross country team back in the early 70s.

Years later Al and I would run laps around the park in training for basketball.





















I had eaten here only a few times.  It is unremarkable.  In fact, the last time confirmed my distaste for it--the coffee was typical diner coffee--terrible water, bland-flavored coffee.  Pass.  It's convenient. If you're looking for a diner in the Arcadia area, I guess this might be the place to go but only because there isn't any other place.  The Good Earth Restaurant up in the Hasting Ranch area was the best place for breakfast.  Their pancakes and syrup were the best.  And their cinammon tea unmatched. They had a restaurant in Studio City that closed back in February 2014.  That's too bad.


















Arcadia Par