1964 thru 1967 • The Haight, San Francisco ~ Viewing the world through the plate glass windows of Sprouse-Reitz, I seldom ventured out of the store and Dad didn’t want me wandering the streets. When you have no sense of direction and are born in a box as my sister Betty claims I was, I figured it … [Read more...]
3.31 Quit Gawking
1964 • 1644 Haight Street, San Francisco ~ At times my father amazed me. One late June afternoon, a boy, not quite my age, maybe fourteen, slender, blonde, and nervous, came into the store. He wanted to buy a bra and needed help. Too embarrassed, especially when I realized this kid wanted it for … [Read more...]
3.30 It’s Not Fair!
1964 • 45th Avenue, San Francisco ~ I wasn’t a problem teenager. I didn’t lie, I didn’t cheat, I didn’t steal. Nor did I sass, drink, or smoke, and I didn’t fool around with boys. Not because I thought fooling around with boys was bad, but because if my Dad ever found out, and he would, he’d … [Read more...]
3.29 The Sunset
1962 • San Francisco ~ At the end of a long day, rather than taking 19th Avenue home after work, Dad occasionally drove home by way of the Panhandle then through Golden Gate Park and past Kezar Stadium. For a few years he had a little black, white-topped convertible Ford. As far as I knew, he never … [Read more...]
3.28 A Longer Scorecard
Summer 1960 • San Francisco ~ I was eleven when Dad began courting Tweedledee. When I first met Marie she reminded me of a life-sized, inflatable Tippy Doll, the kind with sand in the bottom that when you knocked it over, it popped right back up. She worked in Margo’s dress shop up the street from … [Read more...]
3.27 Sweeney’s Candy Shop
1960s • San Francisco ~ Tightly wedged between Sprouse-Reitz and Superba Grocery was Sweeney’s candy store. The Sweeneys were a sweet white-haired couple who lived in the flat above their Haight Street shop. Actually, now that I think about it, Mr. Sweeney was on the crusty side, a balding man with … [Read more...]
3.26 1644 Haight Street, 1960
1644 Haight Street, San Francisco ~ From the time I was twelve I spent my summers with my dad and worked for him in his store in the Haight, and when I got older, I worked Christmas and Easter vacations too, saving my earnings for milkshakes, school clothes, and college. As you walked through the … [Read more...]
3.25 “Listen, Dearie”
Southern California ~ Larry phoned a week later and asked Betty what she’d heard about Mother. "How would I know?" Betty retorted. "I haven’t called." "Call the hospital! Right now! Find out!" Betty got the head nurse on the phone, identified herself as Noreen Clemens’ daughter, and asked, … [Read more...]
3.24 The Hillman Minx
Southern California ~ Mother attempted suicide like clockwork, usually with pills and alcohol and always next to a hospital or police station so someone could rescue her in time. My mother wanted to kill herself, but she didn't want to die; there's a difference. Carleen no longer took the calls to … [Read more...]
3.23 Purgatory
1960s • La Habra ~ Mom rotated between Betty’s and Claudia’s, but their welcome mats finally wore out. Larry wouldn't deal with living with her because she smoked and he didn't want her smoking around their new baby. Carleen was the one who took her in when she had no place else to go. What with our … [Read more...]
3.22 “You Writin’ a Book?”
1960s • La Habra ~ The women in my family are not victims, however, we do come from a long line of martyrs, and our mother learned from the best. With her bromides she nagged my oldest sister like a scolding fishwife. “You’ve made your bed… ,” Mom’s voice withered, then she'd snidely remind Carleen … [Read more...]
3.21 “Chu-uck”
1960s • La Habra ~ My brother-in-law—a jug-eared, skinny 6’4” guy with a dark flattop, a two-day-old shadow, and an Elvis Presley lip—worked as the night foreman at National Tapered Wings. Over the years Chuck built airplane parts for Lockheed, Boeing, and Gulfstream. When his cousin … [Read more...]
3.20 Simon Legree
1960 • La Habra ~ A letter to my father: Dear Daddy, I don’t want to live with Carleen any more. I am taking the bus to come stay with you. Please pick me up at the Greyhound station this Saturday. Please. Carleen is mean, and she doesn’t really love me. She just wants me here to be her … [Read more...]
3.19 The Furies
1960 • La Habra ~ Debbie, Randy, and I had daily chores. We made our beds, cleaned our bathroom, and fixed our breakfast. We vacuumed, swept, and dusted. I helped with dinner. Debbie set the plates and Randy got out the silverware. After dinner I washed the dishes, Debbie dried, and Randy put away … [Read more...]
3.18 Gus the Helms Man
1960 • La Habra ~ The Fuller Brush man, the Good Humor man, and the Helms man were regulars in our neighborhood. I loved the Helms man. I loved anybody who brought food around. Bow-tied Gus Gustavito drove slowly up our street, a distinctive hoot-hoot tooting his daily arrival. His mustard-yellow … [Read more...]
3.17 Queen of Hearts
1960 • La Habra ~ My sisters drank pot after pot of Folgers and smoked pack after pack of filters, complaining the whole time how crappy their hands were, bad-mouthing Mother, and bitching about their husbands. I was clear I didn’t like coffee or cigarettes, clear I was not going to grow up and be … [Read more...]
3.16 Smoke Gets in Your Eyes 1960s
Early 1960s • La Habra ~ Sequestered by the murky outline of the San Gabriel Mountains, Orange County had constant smog alerts, sometimes the air so awful they closed the schools. Everyone was told to stay inside; outside was smothered in a pea soup of haze so dense that not even a Santa Ana wind … [Read more...]
3.15 Beach Camping
1959 • Salton Sea, California ~ My least fond memory of that summer is water skiing at the Salton Sea, a huge inland lake in the desolate Sonoran Desert. The place is a forsaken moonscape: saltier than the Pacific Ocean, hotter than blazing cinders, and smellier than rotting catfish. No benches, … [Read more...]
3.14 Waiting, Waiting, Waiting
1959 • La Habra ~ That summer Chuck bought a boat, bringing an end to our Sunday drives. It was a fifteen-foot, white wood-hulled, mahogany-decked Trojan Chris Craft powered by a 50-horsepower Evinrude outboard motor with a 75 lower end. We didn’t visit missions anymore, now we went on camping and … [Read more...]
3.13 Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
1959 • La Habra ~ Chuck wasn’t prejudiced; he hated equally all those he believed were inferior to him. His spewing slurs insulted every race, color, nationality, and ethnic origin. His left middle finger was constantly raised in salute as he angrily cursed the wops, cut off the chinks, and careened … [Read more...]
3.12 Chutes and Ladders
1959/60 • La Habra ~ Carleen always called Randy a schnook, but he wasn’t, he was just innocent. On the opening day of the Pomona Fair, we were in line at the cotton candy stand when three brass-buttoned uniformed women in garrison caps smartly walked by. "Mom, what are they?" Randy … [Read more...]
3.11 Sunday Drives
1959 • La Habra ~ My brother-in-law’s idea of a family outing was a Sunday drive in his 1956 two-door Mercury Monterey, a two-toned gray and salmon (“titty-pink,” my sister called it) hardtop with a 312 engine, white-walled tires, and big chrome bumpers. He didn’t take us to the local fair or … [Read more...]
3.10 Tie Pin and Cufflinks
1959 • San Francisco ~ In the late afternoon on August 7, 1959, my step-mother, while stepping off a downtown bus in San Francisco, fell, had a heart attack, and died shortly after. She was 73. Carleen flew to San Francisco to be with Dad for the funeral; she was more broken up than … [Read more...]
3.09 The Amana
1959 • La Habra ~ Carleen had this thing about never running out of food. Her cupboards were loaded with bags of pasta, rice, and beans. Boxes of Cheerios, Wheaties, Trix, and Kix were lined up next to loaves of Wonder Bread, rolls, and buns. There were Twinkies, Oreos, HoHos, and Snowballs. There … [Read more...]
3.08 KRLA and KHJ
1959 • La Habra ~ Cruising Whittier Boulevard, we took a spin to the A&W for frosted mugs of root beer or to Tastee Freeze for fried taquitos and banana splits with extra chocolate and whipped cream, Debbie and Randy in the back, Carleen and me in the front, riding low in the seat with the … [Read more...]
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