Days 11 and 12 of Ride West

Riding through Malibu last week and again on Thursday causes me to remember and reminisce about my years growing up in the 50's and 60's.  I don't know about your formative years, but growing up in small town Texas had its' advantages and sweet memories, but there was also plenty of time for day dreaming, wishing, and yearning for another life.  With one brother ten years older, my friends were my constant companions.  Unlike today, we only had four channels on the TV, AM radio, books, and board games.  Consequently, most of my waking hours were spent outside.  Movies at the theatre in town were a treat, usually reserved for Saturday's.  The local library was also a frequent place I visited, checking out the maximum four books at a time, and reading them either in my room, or on the porch in the summer.  With no A/C until my teen years at home, outside was the best choice in the summer.

Those of you reading this that were born later will perhaps have trouble relating, but here are some of my remembrances that were brought to mind riding through the beach and surf town of Malibu.  The beach movies, Gidget, Beach Party, etc. came out in the 60's.  About fifth or sixth grade, these hit the State Theatre in Gainesville, and how I wanted to see them.  But nope, b/c the girls we were in bikinis (really modest two piece swim suits, compared to now), my dad said no.  So, I sat at home on Saturday afternoons and dreamed of surfing and beach parties, while many of my friends were at the movies.

I was about that time, really into model cars, and cars in general.  The hot car scene in all the magazines was Southen California.  Drag racers such as "Big Daddy" Don Garlits, and custom car builders such as Carl Casper and George Barris designed cars that were a young kid's dream.  There's even a FB page today for these guys.  www.facebook.com/showrods.

So, as I would ride around town on my lime green Schwinn StingRay bicycle, I would imagine I was in Malibu or Ventura or somewhere on the beaches that the Beach Boys sang about.  I had a "girlfriend" in the fourth grade, Donna Culp.  That next summer, she moved to Southern California, and I really began to dream about surfing, and California girls.  A few years later, she moved back to our town, tanned with long blonde hair, but, alas, our fourth grade romance was not to be resumed.  She was, as I recall, the epitome of what I thought California girls all looked like.  Apparenly, I was not what California boys looked like, and we went our seperate ways.

I did, however, achieve some measure of satisfaction of dreaming of sunny Southern California, by exchanging the Schwinn Sting Ray for a black Honda 50, my first introduction into motorcycles.  I traded a go-cart and some money I made from my paper route to Bill Murray's dad, who ran the local motorcycle shop.  Talk about freedom!!!  Occasionally disobeying my parent's rule of not going out of town, I would ride on the country roads and occasionally further.  Being able to finish my paper route in record time, I would mow lawns in the summer, and before long, I traded in the Honda 50 for a bright red shiny Honda S 90.  I don't recall whether it was new or used, but it wasn't long until I began to "customize" it by removing the front fender and adding a megaphone pipe to make it as loud as possible.  Helmets were not required, and in my mind not necessary back then, I terrorized the neighborhoods, and would often have a girl riding on the back with me.  Only once did I crash, hitting a car that pulled out in front of me one day as I was almost home from my paper route.  Fortunately, I was not hurt, and the bike was fixable.

Summer nights were the best, with me and my friends often "camping out" in the back yard.  We were in junior high by now.  After our parents were asleep, we would walk around town, especially  on the weekends looking for the girls houses where slumber parties were being held.  Back at our "campsite" we would stay up all night listening to Wolfman Jack.  He was on an all night AM station XERF, broadcasting from Ciudad Acuna, Mexico.  Because it was across the border, their signal was much stronger than allowed in the US, and could be heard all across North America.  We would also listen to WNOE in New Orleans, and WLS from Chicago.  My friend, Dean, whose back yard we stayed in, was an amateur astronomer; and had a telescope.  We would look at the stars and planets, and he taught me about all the constellations.  

Another favorite weekend and summer night activity was to spend the night at Rodney Robinson's house.  He lived with his grandparents, and had his own apartment with a seperate entrance.  We could come and go with no worries of getting caught.  It was here I learned to play poker, often betting with matches or pennies, since we were all broke (having spent all our money on our motorcycles), and learning how to smoke cigars, Swisher Sweets.  Rodney had a Honda 250, much faster than my S 90, but he would let me keep up with him when we would ride together.

Today, since Brooke was at work all day, I spent some time riding around Venice and Marina Del Rey, visiting the beach, and watching the sailboats leave the harbor for a day of riding the wind.  This part of  Southern California is probably much different than in the 60's, but maybe not so much.  The surfers are still out, the hotrods are still cruising Hwy 1, motorcycles are in abundance, and Venice Beach is as crazy as always.  California deamin.................