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The characters
A long lost photo that says it all.
Letter Home Pg.1
Postmarked Jan,21,1978 this letter which I found in a box of knick knacks my mother had saved, clearly defines the beginning of our Cardiff experience. I believe Lisa, and Mary were already there. Jerry, Bridgid and I are soon to be headed that way. How special it was to get that first unemployment check (more on the aquisition of said unemployment benefits later). Money was at a premium, so when we got some, we provided each other with food and alcoholic accessories. We all looked after one another. It always worked out that one of us at one time or another would be getting the "check", so we very rarely went without. Looks like from the letter it was Jerrys turn. Did I accually refer to Marys dad as Mr. Ruth....god bless him, he truly loved Mary, and thought of me as indescribably abnormal.
Letter Home Pg.2
Our journey Begins
The Family
Without a doubt, one of the best nights known to mankind. Tiajuana, Mexico in the wee hours of the night, at one of many bars visited that night. Strange thing was, it was a mexican holiday of some sort, and we had the whole town pretty much to ourselves.Where the hell was Jerry?
honda
My only mode of transport back then
vacation
Left to Right: Micky, Bridget, Me, Mary taking some down time at the lake
Boo
Halloween circa "77" Left to right top: unknown, Brigid, Mary, Lisa, Me. Bottom:Bridget Bakke, Jerry
Hanging out
Left to right: Mary, Me, Brigid, Jerry, and Unknown
Lounging with Lisa
Probly having a good talk with Lisa
The Cardiff house
Not much to see here, but the house sat on a hill with a view to kill for>
The Boys from Martha's Vinyard
Joe "The Snake" Boardman, Strider, and thier sidkick (anyone remember his name)
The Dog Whisperer
Brigid trying out her new found powers of telepathy. She has just put into the dogs mind that there is a squirrel flying past them. Boy, is she good.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
ReplyDeletehi everyone, its strange to think i havent seen most of you for over at least 20 yrs. and yet reading your entries makes me feel so close to you all, like this was yesterday. i dont know about you- but a big part of my heart is determined to stay (as bob dylan sang) "Forever Young". soooooo im just shootin from the hip as to where to start with my thoughts. as to how i got to cardiff- when the four of us split up in pacific beach,bridget and i headed north. we looked at solana beach first as i recall and it was during the races so we were told repeatedly there were fewer rentals at the time. we drove back and forth from p.b. looking and it got alittle dicouraging. one time driving north on I-5 as we entered cardiff i remember telling bridget that i felt at that moment my life was like a play in which i was a character and that there was a script somewhere in the big picture for it, and that at the moment i felt like i was being lead. i can still see the blue sky and the white clouds in it. i remember her saying how pretty it was how i explained my feeling. her and i didnt talk like that with each other (brigid and i did though) which i think is why it stands out to me. so we got off the freeway on manchester and wound around the lagoon with the view of the ocean and i instantly feel in love with the area and really hoped to find a place there. we drove a couple miles to chesterfield( right across from campground) and saw an old man watering in his front yard. we asked him about rentals (i dont think he had a sign out but maybe he did) and he said he was thinking about renting the back of his duplex. we moved in and i would pinch myself every morning to think i lived in such a dream. we payed 250.00 a month. bridget payed a little more and got the one bedroom- i paid less and had my bed(which doubled as the couch) in the tiny livingroom. i later cleaned out an old storage shed and that became my place(no electricity-candles). the waves were about 100 ft. away and i wondered often why everyone in L.A. wasnt living down here, the town was so quiet and empty. one day after having done my homework down at the beach(i went to mesa college) a guy ran up to me and showed me a picture he had drawn of me while i was studying. he said he lived IN the campground in a tent- for 30 days in a row they(there were others he said) could stay and then they had to leave for a weekend before they could return. i invited him over for a cup of tea and he told me his name was larry graff- he was from new york.
Posted by lisa brown at 3:05 PM 2 comments
Bob H. said...
ReplyDeletelisa, that was so cool how you came to Cardiff. Loved hearing your thoughts, but you left us hanging. What happened after meeting larry? Were Jerry and I living in the campgrounds yet? Were we already there? Did you go there with Brigid, or Bridget? If it was Bridget, I was wondering where Mickey was at the time. Keep writing, ya done good
lisa brown said...
ReplyDeletesorry i left you hanging- i type really slow so that took me awhile.i liked larrys free spirit and his transparency and so we became friends.actually, bob, i dont remember you and jerry living in the campgrounds- but no im sure you were not there yet. this was bridget h. that i moved with. brigid and mary had moved to spring valley.mickey still lived in irvine so bridget went north quite frequently to see him and her mom in whittier. so i was left alone alot on weekends and didnt know a soul in town but this larry. within a few weeks all our gang was at a party out by jerrys house (one of their friends i think). during that party steve(my husband) walked by outside with his friend and heard lots of noise so came in to check it out. i was introduced to him by his friend who said steve lived in cardiff. so now i had two friends in cardiff. he visited me alot and always helped tune my guitar. our first date was to the belly up in solana beach. a note of interest about the little place bridget and i rented was that it was the original post office of cardiff. it has since been leveled and for awhile last year i worked in an art gallery on the same property. so while i was at work i looked out at the same view of the ocean as i did in 1977. it was awesome.... at that season in my life i was on a serious quest for Truth/ for God (whoever He was- i really didnt know). my dad had died of cancer my first week of high school and it had become very important for me to know where he was. my so called catholic faith just wasnt cutting it for me in light of my questions. larry was also searching, which was a strong basis of our relationship- lots of zen buddist books, astrology ect. there were a lot of spiritual seekers around town in those days. its gotten way more yuppy. too expensive to live here and just meditate.... we lived there from sept to the end of march at which time i had gotten us evicted. it poured rain a ton that winter and these guys in their tents were drowning (they had become friends through larry). during one storm i told them they could (with there dogs)come and spend the night in the front part of the duplex - there were too many to all fit in the back part where we lived. we had been told the front was off limits by the sweet old man landlord and his wife who lived in fresno and never came to cardiff. we had always respected that rule but i felt so sorry for these guys with their soaking wet sleeping bags. i think bridget was out of town or she would have been "the voice of reason". anyway the owners showed up unexpectedly and im sure it looked bad so they asked bridget and i to move. i felt Terrible- especially to bridget. i cried- we promised never to do it again when we had a talk in their kitchen ect.. and i think the man would have trusted us but the wife said no- i dont blame her. i was 19 and stupid.... so enter the "cardiff house"- i think bridgid, mary and larry had originally rented it. it was two blocks away and i moved in. bridget moved north.
June 29, 2010 4:25 PM