Day 59: The Dead Pen Pal Box Part Three

Part of a very typical first pen pal letter, early seventies. Chicago, Three Dog Night, Jim Croce or John Denver were more usual faves than Alice Cooper. Dig the Flower Power envelope!

Desert Hot Springs is north of Palm Springs:

"We see Movie stars sometimes because my dad works on cars and he gets peoples cars like Elvis Presley, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Libarache or how ever you spell it!

It isn't very fun out here though because they'res hardly anything to do."

I think this is the first letter, not from a relative, I ever received. Diane was not a pen pal but a girl I used to play with and sometimes stay with when I went up to Tom's Place in the Sierras with my dad (one of his favorite collecting spots). She had a pet burro.

Here's a photo of us we just found:

Diane, the burro, and an unusually tanned me.

I think the boy in the blue shirt was Diane's brother.

My guinea pig Charlotte never had any babies. This was not surprising since she lived alone in her hutch.

 Some important questions on the back of this envelope. I guess I sent back the pen pal file sheet as well as the Tic Tac Toe game, as they weren't in the envelope.

It gets better: "My gerbils names are Trixie, Pixie, Dixie, Fixie, Tixie, Bixie, Cixie and I haven't named the fish.

I have never been to California before. My mother and father went to California this summer they said it was Great. But to HOT!!" (This chick lived in FLORIDA!)

Ah, the seventies! Patchwork, buttons and bright colors... And yet another way to misspell my last name...

" It's been so long since I've written and I lost all your old letters so I kinda forgot what you were like and everything." (After another letter or two, she stopped writing permanently.)

This writing paper was round, but for some reason would only scan as a square.

Green-eyed Soul

"I have blonde hair, green eyes, freckles and all that stuff."

"I'm one of three girls called Peace, Soul & Love. I'm Soul."

"I run a wild, and hectic, and fun life."

Day 58: The Posters on My Walls Part One

Or, more specifically, the ceiling. There wasn't much wall space in my bedroom so most of my teenage posters were stuck on the ceiling with a staple gun. Here are a few of them.

 This had to be my favorite.

Of course I had Todd posters. I had a pin-up from Circus Magazine of the Birdman of Alcatrash costume, but the posters available were much more low key. This one I think I bought from an ad in the back of Creem.

This one's huge; an A1 flyposter. I probably hassled someone in a record store for it.

The truly sensational Sensational Alex Harvey Band. I got this one the first time I went to the UK.

Another record store gem.

During the brief time in high school when I was going out with Robert Marlow, he went home to Scotland at Christmas. He returned with this Steve Harley poster for me. Then he dumped me.

 From 1978 until 1980 I worked at CBS Records (as a photographer's assistant). I got minimum wage, but a lot of records and promo items. I am pretty sure that's when I got this poster. (And no, I had nothing to do with that photo session!)

 

 More to follow...

Day 57: The Dead Pen Pal Box Part Two

"How it sears my soul!"

My pen pal Mary Jane on the east coast liked to write poetry. Pretty deep stuff. Actually it's fairly similar to the stuff I composed at the same age, e.g., "How do I say what I feel when I don't even feel what I say?"... Or something along those lines...)

She also liked to drink. Well, not rye "(yuk)". I can't figure out if they had Vermouth (yuk from me!!) Friday night or if they had nothing till they went to Vermont Friday night. (She lived in New England in an adjacent state.) Maybe it was vermouth in Vermont? And what's in the highballs?

"I don't drink that much, I mean at long intervals, but I like to be part of the group, and you're really "in" if you drink, besides it's fun."

I myself never understood peer pressure; therefore I was never "in". That's why I had pen pals! And no hangovers.

Anyway, she wrote a lot more than three letters, but I think that was the final one. So I never got to hear about her bug collection due in June - that intrigued me!

Oh, one more bit. That Sorry So Sloppy thing was very common at the end of 70s letters!

Mary Jane dug the actor A Martinez; I would send her pictures of him from 16 Magazine. And I thought you would love seeing how John Denver was a sex symbol to young teenagers in the 70s. A lot of my peers fancied him! Sean Kelly was a teenage actor (in The Cowboys, just had to Google, and saw a yecchy photo of him posing with plumber's cleavage) as was Mitch Vogel; I am more familiar with him as he was on Little House on the Prairie, and also in Born Innocent with Linda Blair!

"However he looks stupid on Star Trek"

I met Jurate in San Diego and we wrote to each other even though she lived on the other side of L.A., in Los Feliz. We did meet up once or twice. I had told her I had seen Leonard Nimoy in person; he was doing something on stage at the Music Center.

"I don't like the Partridge Family too much now. I don't like the Osmond Brothers either. P.S. I hate David Cassidy."

Jurate had good taste in decor though: "The living room has blue curtains and a blue sofa, and a gorgeous gold and spring green shag rug."

PS I just googled her and she is now a dentist in San Francisco.

I was dazzled by Debbie of B.C.'s stationery.

And Debbie of New York's purple Peanuts writing set...

This Debbie (there were a LOT of Debbies in my day) wrote to me for several years. This was her final letter to me. I guess things never did settle down.

Squeeze the latest news on the stomach of a psychedelic green frog, then stick the whole thing in a hot orange envelope. Don't forget to dot your i's with circles!

Giant stationery with fashionable female. I think the writing on the other side only covered a quarter of it.

Final letter from Margie something, with a pop-up owl. "I've never been to California. But maybe in the future I can come to see you?" (If she still has this address, she had better hurry up!)

Love, Luck & Lollipops! (Huh?!)



Two popular things to write on the backs of envelopes. Was Elvis a sprinter?

Well, speaking of sprinters, I surely was not one! I came in last of my entire grade in the President's Physical Fitness Test, for both the 50-yard dash and the 500-yard Run/Walk. (I mostly walked.) (Do they still have such nonsense?)

But hey, groovy stationery!!

This purple loving letter writer also would fold her letters up like so. P.S. It also worked if you pulled quickly; I tried it!

The lowdown from Laura

This was a school friend who had moved to La Canada; before it joined to Flintridge.

I wonder what my version of this stationery said: Kibitzing from Karen?

A psychedelic sunburst on lilac

A lot of letters from this era were adorned with scented sealing wax. This one wasn't; that's the residue of a disintegrated rubber band! (The red ones did not last.) Very groovy stationery indeed!

Day 56: Fourth of July on John Street

There used to be an annual block party here, though I more often than not was not around for it. But the main people who organized it or participated are now all dead or gone, including my parents. Fireworks are illegal in Manhattan Beach - even sparklers! But still, a lot of lawbreaking goes on as there are several fireworks stands on the County strip near the freeway.

For a couple of recent years the next door neighbors would shoot rockets from their back yard so my father and I had a free display from the dining room window. They nearly set a tree in their yard alight a few times; I watched them douse it with buckets of water.

My brother and his family were here on this day a couple of years ago, and here are some photos. Don't tell the fireworks cops!


Luke practices for the rhythmic gymnastic team.

Drake looks as if he is taking part in some pagan ritual!

Yes, once upon a time, Drake could actually get excited about things outside of Minecraft...

Annabelle's a little too young to hold a sparkler and stays safe with her daddy.

Look at that spaceship that has landed in the background! Happy 4th and stay safe!