3 - Houses - SoCal

The Mid 1960s

Calhoun

After living in a motel on Sepulveda in Van Nuys for a week or so the summer of 1964, which I thought was pretty cool, we moved into the first of two rental houses we occupied in the San Fernando Valley. The various named “cities” in The Valley blend together so it's hard to know where you are exactly. I think the Calhoun house was in Sherman Oaks. This wasn’t a new house and was only two doors away from the freeway (and the L.A. river), but it was still the most interesting house we ever lived in. 

The Oldsmobile in front of the Calhoun house.

Most of the front and back yard was covered with English ivy so there was less lawn for me to water and mow. The house wrapped around a patio so that I was further away from my parents and I even had my own bathroom. If my parent’s marriage hadn’t been imploding this house would have been a lot of fun.

Across the street were a row of very tall eucalyptus trees (an important introduction to California) and then a large deserted area that had previously been a school or something, but had been flattened except for the foundations and floors and then abandoned. It was wild and interesting and a great place to run my dog, Midnight. Past this little wilderness was a major street and then a fancy mall with a Bullocks department store and an upscale supermarket.

My Junior High school was further away than I was used to (16 blocks) but this was no problem since I was still riding my bike everywhere.

Accidie

Accidie is a word I just learned: It describes a state of torpor or lethargy that people subject to prolonged solitude or social isolation are prone to. People suffering from accidie can’t motivate themselves to do anything and, even though they are wishing they could break out of whatever boring activity they are using to fill their time, they can’t. As I was grasping this concept and the distinction from depression, I suddenly recalled that I had once suffered accidie, though at the time I had no idea what it was. This was the first summer in SoCal while we were living on Calhoun. I was in a new place away from my old friends and had yet to make any good new friends. I was unhappy and I spent the summer hibernating. Reading and watching TV and generally doing nothing. I remember being unhappy about this and wanting to break out of it but, as in a dream, I just could not pull myself out. I thought it was just me and always tried to avoid similar situations after that, and now I learn it wasn’t just me but a regular thing -- though the “official” ways to combat accidie are more or less the same as what I’ve always done, so I don’t really gain that much by this new understanding of the condition.

Peach Grove

At some point (we were in California for two and a half years) we moved into a smaller house that was six blocks closer to my school and had a gardener to take care of the front (but not the back) yard. The backyard was fairly barren aside from an apricot tree that always surprised us when it dropped all it’s fruit on the outdoor furniture we never used.

What I remember about living in this house was my obsession with the latest crop of TV shows. Maybe it was the proximity to Hollywood (we were even a Nielsen family one year) but I studied the new shows coming out each season more carefully than I studied anything at school. I would craft a plan for watching as many new shows as possible.

I also remember pressing against the screen in the open window next to my bed on hot summer nights trying to catch any kind of breeze since we didn’t have air conditioning or even, apparently, a good fan.

Junior High School

My school was actually pretty special. My best friend was an Eagle Scout and Jewish. I’d say I started learning about Judaism but in fact all I really learned about was the Bar Mitzvah traditions in the Valley. I was jealous because these guys were getting serious loot while all I was expecting to get out of Christian confirmation was the opportunity to take communion.

Steve’s Boy Scout troop was also a joke from my point of view, they were all Eagles but they never did anything outdoorsy… where they would need to be evacuated. I never bothered rejoined the Scouts.

My school was at least half Jewish and we had the usual Valley connections to the music and television business. Our band and orchestra ( I was usually second trumpet in the band) recorded an album. A castmember of the then popular TV show My Three Sons went to the school and was as much of a self-important ass as you might imagine. We had a plant nursery on the campus run by a Japanese nurseryman where you could learn about gardening (I never did.) We had a print shop where we set event programs and such in cold type and printed them on our own presses. There was a woodworking shop where I made a spectacularly wobbly (but attractive) little shelf for my mother

In another shop we used liquid plastic to make skateboard decks and gear shift knobs and the like -- that smell I can do without.

But the best thing about the school was the bakery. Not only did they make an excellent lunch for us but there was a mid-morning break when we could go to walk-up windows and get still warm sweet buns that were sticky and delicious. I’ve never been to a school that had better food.

Up to this time I had pretty much always had a crush on one girl or another at all times, but it was here that I really identified my “type.” I don’t actually remember her name but she was slim and dark and she performed an interpretive dance to “Monday Monday” for a school event.

As I was in the band, I did a lot of performing myself. We had “A” students who started their year in September (I think) and “B” students who started their year in January (or the other way round). In any event, we had two graduation ceremonies a year for the A and B ninth graders and the band played Pomp and Circumstance over and over and over for each of these graduations. The one in the summer was the worst as it was always hot and we were dressed in black. To jump ahead (to my pain) we moved on to Arizona in the middle of my ninth year so, after all that trouble I never got to graduate myself.

UCLA

While we lived in SoCal my mother worked at UCLA first in science and finally in the Psychology Department, again as a secretary. Again, I got to associate with interesting people and hang around campus. Because my mother always avoided driving on freeways (don’t ask), when I went to work with her we always drove over the hills separating the Valley from L.A. proper through one of the canyons -- Beverly Glen, Bennedict,  or Coldwater usually. It was silly but actually quite a lovely way to go to and return from work.

Checking these names in Google Map I just noticed that the freeway running next to my house on Calhoun, which we always referred to as The Ventura, is also known as 101 and El Camino Real. Both of which names will appear frequently in later sections of my life.

I was interested in particle physics (and Marxism) at this point so it was great to be able to read what was available in the library and sit in on an occasional class or symposium.

This was an exciting time in physics and, in retrospect, I now wish I had sought out Richard Feynman who was then busy over at CalTech winning his Nobel Prize.

Our family also went from being CU sports fans to being UCLA sports fans (the UCLA fight song is still my favorite). My mother worked with a student who was dating a player on one of UCLA’s championship basketball teams under coach Wooden. We attended all their games until Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabar) joined the varsity team. After that even staff couldn’t obtain tickets. The last season we attended, Alcindor played on the freshman team and we always came to the varsity games early to watch the freshman destroy whatever pathetic team they were facing. The highlight of the freshman team year was when they played against the varsity -- keep in mind that the varsity team at this point was winning the national championship nearly every year. This time the freshman beat the varsity. UCLA would go on to win the next seven straight national championships.

I never really liked Los Angeles or the San Fernando Valley, but I can’t say I regret living there for those years. SoCal is a unique place that I will always have mixed feelings about. I watch movies like Chinatown, A Single Man, Laurel Canyon, and so many others with the insights I’ve gained by spending years in the area. It is both magical and hellish. But I also wasn’t sad to be leaving... at least not until I arrived in Arizona. (See also: Confirmation & History, El Niño, Football & Cotillion. Next: 4 - House - Scottsdale).