1970 and the Tate-LaBianca Murder Trials ended the feel good era of the 1960's for sure. At least in LA. Otherwhere, it might have ended earlier.
1970 was another turning point for me. Half way through my 14th year, I bid farewell to my old motorcycle driving friend G, who learned to ride alongside me, at the age of 13, in Mexico...but then his dad bought him a progression of bikes starting with a small dirt bike up to mondo street bike by age 14 1/2. G's dad had accepted a job change from sales to research for his drug company in New York State. I had met G in the second grade, IIRC, just before I was hospitalized for a month for pneumonia. (I now wonder if that pneumonia case followed my first viewing of Sharon Tate on Beverly Hillbillies...and made me forget about the show for awhile...until we got color TV in 1967.) G was one of my few friends who ever came with me down to my mother's beachfront mobile home in Mexico. And he was the only one who came with me, alone (and not with his parents). G and I were close. He was functionally my solder brother, telling me much of what I still know (or mis-know, perhaps still) about sex, drugs, and rock n roll. He was the first to introduce me to The Beatles (playing a tape while we were in our beds in Mexico). He was incredibly precocious in those areas (probably not unrelated to having extensive connections to the movie business). He was not doing well in school, however, ,and his dad was not happy about that. Nevertheless, his dad provided the bikes and other things as incentives, though it seemed to lead to no improvement in G's school performance.
Now I wonder if G's move away was not unrelated to the murders.
After losing G (who I've barely known since) my new buddy became S, who became my high school and college age buddy, and still friend. I only knew S because he was G's friend, I think, though it could also have been originally that I introduced S to G, sometime back in elementary school. But during our junior high era, S and G became tight friends, and it was that way I became a good freind (and not just one time acquaintance) with S. Both G and I thought S was slightly dull. It was funny the way he would use an early calculator. But we all had technical interests in hifi, photography, and similar things. S had no interest in bikes, and his first car was a GTO muscle car.
Though I felt he never helped (or mis-helped?) me with girls, and never went to Mexico with me, S himself had a banner time with girls, so it seemed, throughout high school and college and after college. (Now he has a beautiful second wife.) Or at least he had an endless succession of hot and hotter girl friends. Perhaps the hottest one was the one who went horse back riding with us at Spahn Ranch on August 9, 1979. He got married (sort of arranged and insisted by his family) a year after that and moved to the largest home I had ever seen at that time.
But none of that did any good for me with women. He never shared his women with me...the only one who I had any time with was the aforementioned one who went horse back riding. She was Australian. She seemed a lot smarter than S. Actually, maybe, I coulda hada chance with her? But the others I never even saw. Most notably on a brief trip we had to Palm Springs together. He claimed to have spent a missing couple hours with two ladies, and done them both. I was in an emptly hotel room all the time. After that, for some reason, I was so disgusted with my life (and lack of sex life) that it made me slightly insane. Just after arriving back in LA I checked myself into a mental hospital, where I remained for 4 days. Well however much stress my lack of success with women was, this was pure hell, and I ran away after 4 days and got myself rescued by S's family.
S and I did some crazy things together anyway. The most productively crazy one was to fly to NYC for the Bicentennial 4th of July. We ended up spending a month on the east cost, mainly apart. I spent most of the time in my dream city, Manhattan, living at the YMCA. He said he had hitched to the Hamptons...and it all sounded pretty dreamy after that.
I realized after awhile that S was indeed very smart in certain ways. He could (and usually did) play somewhat dumber than he really was. And indeed, I don't know anyone who had his skill at picking up women. Being able to lie flawlessly helped. I only wished some of his skill, or some of his women, had rubbed off on me. Instead, what little I had seemed to be drawn to him as well.
G had always told me High School would be my winning game. I had it all, good looks (actually much better looking than S, said G), top grades, home with swimming pool. I did get top grades and went to a world class college. But I never got anywhere with women in High School. Not anything like sex, or anything close, anyway. I had exactly one date with a girl, who I toook to a school football game, and the same girl I also took to Disneyland on the bus after graduation. I should have taken her to the Prom but got exasperated after being turned down by 4 other girls. In AP English, we had done all sorts of cool groupy things, but I never got a girl one-on-one from that. And that lack of experience didn't necessarily serve me well in college either.
1970 was another turning point for me. Half way through my 14th year, I bid farewell to my old motorcycle driving friend G, who learned to ride alongside me, at the age of 13, in Mexico...but then his dad bought him a progression of bikes starting with a small dirt bike up to mondo street bike by age 14 1/2. G's dad had accepted a job change from sales to research for his drug company in New York State. I had met G in the second grade, IIRC, just before I was hospitalized for a month for pneumonia. (I now wonder if that pneumonia case followed my first viewing of Sharon Tate on Beverly Hillbillies...and made me forget about the show for awhile...until we got color TV in 1967.) G was one of my few friends who ever came with me down to my mother's beachfront mobile home in Mexico. And he was the only one who came with me, alone (and not with his parents). G and I were close. He was functionally my solder brother, telling me much of what I still know (or mis-know, perhaps still) about sex, drugs, and rock n roll. He was the first to introduce me to The Beatles (playing a tape while we were in our beds in Mexico). He was incredibly precocious in those areas (probably not unrelated to having extensive connections to the movie business). He was not doing well in school, however, ,and his dad was not happy about that. Nevertheless, his dad provided the bikes and other things as incentives, though it seemed to lead to no improvement in G's school performance.
Now I wonder if G's move away was not unrelated to the murders.
After losing G (who I've barely known since) my new buddy became S, who became my high school and college age buddy, and still friend. I only knew S because he was G's friend, I think, though it could also have been originally that I introduced S to G, sometime back in elementary school. But during our junior high era, S and G became tight friends, and it was that way I became a good freind (and not just one time acquaintance) with S. Both G and I thought S was slightly dull. It was funny the way he would use an early calculator. But we all had technical interests in hifi, photography, and similar things. S had no interest in bikes, and his first car was a GTO muscle car.
Though I felt he never helped (or mis-helped?) me with girls, and never went to Mexico with me, S himself had a banner time with girls, so it seemed, throughout high school and college and after college. (Now he has a beautiful second wife.) Or at least he had an endless succession of hot and hotter girl friends. Perhaps the hottest one was the one who went horse back riding with us at Spahn Ranch on August 9, 1979. He got married (sort of arranged and insisted by his family) a year after that and moved to the largest home I had ever seen at that time.
But none of that did any good for me with women. He never shared his women with me...the only one who I had any time with was the aforementioned one who went horse back riding. She was Australian. She seemed a lot smarter than S. Actually, maybe, I coulda hada chance with her? But the others I never even saw. Most notably on a brief trip we had to Palm Springs together. He claimed to have spent a missing couple hours with two ladies, and done them both. I was in an emptly hotel room all the time. After that, for some reason, I was so disgusted with my life (and lack of sex life) that it made me slightly insane. Just after arriving back in LA I checked myself into a mental hospital, where I remained for 4 days. Well however much stress my lack of success with women was, this was pure hell, and I ran away after 4 days and got myself rescued by S's family.
S and I did some crazy things together anyway. The most productively crazy one was to fly to NYC for the Bicentennial 4th of July. We ended up spending a month on the east cost, mainly apart. I spent most of the time in my dream city, Manhattan, living at the YMCA. He said he had hitched to the Hamptons...and it all sounded pretty dreamy after that.
I realized after awhile that S was indeed very smart in certain ways. He could (and usually did) play somewhat dumber than he really was. And indeed, I don't know anyone who had his skill at picking up women. Being able to lie flawlessly helped. I only wished some of his skill, or some of his women, had rubbed off on me. Instead, what little I had seemed to be drawn to him as well.
G had always told me High School would be my winning game. I had it all, good looks (actually much better looking than S, said G), top grades, home with swimming pool. I did get top grades and went to a world class college. But I never got anywhere with women in High School. Not anything like sex, or anything close, anyway. I had exactly one date with a girl, who I toook to a school football game, and the same girl I also took to Disneyland on the bus after graduation. I should have taken her to the Prom but got exasperated after being turned down by 4 other girls. In AP English, we had done all sorts of cool groupy things, but I never got a girl one-on-one from that. And that lack of experience didn't necessarily serve me well in college either.
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