77 Sunset Strip

The summer evenings were long and they provided ample time to sit on our front porch on Cedar Street and dream about the possibilities of life outside of Wallace. There were several cities that played particularly well to my day dreaming script of what I thought fo sure must be a bigger and better life than the one my little city of Wallace could provide.The two cities that intrigued me the most were Los Angeles and New York City. 

Los Angeles would be the easier dream to bring to reality because it was closer and I had my favorite aunt and uncle living there. We took a vacation to LA when I was five years old. I was introduced to the salty Pacific Ocean waters in Long Beach. Even as a five-year-old I was in awe of this magical city. There was everything there that anyone could ever desire. I could not wait to visit there again, but alas, it would not be until the summer between my sophomore and junior years of high school that I would enter the magic kingdom again. The year was 1968, and flower power was in full bloom. 

No visit to LA was complete without a night ride to Sunset Boulevard, home of real, live hippies.I will never forget that night. A kaleidoscope of pulsating colors, a cacophony of noise in total discord, and a parade of humanity like I had never seen in my innocent small town life came dancing into my physical sight, and I knew right then and there that yes, there was something that I was missing in Wallace, and that I needed oh so much to find. 

Now, I could never have been a true hippie because I was partial to taking daily showers, wearing clean, ironed clothes, and eating at a table instead in the middle of a sidewalk, sitting on a blanket on Sunset Boulevard. Yes, in the early 1970's I grew my hair a little long, sprouted a respectable beard, and wore a corduroy sports with designer jeans, and oh yes, and I wore the obligatory genuine puka shells from Hawaii. Oh yes, I was the real deal. LOL

I leave with you some pictures from the internet of the sights of the sixties.