A PICTORIAL ESSAY OF THE OLD SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BEACHTOWNS BY R.L.HUFFSTUTTER Based on dialogue of Bud Frye
PAINTED ABOVE IN THIN OILS (BACK IN THE 60S)
IS A PASSING GLANCE OF A MEMORY OF TIMES PAST:
A TYPICAL SEASIDE TOWN IN 1960S SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. IT COULD BE SANTA MONICA, HERMOSA BEACH, REDONDO BEACH, MANHATTAN BEACH OR ANY OTHER SMALL BEACH COMMUNITY BETWEEN LA JOLLA AND SANTA MONICA
"You could close your eyes when entering the town, open them once downtown and never really know which one you were in," stated Bud Frye, a retired desk clerk who has worked every hotel and motel desk up and down the west coast.
"It's not a bad thing," Bud continued, "what I am trying to say is that they all looked just about the same. There was the surf shop, the suds shop, the laundry mat, several small bars like the old Passport Inn in Manhattan Beach," he continued, his voice trailing into a low whisper as though he was lost in another time and place, a place like the west coast in the 60s. Snapping back to the present, Bud chuckled and shook his head. "Yes, that old Passport Inn--that was the place that rocked, a cool bar where the gals just kept coming in from the hot sandy beach and turning on the charm like crazy. Man, those were the days. We played darts, drank pitcher after pitcher, all the while bare-footed with the floor so covered with sand we sometimes thought we could feel the surf on our feet. Oh, for sure. It turned out to be a spilled pitcher of beer. And the smell of suntan lotion and beer? It was like heaven. Blondes, brunettes, firery redheaded chicks with so much tan they glowed. I mean, man, like there were blondes in bikinis, brunettes, hot women, for sure, with glowing tans. Yes, those were the days, for sure. Now, they all look the same again--not the women, but the buildings, just a bunch of concrete condos you have to spend a fortune on. The women are okay now, but now as hot as they were. If you like a bunch of damned tattoos looking at you when you're making love, fine. Or if you want to take a chance of getting tangled up in some kind of metal rivets, screws and bolts, fine. Personally, I went for the chick with the unaltered body, no plastic boobs, nothing like that. Yes, things have changed. Just like the smoking laws. What a joke. But nobody really pays any attention. We smoke when we damned please and if somebody gives us some crap about it, we just go outside for a few puffs. When they outlaw smoking on the streets, that's when the crap will hit the fan.
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