Terry Bolo's letter

Hi,  I found your website looking at 60's stuff.  I was a little young to be hanging out on the Strip all the time, but we did get up there occasionally.  When I read Im With The Band, Pamela Des Barres was everything my sister and I aspired to.  She said we met her one time on the Strip with Rodney Bingenheimer.  They had just visited Tiny Tim.  We moved to LA in 1965.  I went to Bancroft Jr.High, then Hollywood High, then Fairfax.  I remember Mark Rodney from school.  My best friend in Jr High lived in Laurel Canyon, the coolest place to live.  My sister and I met a band from the bay area , and we used  to go to their rehearsals after school.  They  knew Rodney in high school.  He used to mow lawns.  One day he threw down the lawnmower and said "fuck this shit, I'm going to Hollywood and be famous".  One time my sister and I went to Rodney's rooming house.  It was on Cole Ave. next to the DMV.  The whole room was covered from floor to ceiling with pictures of him with famous people.  He told us he'd call Donovan in London if we'd ball him. Like I said, we were pretty young.  A few years ago I saw him at a Ray Manzarak CD signing, and reminded him of it.  He asked if that phone call ever got made.  I remember kids in Jr Hi used to party at Vito and Sue's.  I'd see them around the Neighborhood.  I remember when Godot died. We used to live next door to the family of one of the guys in The Hollywood Argyles.  A singer named Joey Paige lived there too. He'd perform on Hollywood A Go Go.  Remember all those great shows!  Hullaballoo, Shindig, Where the Action Is, and Lloyd Thaxton.  I went to Jr High with his son, Robin, and kids I knew danced on the show.  We used to go the the Love-Ins in Griffith Park, where Gypsy Boots would dance, and my sister turned me on to my first joint.  There was a club called Kaliedoscope, where later the Aquarius was, and their posters were round.  We used to hang out at Wallich's Music City on the corner of Sunset & Vine, and listen to music in the booths, or dance by the windows  where other people were listening.   Fairfax Ave. was happening at the time too.  With all those great shops, The Free Press Bookstore, The Infinite Mind, ( where they had a free light show! ) Heiryonmus, Canter's of course, and I'm a Hog For You Baby, where Cher shopped.  We used to see Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys in our neighborhood, his mother in law lived around the block.  I remember going to the Preview House, and seeing the Monkees screen tests, and voting for them.  Does any one remember the Teenage Fair at the Palladium?  Those were some great fun times, and it was very easy to meet famous people.  That was before Charles Manson, then everyone got paranoid.  I lived at the Castle Argyle too,  and when a dead girl was found on the roof, the 60's were officially over.  I think the establishment was afraid of the counter culture, because they saw that they could lose their power and control.  I often wondered what happened to the 60's; how could something so big, and positive and wonderful just peter out?  I really thought that that was how things would be from now on.  I really thought that in a few years we'd see longhairs with beads in Congress.  Oh, well, it is heartening to see there are some secret hippies out there!  Good Luck with the book!   It would be great to have a map to show where all these places were, and what's there now.  Love & Peace.  Terry , terrybolo@yahoo.com

 

Back to Fresh Photos, part 2