The Magical Land of Atlantic Boulevard

 The Magical Land of Atlantic Boulevard




    In one of our many discussions of South Gate old days as Lissy called them Greg and I mused over the odd configuration of businesses on the edge of our town at Atlantic boulevard. There was a rather odd layout of streets where Bullis road hit Atlantic but the names and places were burned into our memory. Gate Moms had their markets where they would buy certain stuff but Hirams was where Grace bought canned goods I think. The Sheehy's had a different setup from us where we had milk delivered and they drove to a dairy. Both families visited Ashtons for meat and dumb conversation. Shopping Bag and Shopping Basket were Tweedy establishments in the early days where serious Japanese produce guys offered fresh fruits and the few vegetables people ate in the revolutionary time of frozen food in pouches full of butter. Atlantic had an odd conglomeration of a huge lawn mower shop "King O' Lawn" right next door to "Spider Staging" that had something to do with scaffolding. There was a gas station next to car wash run by the Chirco family who were Catholics and a Taxidermy store where kids would gawk in awe at the bizarre collection of stuffrd dead animals. There were liquor stores every few blocks including the one where the clerk threatened to fight Billy Hogan. Yet, the spot that was burned into our memory because of the danger lurking there and the old-time experience of visiting a skating rink. Skating was pretty much considered a girl thing on my street but at the roller rink it was something for punks, hoods, bullies and cheap girls who liked greasers (not Mexicans but guys who wore hard boy hairdos filled with brylcream) As an undersized amateur skater I was at the mercy of the intimidating thugs who would intentionally bump into other skaters in a challenge of masculinity. Greg and I both were just knocked to the gritty track and limped off to the rails. The place had some flavor though as there was a genuine organ playing and at certain points they would announce a "lady's choice" and the cheap girls would skate up to the hoodlum of choice while chewing gum and take a spin around the track.



                                                           you get the idea

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Athletic Club Flower shop

Image
  Athletic Club Flower shop      This phrase is actually the telephone greeting at Greg's uncle Johnny Tassano's flower shop at 808 W. 8th street near Flower street in downtown L.A. Greg loved the place and culled many a story and line from his experiences at a place he worked and visited fondly. Even when he wasn't employed he drove around with cousin Kent (Kevin Smith) and they had a ball observing the absurdities of modern living in the Southland. The phone was answered by different employees and each had a unique turn of "Athletic Club...flowershopppp" There was owner John Tassano, right-hand man Ronald P. Lord, "Speed," a delivery man, and Carmen who cut flowers and told odd anecdotes such as the origin of pizza. I believe Greg and Kevin could go on for weeks about the people they met on their deliveries as they set forth across the city of the angels to spread floral joy. This might include places to eat, fascinating neighborhoods, cemeteries, lone...
Read more

Oil and gas crowd

Image
  Oil and gas crowd       This one comes from cousin  Kevin's bold political action volunteering for the Fred Harris presidential campaign in 1976. Kevin got a terrific piece on the campaign published as an editorial in the Los Angeles Times and also developed an imitation of the candidates speaking voice. Fred Harris was everything you would want in a public servant  and had come close to being asked to be Vice President but his brand was not widely known. Despite representing Oklahoma as a senator Harris managed to be an admirable liberal who favored the Great Society and economic democracy. Way ahead of his time Fred wanted to wrest control away from corporations and millionaires. He travelled in a recreation vehicle wth young Smith aboard to cut down on costs and was as grass roots as it gets. Fred was married to native-american LaDonna and to this day we have buttons stating "LaDonna for First Lady." Kevin would repeat the phrase from Fred's speeches a...
Read more

alright mother

Image
  alright mother- “You can find poetry in your everyday life, your memory, in what people say on the bus, in the news, or just what’s in your heart.” —Carol Ann Duffy  Greg was always delighted by a story told by his mother in law about a "sortie" dinner party attended by a Doctor "Putty" Putnam who had been forced to attend an opera by his wife. When asked by a clueless guest if he enjoyed the opera, his response was  "fuck you!" When I was visiting Bear Cove and sitting next to the matriarch Greg goaded her into telling the tale. But a rum n' coke had loosened "Minnie's" tongue and when she got to Putty's answer she blurted a rather hard FUCK YOU!  Roy, hearing his bride curse thusly said across the table "Alright mother!"
Read more