I often regret that I kept no diary and have almost no records of my life in the decade of the 1960s. I have been trying to reconstruct this decade, which in hindsight was tumultuous for me, as well as for the country at large.
In what follows, a paragraph in red represents a verifiable historical fact that can be dated. These pin my memories to specific times.
Graduation from Bethel High School: June 1960.
Following graduation my big sister Joyce, who was living in San Francisco, got me summer employment where she worked. She was a PA to the manager of the Cadillac dealership on Van Ness Avenue, and she got me work as a “garageman” meaning, a flunky who parked customer’s cars for them. During that summer I parked those huge 1958-1960 caddies in the company lot and I never scratched one.
That fall I enrolled as a freshman at the University of Washington. I lived in Lander Hall, a men’s dorm (I believe it still exists but is coed now). I was initially enrolled as a Chemistry major. There was no good reason for that; and I soon changed my major to English Lit.
Seattle World’s Fair aka Century 21 Exposition, April-October 1962
I was definitely resident in Lander Hall during the run-up to the Fair; I could see the Space Needle being built from my window. That would have been early spring 1962. So my continuous UW attendance would have been fall 1960 through Fall Quarter and Winter Quarters 1961-62.
In the winter of 1961 I remember being miserably unhappy, with myself and my prospects, and horribly bored with school. By the start of Spring quarter 1962 I had dropped out and was living in a rooming house in the University district, working different part-time jobs.
Later in 1962 I contacted Joyce and found out I could return to employment at Cadillac, so I went back to SF.
Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962
I remember hearing about the Missile Crisis while working at Cadillac, so by fall of 1962 I was back in SF. Rather than live at Joyce’s apartment, I found a one-room place on 4th avenue near Parnassus, under the foggy hill where USF medical center sits.
During this time I got involved with the USF College Players, hanging out with the Drama students but as a non-student. I was in a couple of plays as a bit actor and was stage manager for their production of The Music Man.
Later I moved from my one-room flat to a large apartment shared with three other USF non-student hangers-on, including Jackson DeGovia, a handsome rogue and actor who I believe went on to some minor professional success. (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0208614/) During this period I started a relationship with Anne Cummings.
However I was dissatisfied with my life and prospects (again) and decided to learn some professional qualification. Probably from the influence of John Snow, I decided that an FCC “First Phone” license would be a ticket to satisfactory employment. I moved back to Washington, moved into my parent’s basement in the countryside south of Tacoma, and attended Clover Park Vocational School studying electronics.
Puget Sound Earthquake 8am April 29 1965;
The earthquake hit as I was driving into Seattle to take the FCC license exam. This nails my Vocational training to the period from fall 1964 through spring 1965.
The next period is a time of several months to a year, when I lived in a studio apartment in Central Seattle, around E. Madison and Olive. The place is clear in my memory (it had a Murphy bed!) and I was employed as a garage attendant at a parking garage in downtown Seattle. What I don’t understand now, is why I went from success in the FCC license exam, to another menial job and crappy apartment. John Snow would remember, because I was hanging out at his place a lot. Alas, John is gone now.
What I’m sure of, is that it was from this apartment with the Murphy bed that I wrote letters to Anne, and she visited me in Seattle. Since I knew her in 1963-64, and was away from SF 64-65, the time in Central Seattle has to be summer 1965.
Some time in late 1965 I returned to San Francisco and got a job at Pacific Bell. I stayed in that job more than a year, but less than two years, before I was again bored and unhappy, and applied for work at IBM. I was taken on at IBM probably some time early 1967.
Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, June 1968
This event is firmly associated with my living in an apartment on (I think) Buena Vista avenue in the hilly south-central part of the City. I was working at IBM. My car was a miserable 1957 Chevy.
Pieces yet to be patched into this quilt:
Donovan’s hit “Mellow Yellow” released in the US late 1966
Living in an apartment at 408 Presidio avenue, shared with John Snow. First attempts at learning the guitar. First flirtation with photography.
Summer of Love — helping a young man who was tripping, to come down, sleep it off in our living room,
Living in an apartment shared with — name! — in the Castro district. No, I wasn’t gay nor were any of my roommates.
Hanging out with Derek Van Loan where he was helping build a trimaran to the plans of Arthur Piver, in Sausalito.
