Day 3 / Santa Monica 

The Stories Behind The Songs

Day 3 / Santa Monica

Day 3 / Santa Monica

 

By early afternoon, there was movement in the apartment. Izzy was nestled in the crook of my arm as we were talking. We could hear activity in the next bedroom as Devin and Mary started to move around.  

Izzy’s apartment was stylish and neatly kept. It was a modest two bedroom with two baths, very comfortable and cozy. 

Devin and Mary shared the spare bedroom, while Andrew and his new friend took the foldout couch.  

Westwood was a very upscale area on the other side of Beverly Hills from the Sunset strip. It definitely wasn’t a cheap place to live, at least from my perspective. When I lived in LA, we lived in a crappy little one bedroom apartment in the slums of North Hollywood. (This became the inspiration behind the song, Cancer.)  Westwood was the polar opposite.  

When everyone was awake and active, we made breakfast and began to plan out our Saturday. This would be my last day in LA, so I wanted to get as much excitement in as I could.  I had to fly back to Houston the following day.  

We made plans to hit the beach. We were close enough to Santa Monica, so we figured we’d hit the pier for a bit and enjoy some California sun.  

Andrew had met a girl at the warehouse party the night before. She came back to the apartment with us, but he needed to take her back to her car.  We made plans to meet up with him at the pier after he dropped her off.   

We did a little sightseeing before we hit the beach.  Izzy drove us by the Playboy Mansion and we took a side trek through the cemetery to where Marilyn Monroe is buried.  She also drove us around the UCLA campus where she attended college. 

Izzy and Mary became tour guides as they chauffeured us around the city. 

Santa Monica was always one of my favorite places to go when I was a kid. My mother and step-father actually met on the pier in 1971, when I was just a toddler. 

We killed time at the Santa Monica Promenade while we waited for Andrew. Izzy cited historical facts about the city and its famous pier.  (Fun fact: The Santa Monica Pier is made up of two adjoining piers.  The main pier, built in 1909, was built to carry sewer pipes beyond the breakers.  The Pleasure Pier, home to the Looff Hippodrome, and its charming carousel, was built in 1916.  The pier was reconstructed in 1983 after the winter storms of El Nino had destroyed almost a third of it.) 

Santa Monica was also the backdrop for a new television series that had just aired called Baywatch starring David Hasselhoff, who we all remembered from Knight Rider. 

Once Andrew was back in the fold, we hit the beach and enjoyed the water.  

Seeing Izzy and Mary donning bikinis was breathtaking. Izzy wore a neon orange bikini that I couldn’t take my eyes off of.  Mary had an equally impressive bikini with blue stripes.  It was the start to a perfect day, especially for Devin and me. 

Later, we walked along the Venice Beach boardwalk, and after a while, we continued with a drive to Malibu. Izzy and Mary continued as our vigilant tour guides. They showed us historical landmarks and some famed backdrops from movies we had seen. The memories of that day will be forever etched into my brain.  It was magical, for what it was worth.  

After watching the sun set over the water, we went back to Andrew’s car. We made plans to meet up with the girls again later that evening. They were going to take us to the World Famous Cathouse Club.  Izzy and Mary were close friends with the owners, Riki Rachtman and Taime Downe.

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One of the great things about music is that it lives on forever!!”

— Dodd Michael Lede