Description
Read this book
This book is a collection of short stories, some only a few paragraphs long. These are the stories that over the course of time I tell people that I have met so that they will know me better. If you’ve known me long enough you’ve probably heard all these stories. All of my stories come out well and leave the reader with a sense of humor, knowing and satisfaction.
Most of the stories took place in Southern California : Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Redondo Beach. Stories from my youth come from upstate New York in the snow belt.
You’ll get familiar with the beach lifestyle if you don’t live in Southern California, and if you do live here you’ll be tickled to remember your own stories as I touch on familiar things and places.
Although not denoted anywhere, the stories in this book fall into one or more of the following categories : classic cars, money and jobs, parties and the beach, police encounters, stories from my youth, and concerts.
I spent my life doing whatever I could do so that I didn’t have to have a real job. For a long time in my twenties I would buy cars that didn’t run, I’d make them run, then sell them for a profit after a couple of days. A lot of interaction with people and a lot of interaction with the machines, make for a lot of interesting stories.
I’ve had a lot of different ways of making money through the years, there are stories of my most lucrative days from my various positions. It’s been a lot more interesting than a salaried job 9:00 to 5:00.
When I lived at the beach, parties, partying and hanging out were always on my agenda.
In the 1980s and early ’90s, Hermosa Beach had to have been the house party capital of the world. House parties with ocean views and up to 30 kegs of beer. As you were coming home from one party you might pass somebody coming out of another house party. You start talking, before you know it you’re inside another party. The bars are kind of the party capital nowadays in Hermosa Beach.
In the 20 years that I lived in Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach, I mostly lived without a car riding my bicycle everywhere. In that time I must have been stopped 25 times mostly by the Hermosa Beach Police. Detained for not stopping my bicycle at a stop sign. Detained for jaywalking. No light on my bike. Running a red light on my bike. I once even got a DUI on my bicycle in Redondo Beach. That’s a humorous story inside.
Until I was 21, I lived in upstate New York. It snowed quite a bit. If you’re not familiar with the snow belt, you’ll be amused at life within. The strange things that happen when snow is around. There’s about five or six stories from my youth.
I’ve only been to six concerts in my life: The Rolling Stones, Jethro Tull, The Village People, and three different Grateful Dead concerts. Concerts from the 80s and early 90s so much different than concerts today.
Palo Alto Shoreline Amphitheater, Syracuse’s Carrier dome, and Binghamton’s Arena are all settings for the concert stories in this book.
If you’re older, take a trip down memory lane. If you’re younger get a feeling of what it was like in the 1970s and 1980s. If you’re a left coaster, you’ll get some ideas about what the snow belt is like. You will get local flavor from the beach stories.
If you’re in East coaster you’ll remember all the snow we used to get before global warming. And you’ll get some ideas about what life at the beach is about.
Dale
Patty –
I’ve always had a book on my coffee table. Usually full of amazing photographs. “Sun,Snow, and Six Strings” was on my table as ideas perusing it earlier that day. Perusing it earlier that day. One of my guests picked it up and was looking through it, and pretty soon had this grin on her face. This book is my me coffee table Book. What a great conversation starter!