California Dreaming – 1970

First Impressions

I enlisted in the Navy in 1968. After Boot Camp I spend a year in Avionics school in Memphis, TN. The training facility was actually located in Millington, TN. As a New Englander I felt like a fish out of water. Why is the ocean so far away? Did the Civil War ever end? 

I got my orders to a Naval Air Station in Imperial Beach. I was going to work on helicopters. The slogan of the base was “Twist and turn, crash and burn”.

After my first trip to the beach and a mild earthquake, I fell in love with California.

La Jolla

I didn’t own a car until after my deployment to Viet Nam so I became very familiar with the San Diego bus  system. On the weekends  I could get an all day pass to travel all the way up to La Jolla. Once I learned to pronounce it as La Hoya, I felt like a native.

However there was a problem. Although I felt like a college student  (I was 24), as a member of the military I was a popular as a case of herpes.

I did my best to blend in a bit, helped by Admiral Zumwalt lifting restrictions on beards and hair length (this was the 1970s).

La Jolla had a great selection of interesting places including a great bookstore which showed foreign movies. It reminded me a bit of Westport, CT. It was probably as wealthy. I didn’t have a car and was dependent on a bus for transportation. After attending a movie marathon at the bookstore I realized I had missed the last bus.  La Jolla beaches have several areas with large rock formations. I curled up on the sand above the high water mark and had a somewhat restless night. No police interference either. Thank goodness it is warm in Southern California.

Now for Something Completely Different

I never knew what quirky thing I might see while I was there. I’d go to craft fair and see a girl with a tambourine and a smoke grenade. Go to a laundromat and see a girl in the dryer. What a place.

Living on the Beach

After I was promoted to ATN-2 I  was able to live off base. I shared an apartment with Frank Chupko, a unique individual. I was Oscar Madison to his Felix Ungar. We lived within walking distance to the beach and the “Ye Olde Plank Inn”, the local watering hole for our squadron.

We could afford this rental as sailors in 1970. I’m guessing by now Imperial Beach has changed by now. No more biker bars or dead Mexicans washing up on the beach. Probably a lot more gentrified since our Navy days.