I was seventeen when I rented my first abode a half block from Santa Monica Beach. Of course I tought of living here with Irene (Rena) the moment I lay eyes on her.

“You have no place to stay. You can crash at my pad!”

My aunt gave me her 1958 Ford Fairlane that you see in the black and white. I was torn between two worlds. I was born and raised in Oakland. When we moved to LA when I was sixteen, Christine and I went through an identity crisis. After she became famous, overnight, she offered to teach me her style so I could be rich and famous, too. She wanted me to move to LA. Here I am in my mother’s pool with Cindy Blake who I knew since she as born. She and her father put makeup on Johnny Carson. That’s my brother’s son and wife…