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Son of My 50 Year Junk Obsession
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3,112 posts in this topic

My dad was LAPD. He was a plainclothes photographer but had a badge and gun. He took Marilyn Monroe, Janis Joplin, John Belishi and many other’s last photos. He was the second person on site at the Sharon Tate murder. Cought a bullet in the ankle hiding behind a car in the Patty Hearst/SLA shootout. 

One night he brought home a display of drugs to show my mom. Having 3 long haired hippy kids, he wanted her to know what to keep an eye out for. I was pretty crafty hollowing out a book for my stash. One night, I brought home some weed in a baggy and stashed it quickly in the back of my 85 watt Fender tube amp. Forgot and flipped on the switch next day. As the tubes warmed up, all of a sudden I smelled something burning. I just shut it off and opened the window. 

Anyway, he explained what was on the board to my mom in the meantime, my little brother had swiped the large marijuana leaf off it and glassed it on the underside of his surfboard. 

Now, my dad was SUPER cool for being a cop. But if you did wrong, Lord help you. He threw me and my brother in the car and took us to the Navy recruiter barber. I was 16. I didn’t get my haircut for another 8 years...

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21 hours ago, Robot Man said:

My dad was LAPD. He was a plainclothes photographer but had a badge and gun. He took Marilyn Monroe, Janis Joplin, John Belishi and many other’s last photos. He was the second person on site at the Sharon Tate murder. Cought a bullet in the ankle hiding behind a car in the Patty Hearst/SLA shootout. 

One night he brought home a display of drugs to show my mom. Having 3 long haired hippy kids, he wanted her to know what to keep an eye out for. I was pretty crafty hollowing out a book for my stash. One night, I brought home some weed in a baggy and stashed it quickly in the back of my 85 watt Fender tube amp. Forgot and flipped on the switch next day. As the tubes warmed up, all of a sudden I smelled something burning. I just shut it off and opened the window. 

Anyway, he explained what was on the board to my mom in the meantime, my little brother had swiped the large marijuana leaf off it and glassed it on the underside of his surfboard. 

Now, my dad was SUPER cool for being a cop. But if you did wrong, Lord help you. He threw me and my brother in the car and took us to the Navy recruiter barber. I was 16. I didn’t get my haircut for another 8 years...

That's a crazy story with his experiences. Walking into the Sharon Tate murder scene had to be traumatic; I don''t care how hardened you might have thought you were that had to be a frightful and ugly scene. I was too young to be aware of it but it must have really hit the zeitgesit of the day. When we cleaned out our Grandmother's attic back east there were a number of newspaper headlines she kept; that is always an interesting way to see what impacted people. They were things like D-Day, Atom bomb blasts, JFK assassination, the Moon landing the stuff you'd expect. But with all  those headlines was the Sharon Tate headline too!! I remember reading it about ten years after it happened and being shocked.

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4 hours ago, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said:

That's a crazy story with his experiences. Walking into the Sharon Tate murder scene had to be traumatic; I don''t care how hardened you might have thought you were that had to be a frightful and ugly scene. I was too young to be aware of it but it must have really hit the zeitgesit of the day. When we cleaned out our Grandmother's attic back east there were a number of newspaper headlines she kept; that is always an interesting way to see what impacted people. They were things like D-Day, Atom bomb blasts, JFK assassination, the Moon landing the stuff you'd expect. But with all  those headlines was the Sharon Tate headline too!! I remember reading it about ten years after it happened and being shocked.

My dad served in WWII and had many years in his job at LAPD. I don't think stuff like that traumatized him that much by then. He actually found his job interesting. He never knew what he was walking into. He told me he was never bored and really liked going to work. I have seen the pictures. As bad as they might have been, a lot of the news media pumped it up quite a bit. The weirdest one was the poor kid who was partying with the caretaker when Charlie's folks showed up. He was just leaving and got a bullet right in the forehead. My dad said the car was still idling when they got there.

I remember just being fasinated with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood when it came out. I was a teenager at the time. I remembered seeing Hollywood looking like it did in the movie. I also remember the radio station KHJ and the disk jockys. The music and the way they announced it. I, like all of you wasn't prepared how it ended. I lived through the whole vibe of the movie. Wild times!

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2 hours ago, Robot Man said:

An unheard of thing in LA. This is a rush hour photo of traffic in LA. Zero! 

Stay home, go no where except if you absolutely have to. This is the only way we will be able to beat this.

stay well mi amigos!

CF364B6D-14E6-4AFE-97CC-6FDE4CE5B923.jpeg

I know right!! It's crazy. I'm trying to virtually come up to speed on a new work project from home; what a challenge!

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1 hour ago, Robot Man said:

My neighbor left this on my door step for me today! Dated 1955 and un-used. He thought I'd like it...

He is cleaning out his garage and told me I could go over and look through the boxes (from a 6 foot distance) before he calls the Salvation Army when he is done.

Sometimes in the darkest times, cool junk finds it's way to me.

supermanpencils.jpg

WOW! Nice neighbor and a bright spot in the midst of this madness.

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Happened to look at the calendar on my wall this morning. Man, it was going to be a great month for buying and selling junk. At least I got the first two in. Can’t wait to turn this page...

In the big picture, it really doesn’t matter at all. As long as all my family and friends are OK and safe I can easily live without it. 

I can’t say it enough, stay home, keep busy, find joy in the little things. Keep yourself, your family and total strangers safe. And, any way to can do something good for someone else.

Sharon’s thread in the GA/SA/BA section is a perfect example of the goodness of the boards. Folks are offering up stuff for free especially for kids. My granddaughters got a couple of packages and they were thrilled. We all got stuff laying around we don’t need that some kid would love. Help her out please!

Stay safe mi amigos!

88EECCF2-04B0-4BF1-8CB5-5046990B5A78.jpeg

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I've been using my time at home to organize my collections.  It's a long overdue process that has turned up all kinds of things that I completely forgot that I owned.  As a collector, I'm always focused on the next acquisition: search and buy, search and buy, search and buy.  But, looking at the piles of stuff I already own is also a nice way to spend some time.  Highly recommended!

Stay safe Bob...

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2 hours ago, Robot Man said:

Happened to look at the calendar on my wall this morning. Man, it was going to be a great month for buying and selling junk. At least I got the first two in. Can’t wait to turn this page...

In the big picture, it really doesn’t matter at all. As long as all my family and friends are OK and safe I can easily live without it. 

I can’t say it enough, stay home, keep busy, find joy in the little things. Keep yourself, your family and total strangers safe. And, any way to can do something good for someone else.

Sharon’s thread in the GA/SA/BA section is a perfect example of the goodness of the boards. Folks are offering up stuff for free especially for kids. My granddaughters got a couple of packages and they were thrilled. We all got stuff laying around we don’t need that some kid would love. Help her out please!

Stay safe mi amigos!

88EECCF2-04B0-4BF1-8CB5-5046990B5A78.jpeg

Just realized looking at this that we are in Spring. That was an event no one talked about!!

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1 hour ago, mlansdown said:

I've been using my time at home to organize my collections.  It's a long overdue process that has turned up all kinds of things that I completely forgot that I owned.  As a collector, I'm always focused on the next acquisition: search and buy, search and buy, search and buy.  But, looking at the piles of stuff I already own is also a nice way to spend some time.  Highly recommended!

Stay safe Bob...

Thanks, I am trying to. I am and always been VERY organized. When you have such a large and varied collection you kind of have to be. I pretty much know where everything is. My garage was the worst but I've gotton it pretty organized and am getting rid of a lot of stuff. I do make some "discoveries" every time I go out there.

Staying busy is key. I've been restoring my vintage motorcycles a lot. Got one done a few months ago and working on another. Twisting bolts is very therapudic. Problem, is getting parts. There are just stuff I just can't get "on line". Not being able to interact with my gear head buddies and get stuff is hard though. I am working around it. Nothing like being in the garage with a few beers and some loud music playing...

Make this a time to enjoy your "stuff" instead of aquiring more. I feel very blessed as a collector.

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26 minutes ago, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said:

Just realized looking at this that we are in Spring. That was an event no one talked about!!

Ah yes, spring when a fellow's thoughts turn to baseball. Was planning to go out to AZ for a few days in the middle for spring training but guess not this year. Some how the comforting words of the great Vin Scully help right now...

 

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