From LA to Claremont.
In the morning, I visited an old friend, Fred, who has lived and worked in LA for years, maybe since the 80s. I last saw Fred when I was here in February 2020, immediately prior to the start of Covid restrictions. I was here then with Bev for a BGC, and I took off for three days on a rented Ducati Scrambler (a great bike), and visited Fred then.
Seeing Fred is always great. I’ve known him since my very first days here in the US, when I was a 21-year-old summer camp counselor at the New Jersey Y camps in Milford, PA, and Fred was one of my 14-year-old campers. I enjoyed and appreciated Fred almost immediately… and here we are, 55 years later.
One small world thing. Fred is a filmmaker, and just a couple of years ago made a documentary about musician Peter Case (who I’d never heard of, but I guess a lot of people know), and part of the film was shot at the Claremont Folk Center, where Marg works (and sort of grew up), and Fred knows Ellen, Marg’s boss and co-singer.
We spent some time, and I hope to come back to visit some more, when I head back to LA to fly back home next week. I wanted to be heading out of the city by 2, to avoid rush hour, but I think that’s impossible. It’s always rush hour it seems, with some exceptions. No exception today, though. Solid traffic almost all the way to Claremont.
I arrived in Claremont, where I last visited Marg and Mark a couple of times (maybe three, I think) during 2024, when I began the PhilBevRoadtrip, and I always love coming to this house, full of things and stuff, and this lovely town. I arrived a little before 4, and my first stop was the Claremont Folk Center to catch Marg while she was still at work. Lovely to see Marg, and give and get a hug. I also passed along Fred’s hello to Ellen. Small world.
The back to the house, where we hung out for the evening. Not too much more to say.
Kaye and I spoke and plan to connect up in Pacific Grove on Thursday, home of the famous Toasties (well, famous to us, anyway). I’m really looking forward to that, but tomorrow – well, who knows?