Dodge Charger
Book Tour Takes Scandalous Turn: Author Visits Naked Beach!
Posted
1/15/10. Monday, January 4 was Take Your Sons to a Radio Station Day, a
fictitious national holiday I made up to justify bringing Hank and Gabe with me
to a radio interview at KPFA in Berkeley. Denny Smithson, the host, was as gracious to me on the air as he
was to my sons off the air, letting them sit next to me in the studio during
the interview. (Pictured is a KPFA producer in the control room.)
This
was actually the second radio interview on the Wheels of Change Tour in which
I’ve brought my sons, the first being an NPR “California Report” gig I did in
San Francisco in November. After that interview I treated the boys to lunch at Mel’s Diner on
Van Ness and took them to see Baker Beach in the city. Baker Beach
is just west of the Golden Gate Bridge with swell views
of the bridge, the Marin Headlands, and the mighty Pacific. I had not been
there in a long time and so, while the boys were chasing waves, flopping around
in the sand and getting completely wet and filthy, I decided to take a quick
walk to stretch my legs.
I started walking toward the bridge past other children, families, and couples when I noticed something rather, well, unusual. Suddenly the only people on the beach were men. All without swimsuits, and all with their doppelgangers hanging free. Now, in my younger years, I did occasionally go to a naked beach, but the naked beaches I frequented all had women bathers on them as well as men. This was a strict requirement of mine. I immediately hit the brakes, and turned around.
As I did two women, both fully clothed like myself, were coming down the beach behind me. “There seem to be a lot of guys in that direction,” I said. They said, “Yes, we know,” and made an abrupt right turn away from the water toward the parking lot. By the time I returned back down the beach to where the boys were, they were fighting and throwing sand at each other, and it was time to go home.
Note to families and others: Baker Beach in San Francisco is a terrific spot, well worth a visit. But if you take a walk on the beach, you might want to head west, away from the bridge, rather than east. Fewer doppelgangers in that direction.
On another note, Mel Atwell of Walnut, California recently dropped me a line, mentioning as an aside that his wife Millie had turned 83 and he was 87. Mel is a retired Pasadena fire fighter whose brother Dick played for the House of David barnstorming baseball team. During the Depression (and even later) the Israelite House of David in Michigan sponsored several barnstorming teams, and Dick (standing, far left) was one of their top performers.
The bearded Davids (though there were no religious requirements to play on the team, you did have to have a beard) traveled across America in the 1930s astounding fans with their trick-catching and throwing routines, sort of a white baseball version of the Harlem Globetrotters. I wrote about Dick and Mel, who also played a little ball in his younger days, in The Golden Game, and am now lucky enough to count Mel and Millie among my friends. (Dick has passed on.)
Mel and Millie report they have five children, 18 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren. Now that is truly an astounding trick.
Speaking of people I’ve written about who are friends, Washington D.C. FBI Agent Adam Lee sent along pictures of the car he is working on with his son that he wrote about in my last blog. You may look at these pictures and merely see the front and rear end of a rebuilt Dodge Charger, but they're more than that; they're lifelong memories, being created by a father and his son. And when they're finished, those memories will be able to go pretty fast too.
Finally, on Tuesday, Jan. 19 at 6 p.m., I will be speaking about Wheels of Change and showing slides at the Mechanics Institute on 57 Post Street (between Market and Kearny) in San Francisco. Stop by and say hello; friends and family are free. I promise: Everyone will be wearing clothes.
Happy New Year! And a Peek Inside the Nelson Mailbag
Posted 12/31/09. One of the great things about having a website is that people write me letters, and some of these people are from the FBI. Fans of Operation Bullpen may recognize the name of Special Agent Adam Lee, who worked on the case in San Diego and helped bust forgers and counterfeit dealers around the country. Lee has since moved east where he is an Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Intelligence Division in the Washington, D.C. field office. But although you can take the FBI agent out of California, you can't take California out of the FBI agent, as this letter from Adam shows:
Kevin: During a Thanksgiving call from my family in California yesterday, I learned that you have a new book out. When I saw what your most recent work was about, I had to reach out to you; first to congratulate you and to share a quick story about my life with automobiles. As a kid growing up in California—and the son of a 1950s Los Angeles amateur drag racer—I bought my first car, a 1955 Chevy 210 business coupe, at the age of 13. I sold a home built go-kart and bicycle to pay for it. My father and I built the car together and had it ready for my 16th birthday. I drove the Chevy to high school everyday. Building that car with my dad and driving it as a teenager are the fondest memories of my youth. Eventually, I sold it to help pay law school expenses and have missed it ever since.
My love for cars seems to be programmed in my DNA. My son, who is eight, is already a classic car nut. Last year, we bought an old Dodge Charger together and I am teaching him how things work on it. This past summer, we put a fresh 440 in the car and he is always thrilled to hear it roar to life. My boy and I are very close and I am pretty sure he is collecting his own memories in our garage to enjoy later in life.
I am in Washington, D.C., now, as you know. I am living proof, however, that you can take the kid out of California, but you can't take the California out of the kid. Once again, congratulations. I enjoy your work very much and appreciate the subjects about which you write. Thank you once again, too, for your meticulous attention to detail covering Operation Bullpen. Take care, Adam
I am, in fact, a big fan of the entire Lee family. When she was ordering some books from me, Adam's mother Patricia asked for some Wheels of Change flyers so she could include them in her Christmas card mailings. Sweet!
Now, let me briefly share two more pieces of correspondence I recently received. One is from another Operation Bullpen reader who wanted me to sign a copy of his book. He sent it to me in the mail, and I was truly impressed. I have never seen a more well-read book in all my life, as this picture somewhat shows:
I signed this book, and sent a new, fresh copy to him just in case the old one fell apart.
Lastly, back to cars. Both my sons had a wonderful first grade teacher, Mike Mullikin, who gave Wheels of Change to his brother Tim, a self-described "huge car enthusiast." As proof of this, Tim sent me a picture of what is sitting in his driveway:
Says Tim: "From left, the cars are: a red 1962 Ferrari replica, a 1998 Corvette (first year C5 convertible), and a 1973 Corvette Convertible. I am currently adding a 1966 Ranchero and a 1972 Mustang to the stable. Can never have too many wheels." Indeed. You can never have too many wheels, or bottles of champagne in the frig. Pop! Happy New Year, and let’s all have an auspicious 2010.
P.S. Shameless plug: For folks in the Bay Area, I will appear on Denny Smithson’s talk show on KPFA on Monday, Jan. 4 at 3 p.m. For details about this and other Wheels appearances in January, see the News and Events box on the home page.
