Wheels of Change
Responses to Leah; and Great Reaction to Wheels of Change
Posted 2/17/10. A warm thank you to all of you who commented on my post last week about Leah and my four children. Here are some reader responses:
From a father: “This is a very touching story. I’m not ashamed to admit I did tear up reading it…While I did not ‘need’ this personal story to confirm my respect for you and Jennifer, it does not surprise me in that I now see beautiful Leah reflected in each of you and who you are and what this world desperately needs more of in the sacred callings of Mom and Dad.”
From another father: “I do remember Leah's passing some time ago. I appreciate your guts and integrity to not put it away in some far corner of your life and never speak of it. Your speaking of this may even help someone else, so good for you.”
From an aunt: “Thank you, Kevin, for addressing this oh so personal and gut wrenching topic. I love all your children equally and with all my heart.”
From a long-time friend who participated in a memorial ceremony for Leah after her death: “This is very beautifully written, and I think important. Of course I knew about Leah. I still remember planting the tree for her. The other thing worth mentioning is that you can give parents hope by mentioning this. If they lose a child, they can realize others can follow and live. You are very brave to write about this so publicly. But I believe in the truth. It can be very healing. So many other countries embrace and acknowledge death in a way that America (in general) does not, and seems to be afraid of doing. I have a dear college friend whose three year old died (I think he would be 25 or so now), and she still does a ceremony of some sort on the beach the day of his death. Thanks for your writing.”
And now for something completely
different: Wheels of Change continues to draw attention of the most pleasing
kind. It has been nominated for the Cugnot Prize, which is awarded by the
Society of Automotive Historians to the best historical car book of the year
nationally and internationally. Wheels of Change has also been nominated for
the James Valentine Memorial Award, which is given to the best California car
book of the year. Finally, it will be a contender for the 2010 Dean Batchelor
Award for excellence in automotive journalism, presented by the Motor Press
Guild. The winners of these awards will be named later this year.
Thursday Feb. 18, I will be talking cars with host Patti Morrison on KPCC 89.3 FM in Los Angeles. Sunday Feb. 21—two days after gum surgery! Aaah!—I will be showing slides and gumming my way through a historical “lecture” at the Benicia Historical Museum at 2 pm. in Benicia. Monday, Feb. 22, Paul Kilduff of The Monthly will interview me for a Kilduff File podcast to be broadcast later in the week (I think). Wednesday, Feb. 24 finds me at the San Jose Rotary Club. I show up, they feed me lunch, and I talk a little cars. If nobody throws anything at me, and so far nobody has, the day is a success.
Ex-Bruins Turn out to Support Ex-Bruin at World’s Greatest Car & Plane Bookstore
Posted 2/1/10. The
world’s greatest car and plane bookstore is located at 3524 West Magnolia
Boulevard in Burbank in the heart of San Fernando Valley car country, not far
from Warner Bros. studios and the Big Dog Garage, where Jay Leno houses his
spectacular private collection of classic cars and motorcycles. Leno, who
frequently shows up at car shows in the valley and who can be seen driving an
antique steamer or some other rare and expensive vehicle of his around town,
often drops in at Autobooks-Aerobooks to pick up a technical manual for an Olds
Toronado with 1,000 horsepower or a Mercedes SLR McClaren or some other car
that he and his staff of mechanics are working on.
Autobooks-Aerobooks, owned by the husband and wife team of Tina Van Curen and Chuck Forward, is the biggest and oldest (founded in 1951) car bookstore in the United States, and it draws car buffs from around the state, country and world. As such I felt a little sheepish driving up to my signing on Saturday, seeing a bunch of guys standing outside the store talking and showing off their rides in the rear parking lot. Feeling that my road-weary 11-year-old Toyota Camry might not be the most impressive set of wheels for a car author to roll up in, I discretely parked out of view on a side street and walked in the front door.
Not
that anyone would have cared; nobody really showed up to see me except
for my longtime friend and former UCLA roustabout Gary Grillo and his daughters
Maddy and Kate (pictured between Chuck Forward, left, and Gary on the
right).
Also making the scene was another ex-Bruin, Al Stamler, whom I
had not seen in decades. Here’s a story of how the Internet can make
connections: One day last month Al, wondering whatever happened to a mutual
friend of ours, Randy Breckenridge, googled his name. Up popped a blog I had
written about Randy, recalling our adventures on the Colorado River and the
fact that he had died.
Randy
was another UCLA pal; that was where we met. He lived on the same dorm floor
as Gary, Al and me. After (and during) college Randy and I rafted rivers and climbed
mountains and kicked around Yosemite together, and I dedicated Wheels of Change
to his memory. The book, sadly, is filled with the stories of daring young men
who, like Randy, died too young. (Though he did not die in a car accident, but other circumstances.) Al, who lives in the San Fernando Valley
(and is pictured here), had lost touch with Randy over the years and was
shocked to read what happened to him in my blog. 
He dropped me an email, I told
him about my signing at Autobooks-Aerobooks, and he swung by the store a few
minutes before noon. After concluding my authorial duties we stepped down the
block to Porto’s for lunch, catching up with each other and agreeing that yes, life can be a tough
proposition at times, and—to borrow the line of playwright and raconteur Wilson Mizner—"the first hundred years are the hardest.”
Of Doppelgangers, Italy, Streak Running, and Kaddish: Notes From Around the Globe
Posted 1/22/10. Last week’s blog on my adventures at a naked beach drove Annette Kaiser of San Jose, California, to her dictionary to find out the actual meaning of the word “doppelganger.” I confess I did not know what a doppelganger was when I used it to describe a certain portion of the anatomy of the fellows running around unclothed at Baker Beach in San Francisco; it just sounded funny to me. A doppelganger, says Annette, a dedicated crossword puzzler who knows her way around dictionaries, refers to a person’s “evil twin,” which makes the reference even funnier, I think.
Looking to go to Italy? And learn some Italian while you’re there? Do you have long-lost family relatives in Italy and need help in finding or contacting them? Beyond the Sights can do all these things for you—and more. It is a new travel business just begun by my very own bro, Dave Nelson. And when you get to Italy on a Beyond the Sights tour, these are the five Italian instructors who will be teaching you the language. Ciao, baby!
Steve Conlin, aka Steve the Bartender, dropped me a line the other day, saying that he has moved from the Los Angeles area—formerly he was a bartender for the stars, at the old Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills—to Las Vegas. You may recall Steve’s contribution to this column not long ago, his sharp recitation of the events surrounding actor James Dean’s death. Steve is “now appearing,” as he says, at Wynn Las Vegas. Next time you’re there, look him up and ask how a novel he is thinking about writing—“a Southwest desert noir novel concept featuring a bartender/detective character in the tradition of Philip Marlowe”—is faring.
Ever hear of streak running? Neither had I until I got a note from Nancy Shohet West, who is a writer and streak runner who has enjoyed my Runner’s Book of Daily Inspiration. Streak running is not running around with your clothes off, like those fellows at Baker Beach. It is, says Nancy, “ a term to describe people who run a mile or more every day without ever taking a day off.” Nancy does indeed run a mile or more every day, and she blogs and tweets about it with the same energy and enthusiasm she gives to her streaking. Last I checked, Nancy was up to Day #895 in her running streak, and that is in the Massachusetts snow.
By the way, let's hear it for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts! Way to go, brothers and sisters.
Last year Pearl Felson died at the age of 87, and her son Leonard decided to
honor her life and memory by writing a blog. It’s called A Year of Kaddish,
What a Year of Daily Praying Triggers Within and Without. 
Leonard is an old
Hayward friend of mine who is now an esteemed journalist living in Hartford,
Connecticut. He is Jewish, and he says that according to Jewish custom, “a spouse
is obligated to say Kaddish [prayers] daily for one month; when a parent dies,
the children say it for eleven months.” So his blog is a sort of year-long
prayer for Pearl. But, he adds, it isn’t about his mother directly; it is also
about his spiritual quest and life appraisal following her loss.
Here in supposedly sunny California, we are experiencing big rains and wild storms, including tornados. But I know this is paltry indeed compared to a typical winter up in the frozen tundra of northern Minnesota where Travis Roste lives. Travis, a frequent contributor to this space, tells me that it has been “cold as a well digger's bum here lately. Until just this week when it warmed up, the last couple weeks were 10 to 20 below at night. Brrrrrrrrr.” That’s enough to freeze your doppelganger, all right.
The Wheels of Change Road trip chugs on: This Wednesday, I speak to the always friendly folks at the Kiwanis club in Benicia and on Saturday, Jan. 30, I hit the road again for a signing at Autobooks-Aerobooks bookstore in Burbank.
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 Thanksgiving! And Notes About NPR, Forgery, Car Songs, and Mary Pickford
Posted 11-23-09. First and last thought: Happy Thanksgiving to one and all! More thoughts about cars, people, forgery, and other subjects:
Tomorrow I am going to San Francisco to be interviewed on The California Report on National Public Radio. It's a taped interview, so it will air in the Bay Area on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, on KQED-FM 88.5 FM at 4:30 p.m./6:30 p.m./11 p.m. It airs on different channels and times around central and northern California. Consult the listings for your area here.
Last week I did an interview with Jeff Figler
of the Sports Byline Radio Network, which broadcasts to 700 stations
and 178 countries around the world through the Armed Forces Network.
This was about Operation Bullpen, my book on forgery which continues to
draw attention. (To the right is one of the gang's forgeries; all four sigs of John, Paul, George and Ringo are bogus.) I think the interview aired last
Friday but I'm not quite sure. As soon as I find out I'll update
this post.
I'm looking forward to my next round of book talks in southern California. Wherever I've gone, everyone has been very generous and welcoming, but I've got to give a special shout-out to Steve Fjeldsted, director of the South Pasadena Library where I will speak Dec. 3. Before my talk, Cottage Industry, a rock band, will play car and road songs for a half hour. Steve asked me for my favorites in this genre, so I chose three from the Beach Boys: "Fun, Fun, Fun," "Li'l Deuce Coupe," and "409." After the band's set, Steve will show a movie clip from "Bullitt," the famous chase scene with Steve McQueen burning rubber in a Mustang over the hills of San Francisco. Then comes my slide show and talk. For details on this show and my two other appearances next week in Riverside and Burbank, see the box to the left.
When you write a book, it's a little like hibernating in a cave. In the case of Wheels of Change, I hibernated for close to three years, mainly writing and reading and researching inside the walls of my office with occasional forays out into the world to see historic car spots, visit car shows, and drive the roads of the state. So it's especially nice to get out of my cave and see and talk to people. At the Pasadena Museum of History last week, I signed a book for a fellow who lived in the house in Pasadena where Walter Murphy had lived. Murphy was one of the great automobile coach builders of the 1920s, designing, among many other cars, the luxurious Doble Series E, one of the most beautiful steam automobiles ever made. I wrote about Murphy in Wheels of Change, and it was a thrill for me to meet someone with that close of a connection to him.
The next night, at the monthly meeting of the Mustang Owners Club of California Club at Du-Par's Restaurant in Granada Hills, a movie camera operator, now retired, introduced himself. He had worked on "The Godfather," explaining how he helped shoot the scene in which Sonny (James Caan) gets murdered, riddled by bullets in his car at the toll booth. A number of vintage cars are used in that scene, and one of them nearly ran over the operator (whose name, unfortunately, slipped past me) as it made its getaway.
At the San Diego Automotive Museum on Saturday, I spoke in the main showroom surrounded on all sides by gleaming old machines that once roamed the roads. Among the friendly faces I met there: Kenn Colclasure and Dee House of the museum, and Bernadine Bogdanovs, event coordinator for the Wheels on Reels film festival, which is devoted to the ongoing love affair between movies and cars. The films were shown at the Mary Pickford Theatre in Cathedral City next to Palm Springs. Mary Pickford and her husband Douglas Fairbanks both loved cars (especially Doug), and here is a picture of Mary with her Pierce Arrow, one of their many deluxe rides. Riding in back, Mary spoke to her chauffeur through a speaking tube that ran from the back seat to the front.
Once Upon a Time in Hayward, There Was a Little Boy ...
Posted 11-12-09. Once upon a time in a place called Hayward, California, there was a little boy with a gap-toothed grin ...
He lived in a pink house with a wonderful family and although his father died and knocked a hole in all their lives ...
The boy did what boys do. He played outside, he threw rocks, he climbed fences, he rode skateboards and bicycles. At Hayward High he played basketball well enough for a newspaper cartoonist to do a feature on him for the Daily Review ...
After high school he left Hayward for college but came back one summer to work as a lifeguard at a lake in Castro Valley ...
From there he left Hayward pretty much for good. But, fully into his bearded mountain man phase, he did return to Hayward-Castro Valley again to be Best Man at his brother's wedding ...
From there he became a reporter and writer ...
And now, all grown up with a wonderful family of his own, he will return to the place where it all began to talk about his new book, Wheels of Change: From Zero to 600 MPH, The Amazing Story of California and the Automobile. Here are the particulars about the evening, so if you're not doing anything tonight, come on out and say hello. And if you can't make it to Hayward, there is always the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum on Saturday at 1 p.m. Hoo-yah!
P.S. In the wedding picture, from left to right, the boy, Dave Nelson, Phil Deatsch, Phil Carlson, Larry Gordon and Dave Baker.
More Beautiful People: Wheels of Change Road Trip Comes to Benicia
Some of the world's most beautiful, intelligent, and well-read people came to Bookshop Benicia in Benicia yesterday to celebrate the publication of my new book, Wheels of Change. What, you think I'm exaggerating? No way. Just scroll down these pictures to see some of the attendees (and be sure to click the Read More button), and I know you will agree.
Marti and Joe Fuccy
Max Lateiner, Dan Crouch
Eric and Colleen Leong and their sons Evan and Riley
Annette Kaiser, Leyna Bernstein
Kasey Kath
Elizabeth Jack
Darrell Haber, his son Devin Jack-Haber, Hank Nelson
Gabe Nelson
Katie Lynn
Lance and Vicky Barnett
Brian Parker and Claudia Albano
Claudia and Dale Hagen
Sue Hutchinson
Tom Dalrymple
Mike and Becky Maggart
Three of the Trybull family: Jeff, Leslie and daughter Jennifer
Bob Berman
Alison Barnsley, Vernon Lee, and their children Aero and Cielo
Where the Beautiful People Meet: Wheels of Change Launch Party in San Francisco
Wednesday night in San Francisco the California Historical Society hosted a launch party for Wheels of Change, attended by forty to fifty connoisseurs of cars, history, and fine literature. I gave a talk, and nobody in the audience threw anything at me so I guess I did okay. Afterward I signed books and chatted with people, which is always the best part of these book gatherings.
Below are photographs from the evening, picturing some of the people at the California Historical Society and Heyday Books who have worked behind the scenes to make this book happen. Please, allow me to introduce them to you:
That's Bob McNeely and me. Bob, the executive vice president of Union Bank in San Diego, is a trustee and former president of the board of the California Historical Society. It was Bob's idea to do a book about cars because he wanted the historical society to tackle a subject that everyone could relate to. Bob changed my life, and yet I had never met him until Wednesday night. As one might expect, he is a connoisseur of fine automobiles, particularly ones that are low, red, and fast.
What, you think only guys in suits came to the party? Chet hails from a Hayward car club, and the ink on his arms depicts two of his deepest passions: cars and women. He's not affiliated with CHS or Heyday, but he was out there representin', and I appreciate it.
This is Malcolm Margolin, making a point. Malcolm is the publisher and founder of Heyday Books, which has now published two of my books, Wheels of Change and The Golden Game. He is a friend and supporter of mine, as he is for countless other writers, editors, publishers, and booksellers. Every writer should be so lucky as to have Malcolm Margolin as his publisher.
Two executive directors of the California Historical Society, past and present: Stephen Becker, left, and David Crosson. Stephen was the head of CHS when Bob McNeely approached him with his idea to bring people together through cars. Stephen said, "Let's do it." After Stephen left the organization, David took over his spot, a position he currently holds, meanwhile taking over stewardship of Wheels of Change, which was then still a work in progress. Showing patience and faith, David helped steer the book to its completion. I owe them both a great deal.
Here are George Young and Jeannine Gendar, both of Heyday Books. George is a consultant and marketing and publishing guru with decades of experience in the business, and a former hot shoe guy to boot. (Vintage car slang: "Hot shoe" equals hot car.) Jeannine Gendar represents a rapidly disappearing species in the book industry: an editor who actually edits. She worked with me on Wheels of Change, helping turn it into a sleek and sassy Corvette of a book. At the risk of repeating myself, the same sentiment applies equally here: Every writer should be so lucky as to have Jeannine Gendar as his editor.
Here, Malcolm hugs Lillian Fleer, the talented and hard-working events and outreach coordinator for Heyday. If you’d like to hear a lively and entertaining speaker who knows cars the way Grey Goose knows vodka, call her at 510-549-3564. I talk at bookstores, libraries, garden and house parties, book clubs, and Rotary and other civic groups. I’m also available for bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, christenings, baptisms, and bachelor parties. I'll be there for you, and I'll be representin’.
After rocking the house Thursday at the Oakland Rotary Club, I'm off to my next stops on the Wheels of Change Road Trip: Sunday, Nov. 8, 2 to 4 p.m. Signing. Bookshop Benicia, 856 Southampton Road, Benicia. 707-747-5155. And Tuesday, Nov. 10, 7 p.m. Talk and signing. Clayton Books, 5433 D Clayton Road, Clayton. 925-673-3325. Be there or be square!
James Dean’s Last Drive: Correcting the Record
“God,” said Mies van der Rohe, “is in the details.” If that’s true, then car people are very godly people because they love, and appreciate, and relish in, the details of automobiles. I experienced this yet again the other day when I received a letter from Steve Conlin, an ex-bartender at the Bar at the Hotel Bel-Air, one of Southern California’s most famous see-and-be-seen cocktail lounges.
As Steve says, he has “shaken cocktails for everyone from President Ronald Reagan to O.J. Simpson, from Clint Eastwood to Britney Spears.” Among his interests are automobiles and James Dean, seen above in a photo from Wheels of Change, probably at a race in Palm Springs in 1955, the year he died. Although the book is not out yet (but soon, very soon!), while perusing the Net Steve came across the excerpt from the book about Dean on my website. Enlivened by brisk detail, here is a piece of what he said:
Hi Kevin, Here’s wishing you great reviews and huge sales for your soon-to-be-released California auto book. I was browsing random Internet files when I came across an excerpt, your story on James Dean’s fatal drive in his 1955 Porsche Spyder 550.
As a California native and UCLA alumni you might be surprised to
learn that the gas station fill-up photo you referred to as being taken
at Blackwell’s Corner was actually snapped at the corner of Beverly
Glen and Ventura Blvd., in Sherman Oaks. This was perhaps two blocks
from Dean’s home at the time, and where he probably had a credit
account.
You are correct that it was the last picture of Dean alive [the
picture you see here], but it was snapped as his caravan headed from
Hollywood through the San Fernando Valley for the drive north on
Highway 99. Photographer Sanford Roth had taken a few action shots of
Dean driving along the Hollywood Freeway and along Ventura Blvd. just
prior to arriving at the station.
The old station office still stands, although it has been converted to a funky flower shop. The extended roof over what was once the pump bay is newer, heavier, and the two slender support columns that can be seen in the James Dean picture have been strengthened to hold it aloft. Interestingly, the footprints of the three red 1950s gasoline pumps are still preserved on their original concrete island. The fill-up photo you mention was actually taken by Rolf Wutherich, Dean’s mechanic and passenger, with Dean’s own Leica camera. The sturdy Leica survived the accident and Dean’s family had the film developed shortly afterward.
Kevin, most of this information is based on the research of my friend Warren Beath, author of The Death of James Dean. I can send along a few of my own photos of the station, if you’re interested. Best regards, Steve Conlin, Los Angeles
I thanked Steve for his letter and his desire to correct the record on some of the details about Dean’s fatal last drive. On his way to a race in Salinas, Dean smashed into another car near San Luis Obispo while speeding in that silver Porsche Spyder and was killed. The star of “East of Eden” and “Rebel Without a Cause” remains a top Hollywood earner despite being dead for more half a century. The Wall Street Journal said in a piece last week that Dean’s estate netted $5 million in licensing fees for his image.
Steve and I have exchanged e-mails, and perhaps we’ll meet at one of my speaking gigs for Wheels in southern California in November and December. Tomorrow I’m off to The Book Seller to talk about the history of cars in historic Grass Valley. My radio interview with Eric Tomb of “Booktown” of KVMR Radio aired on Monday; if you’d like to listen to it you can find it here on his blog. Just click on the link at the bottom that says “to hear this program.”
