Song of Labor Day

Dear Subscribers: Thank you for your patience and kind understanding! As you've seen, I've been playing around with this blog and I'm still finding my way. It may be that this approach does not belong here, but rather on a new blog called "The Far Shore" or "From the Far Shore," or something like that. I don't know. And I am continuing to encounter technical glitches beyond my control, which I apologize for. But I do know that your comments are much appreciated, and I hope as I move forward that all of this will become clearer. To you as well as me. In any event, have a great Labor Day.

"I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear/Those of mechanics, each one singing a carol as it should be blithe and strong...

"The boatman singing what belongs to him in the boat...

"The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work...

"Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,/The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust and friendly,/Singing with open mouths their melodious songs."

JUMP PAGE »

Honeymaker Commits Grand Larceny

There is honey that says in a squeaky little mousey voice, "I'm syrupy sweet, therefore I'm honey." Then there is honey that says, in the sultry deep sonorous tones of a Luther Vandross, "Listen, brother. Lemme show you what real honey tastes like." Marshall's Farm Honey, in a little out of the way spot on the road to Napa Valley, is the second kind of honey.

Their natural style—they have other kinds—is raw and unfiltered. When it crystalizes you can spoon it out of the jar and it's almost like soft honey candy. You warm it up and it spreads on, gracing whatever it's on.

We discovered Marshall's earlier this summer when, on a birthday splurge, we treated ourselves to a dinner for two at Ad Hoc, the latest outpost in Thomas Keller's culinary empire. After the spare ribs came the cheese course, with candied walnuts and Marshall's, which is made not that far from our home. Actually no, they don't "make" honey there. When we stopped by their farm one of their people told us, "No, we don't make it. We steal it from the bees." Such grand wondrous larceny!

JUMP PAGE »

World's Best Magazine for Boys

Boys' Life: the best magazine for boys, bar none. Their target audience is boys, not just Boy Scouts or Cub Scouts, and they hit it out of the park. It's got jokes, it's got adventure (all done by boys, teenage and younger), it's got fiction, it's got gear, it's got machines, it's got science, it's got animals and the outdoors, and a boy doesn't even have to look at a screen to read it. My sons read it and enjoy it and get a lot from it (as do I), and they're not scouts, they're just fightin', rasslin', burpin', arm-fartin', won't-make-their-bed-no-matter-how-many-times-we-tell-'em, whinin', complainin', rambunctious, sometimes-miss-the-pot-when-they're-peein' boys. And hurrah for that!

JUMP PAGE »

Express Your Inner Road Warrior at Oceano Dunes

When people think about driving on the beach, they usually think of someplace like Daytona Beach, but not California. No, never in environmentally polite California. Actually there is a spot in the Golden State, Oceano Dunes, where you can bring your beast right down to the surf. And here's the kicker: It's a state park. Well, actually in bureaucrat-speak it's a "state vehicular recreational area," just south of Pismo Beach east of 101. It's wild. These big firebreathing trucks pulling these monster mobile homes large enough to give shelter to three or four super-sized families are coming down the beach towards you as your tires are spinning in the soft sand and you're thinking maybe you're going to get stuck or spin out right in front of the other vehicles, and the waves are breaking and the water is licking your tires and the wind is whipping. Go there to express your inner road warrior. 

JUMP PAGE »

As Good as Sex—Well, Almost

     As I write this I am drinking a Lagunitas IPA, and reading the label on the front of the bottle. In small print around the edge it says,"Thanks for choosing to spend the next few minutes with this special homicidally hoppy ale. Savor the moment as the raging hop character engages the qualities of the malt foundation in mortal combat on the battlefield of your palette!" And here I thought I was just having a beer.

JUMP PAGE »

A Writer With the Right Stuff

Deep into airplane literature these days, I am now reading The Right Stuff, a book that has—dare I say it?—the right stuff. Reading it makes me appreciate, anew, its author. I'm not as keen about Wolfe's later, fictional phase—Bonfire of the Vanities, A Man in Full—but I worship his earlier, groundbreaking, positively transcendant nonfiction phase: The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine Flake Streamline, Baby, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, From Bauhaus to Our House, and the remarkable people, places and things of The Right Stuff:

"Somehow Yeager [left] was like the big daddy of the skies over the dome of the world. There were even other pilots with enough Pilot Ego to believe that they were actually better than this drawliin' hot dog. But no one would contest the fact that as of that time, the 1950s, Chuck Yeager was at the top of the pyramind, number one among all the True Brothers."

JUMP PAGE »

No Fear of Flying

August 8, 2010. Faithful readers of this column may have noticed that it has been missing of late. I have no excuses except to say that I will try to do better in the future. In any case, "Na furrie sana ku wanana na wewe." That is Swahili for "I am very happy to see you again."

No, I have not been studying Swahili while I have been away (from this blog); I lifted this translation from a beautiful book I'm reading, West with the Night. The writer, Beryl Markham (whom you see here, on the cover), grew up in Kenya and became in the 1930s an African bush pilot. Also, an extraordinary writer. Thoroughly recommended for those who wish to read a memoir and real-life adventure story from an earlier time.

I am reading lots about pilots and airplanes because I just pitched a proposal for a book about California aviation and flying. God knows if it will sell or not. Early signs are promising; I remain hopeful despite a shipwrecked economy and being in a business—writing or, as it is known today, "content'—that is being completely transformed by the Internet. It is the greatest time in the history of the world to be involved in publishing—that is, unless you're looking to make money. Oh well. No complaints. When I became a writer I took a voluntary oath of poverty, and I remain true to this vow.

On the subject of flying, I took a field trip the other day to Hiller Aviation Museum at the San Carlos Airport, and it is also thoroughly recommended for a glimpse into aviation past and present. They have a Boeing 747 on display where you can go into the cockpit and see the incredible array of switches, dials and gauges that the pilot, co-pilot and navigator had to monitor in order to fly the plane. By the way, the people you see here are of no relation to me; my boys, being large sticks in the mud that day, stayed home.

 

JUMP PAGE »

Know Anyone Who Is Pregnant? Have I Got A Book for You!

Posted April 27, 2010. Know anyone who is having a baby? More specifically, know anyone who is having a baby who wants the man in her life to get more involved in the pregnancy and childbirth? Have I got a book for you! It's the virtually new, completely updated second edition of The Everything Father to Be Book, A Survival Guide for Men, by yours truly.

     The book is for men, written from the point of view of a man who has been a pregnant father four times. It was first published in 2004, and it was such a winner that Adams Media, the publisher, decided to put out a revised edition in 2010. I did the rewrites late last year, adding some new info and features and updating the material where needed. Interestingly, pregnancy and childbirth haven't changed all that much in the past half-dozen years, but the technology of our every day lives, such as the use of cell phones, has changed remarkably.

JUMP PAGE »

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.”

JUMP PAGE »

I Have Four Children. Their Names are Annie, Hank, Gabe, and Leah

Posted 2/8/10. Many people do not know that Jennifer and I had a baby, Leah, who died. She was born Monday, November 25, 1996, and died Friday, November 29, 1996, after five days of living only in a hospital. This is a picture of her in the last hour of her life; she had breathing problems she could not overcome.

One of the reasons that many people do not know about Leah is that I do not tell them about her. Privately, among our family and close friends, we of course speak of her and remember her. Every November around her birthday, a time of year that is particularly hard for her mother, we recognize her life by lighting a candle or hiking, as a family, up to the hill where we scattered her ashes. We talk about her freely with our sons, who never met her and will never understand the impact she has had on their lives.

Among people I do not know, however, talking about Leah represents an awkward challenge. Whenever a new book of mine comes out, the publisher releases biographical material about me that typically mentions the fact that I have children. I often speak publicly in front of groups, and occasionally do radio and TV interviews. These, too, generally mention my children, at least in passing, and this is where the awkwardness comes in. Do I say I have four children, or three?

JUMP PAGE »

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. 

JUMP PAGE »

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.

JUMP PAGE »

Talking Cars on NPR's California Report

    Posted 11/29/09. Friday I appeared on The California Report on National Public Radio, chatting with Rachael Myrow about the passions of young people for cars, California car trends, hot rods, the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, the first woman to drive across the United States, and other automobile-related matters. Click here and you can take a listen. It's a fast six minute segment.

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.

JUMP PAGE »

If It's Tuesday, It Must Be Pasadena...

The Wheels of Change road trip heads to southern California this week, making stops in three places rich with automotive history: Pasadena, San Fernando Valley, and San Diego. Here are the details on where I'll be appearing, as well as some tidbits on how each place figures into California car culture and the history of cars:

Pasadena

On Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 7:30 p.m at the Pasadena Museum of History (470 W. Walnut Street, 626-577-1660), I will probably chat a little about how—

  • Those two desperadoes you see pictured here, L.L. Whitman and Eugene Hammond, became the third set of drivers to drive across the United States in an automobile, going from San Francisco to New York in 72 days, 21 hours and 30 minutes. Hailing from Pasadena, Whitman became the very model of a hard-driving man, setting speed records for his transcontinental trips across America as well as north-south sprints from Los Angeles to San Francisco.
  • Pasadena looms large in the history of automotive design. Walter Murphy Coach Works of Pasadena designed the coaches for some of the most beautiful cars in the world in the 1920s, including Abner Doble's luxury steam masterpiece, the Doble Series E. Two of Murphy's former employees, Christian Bohman and Maurice Schwartz, formed a Pasadena coach-building firm that designed the spectacular Duesenberg JN used by Clark Gable to squire Carol Lombard around Hollywood. Pasadena to this day maintains a high-level design profile, as many of the graduates of The Art Center College of Design are carrying on the Walter Murphy-Bohman & Schwartz automotive design tradition.
JUMP PAGE »

No. 196,963 with a Bullet: Wheels of Change Motors to Hayward Historical Society

Posted 11-13-09. In the sales race between Sarah Palin’s Going Rogue and my Wheels of Change: From Zero to 600 MPH, The Amazing Story of California and the Automobile, the former vice presidential candidate is inching ahead. Her book is No.1 on Amazon, while mine is ranked 196,963. Nevertheless! Wheels of Change continues to motor along quite nicely, and last night close to 30 people in my old hometown of Hayward turned out for a scintillating talk and discussion about cars and car history at the Hayward Area Historical Society on Main Street. Here are some candids of people who attended, and remember to click the jump button to see all the pictures, particularly the last one:     

From left, Carl Steward, Mark Croghan, Joe Joseph, Kevin Nelson (some guys never grow up), and Max Lateiner

JUMP PAGE »

How Computers Are Killing Backyard Engine Building, and Other Things I'm Learning

Posted 11/11/09. One of the benefits of going on a book tour is being able to meet the people who are reading my books, and learn from them. Here are a few of the things I learned from the people who came to my talk last night at Clayton Books:

     • How computers are killing the ancient and honorable practice of teenagers building car engines. Used to be they could take apart a Ford or Chevy engine, install new parts here and there, clean and repair the old ones, and then put the whole thing back together better than before. But the computers used in car engines today require specialized training and specialized (and expensive) equipment beyond the reach of many do-it-yourself backyard mechanics who just want to work on their cars to make them run faster. Plus, it's just not as much fun to work on cars with computers than the old ones that pre-date the computer age.

JUMP PAGE »

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? Just scroll down these pictures to see some of the attendees, and I know you will agree.

Marti and Joe Fuccy

JUMP PAGE »

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.

JUMP PAGE »

Wheels of Change Road Trip Begins: Fighting Off the Fans in Grass Valley

Hordes of book lovers flocked to Grass Valley yesterday for my appearance at the Book Seller. Okay, so I exaggerate. Only two people came out to hear me talk about my newest book, Wheels of Change.

Now, to some it might seem a tad discouraging to drive two hours to appear at a signing and have only two people show up, but it wasn’t discouraging or disappointing, at least not for me. I had a great time, and this was due to the two people who showed up: Don Fultz and his wife Georgann Russell, pictured with me above.

Formerly of Santa Cruz, now of Grass Valley, Don is a one-time hot rodder who has already read Wheels of Change and loved it. This was the email he sent me on Tuesday:

JUMP PAGE »

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

JUMP PAGE »