I Am Far From What I Used To Be

By kiki

Yesterday, as I fast approach my 80th birthday I tried to reflect back on my life, and the best I could do was "I am far from what I used to be", but then. Beto, one of my imaginary friends whispered in my ear "dude, you still have your moments" I think I'll buy Beto menudo and a beer on Friday for been so kind to an old friend....Without friends like Beto, we would all be lost, lonely souls. 

Dime A Dance

By kiki

Earlier this morning, I watched an old movie (1951) shot in various parts of downtown Los Angeles. One scene takes part in front of Dream Land Taxi Dance Hall. Dream Land was a dime, a dance hall, where lonely men in need of companionship would pay a dime to dance one song with a young girl or some older woman...I remember one time around 1950 or '51 when some of my buddies and I rode our bikes from the Simons Brickyard to downtown and tried to sneak into Dream Land only to be thrown out on our asses for being too young, not that we had any money, but that didn't matter, we just wanted to dance...For me, those were the good old days!!

A Johnnie Flores story

By kiki

Johnnie Flores, late Los Angeles boxing manager, trainer, and WWII hero told me all kinds of stories back in the day. For example, he said to me as we were flying to Miami in 1977 was about a Mexican boxer who was sent to him in the early '60s to handle while the boxer was in Los Angeles to fight a local hero. When promoter Aileen Eaton called a press conference to promote the fight, Johnnie discovered that the fighter didn't have any decent clothing to appear in front of the press; Johnnie told me that the boxer needed to be dressed up, but how? First, he was not about to drop a couple of hundred bucks at a Robert Hall Clothier store for a suit, then he remembered his uncle Zeferino Ramirez. 

Mr. Ramirez was the owner of a Southern California chain of mortuaries. Johnnie said he called on his uncle and asked for a favor. After Johnnie explained the situation to Mr. Ramirez, the mortician said he would be happy to help him. Mr. Ramirez, whose dying male clients were mainly on the poor side, had closets at his mortuaries that were full of cheap, cheap, ill-fitted suits to sell to the families of the newly departed grandfathers, fathers, uncles, etc., etc. - Johnnie drove the fighter to the Zeferino Ramirez Mortuary which was located on Brooklyn Ave in East Los Angeles. He dressed the fighter in a white shirt, blue tie, and a black ill-fitted suit. Johnnie said that as they were leaving, Mr. Ramirez told them to be sure to bring the threads back as soon as the press conference was over as he had a client who was the same size as the fighter waiting on the slab to get dressed...I asked Johnnie how the Mexican fighter did in the fight, "he got KO'd in the first round," he answered.

El Rancho de Doñ Dañiel and Marrano Beach

By kiki

Okay, you oldies from Montebello, El Monte's Hicks Camp, Pico, Cantaranas, Los Nietos, Simons, Jimtown, Whittier, East L.A., etc, that were alive in the dark ages. How many of you remember El Rancho de Doñ Dañiel and Marrano Beach (Rio Hondo) on the northwest corner of San Gabriel and Rosemead Blvd, PRE-LEGG LAKE?

Before Legg Lake existed, the area around those two boulevards was like a jungle. On those long-ago summer weekend afternoons, Doñ Dañiel would come alive with tardeadas (sp). Doñ Dañiel would have live music, dancing, food, and beer, and who knows what else was happening in that deep jungle.

My maternal grandfather, Papa Tony, would ride his bicycle from Pico to Rancho Doñ Dañiel, and after an afternoon of dancing and drinking, he would ride his bike back feeling a bit tipsy. There were a few times when he would get stopped by the cops, and after seeing that grandpa was slightly inebriated, the cops would put his ride in the trunk and give him a ride home. Some of us might be old, but we have our memories to back us up!