Smoking Weed

By kiki

Back in the ‘40s and ‘50s, most people smoking weed were the Chicano’s and the black brothers. They would get busted with a roach and taken in front of a white judge who would then sentenced them to years in the big house. Then in the ‘60s, the white hippies discovered the feel-good plant. When they started getting busted, the white judges started seeing their own kids or their friend’s kids in front of them. Soon we started hearing that weed wasn’t so bad after all….LOL!! Let’s toke!

Jimmy Carter vs. Art Aragon - 1951

And while this story is peppered with real-life events, it is still a work of fiction (which means I made stuff up)

By kiki

Edit by Phil Rice

Eddie Gomez was watching a boxing match on a nineteen-inch TV when his dad, Rudy, came into the house and told Eddie.

"Eddie, look what I have here."

"Pops, did you get some tickets for the title fight?

Eddie had been bugging his pop to take him to see the Art Argon vs. Jimmy Carter lightweight title fight at the Olympic Auditorium for some time, but his Pop thought that Eddie, being twelve years old, was too young to go to the boxing matches.

"Yes, Eddie, I bought four tickets. Your uncles, Tony, and Ray will be going with us. Now I hope your mom doesn't get mad at me. She too thinks you are too young to go to the fights".

Eddie's mom, Lupe, was not too crazy to see Eddie going to the fights, but she did agree with Rudy that their son would be disappointed if he was not allowed to go with his Pop and uncles, so she gave her the okay for Eddie to go.

Eddie couldn't wait to find his best friend, Chano Diaz, to tell him the good news. Instead, he found Chano tending his two cows and one goat at a nearby pasture. "Chano, my Pops is taking me to see the Aragon and Carter title fight."

"Gee, Eddie, you are lucky. I wish I could go."

"I'll ask Pops if he can get another ticket for you. Chano. You think your mom and pops would let you go?"

"I'll ask them," 

Eddie asked Pop if he could get a ticket for Chano.

"Yes, I'm sure I can get one, Eddie; tell Chano that if his mom and pop say it's okay for him to go, we'll take him with us."

The next day in school, Eddie told Chano the excellent news.

"Chano, my Pops said he'll get you a ticket if your mom and pop say it's okay for you to go."

"Eddie, Mom, and Pop said I could go as long as your father was going; they trust your father, but not your uncle Ray. They say he is crazy and will get into a fight at the fights."

"Yeah, Uncle Ray is a bit wild, especially when he drinks beer, but Pops won't let him drink too much; he'll be okay."

They all piled into Rudy's 1946 Dodge two weeks later and headed west from Simons on Washington Boulevard. Eddie and Chano were so excited that they couldn't sit still, and it was starting to bug Uncle Ray.

"If you kids don't sit still, we will stop and drop you off here, and you will have to wait for us to pick you up after the fights."

"Leave them alone, Ray; they are excited to go to the fights. After all, it's their first time seeing boxing live. You remember when you went for the first time, and you got all crazy on us, wanting to fight everybody there?" said Uncle Tony.

"Yeah, but I was drunk, and let me remind you that I was doing okay until that big guy cold-cocks me and knocked me on my ass," Uncle Ray said, laughing.

The area was so packed that they had to park three blocks away. Eddie and Chano were shadowboxing as they walked up 18th Avenue.

"Hey Eddie, Chano, you two want to become fighters? Because; if you do, I'll train you guys," said Uncle Ray.

"Ray, what the hell do you know about training fighters?" Rudy demanded.

"Hey, Rudy, I have fighting experience."

"Yes, you do, but it's a street fighting experience, and I don't think you ever won a fight!"

"At least I've never been KO'd, always finished on my feet," laughed Ray.

As the group approached the front entrance of the Olympic Auditorium, they started seeing movies and boxing celebrities hanging around the sidewalk of Grand Avenue.

"Chano! There's John Wayne and Pedro Armendariz," said the excitable Eddie

"And over there is Rosemary Clooney and her husband, Jose Ferrer," said Uncle Tony

"I see Tommy Campbell, Frankie Muche, Irish Bob Murphy, Enrique Bolanos—and Babe Herman's over there talking to two men," said Chano

"That's Cal Eaton and Babe McCoy they are talking to. Probably talking about upcoming fights," said Rudy

Before entering the Olympic Auditorium, they all bought the Knockout program from Speedy Dado. Then, Eddie and Chano started getting autographs on their programs to show their friends in school the next day.

They found their seats in the second-to-last row in the peanut gallery. No sooner had they sat down when toilet paper rolls started flying around; some ladies' underwear was passing by too. So Eddie and Chano started making paper planes and flying them down to the ring.

"This is fun, Eddie; thanks for bringing me," said Chano

"Thank my pop, Chano. He is the one who bought your ticket."

The fighters for the first fight came into the ring. Rudy, Tony, and Ray started betting on the fights. They bet one dollar on the white or black corner—whatever fighter went to the corner they had, that was their bet.

The first fight was won by Al Galindo over Bobby Brewer. After that, Rudy and Tony won a dollar each, and Ray lost a dollar.

The second fight was between Joey Gurrola and Sammy Figueroa.

"Chano, see that big guy in Figueroa's corner? That's big Jake Horn; he's a great trainer," said Eddie

The fight ended in a draw.

"Guess it didn't help Figueroa having Jake Horn in the corner, did it, Eddie?" Chano said as he threw a roll of toilet paper.

"He didn't lose, did he?" Eddie retorted

"Well, no, he didn't."

After a couple of more fights, it was time for the main event. Art Aragon and Jimmy Carter would be coming into the ring soon.

                    Jimmy Carter and Art Aragon made weight. 

Aragon, looking weak, entered the ring first.

"Aragon is going to lose," said Eddie

"How do you know?" asked Uncle Ray.

"Look how pale he looks. I read in The Mirror that he was having trouble making '35," said Eddie.

                                   Aragon was down in the 6th round.

Carter came into the ring looking great. After both fighters had been gloved in the ring, they were introduced by golden voice Jimmy Lennon, then referee Mushy Callahan called the fighters to the center of the ring for their instructions.

The fight started pretty even for the first four rounds, but from the fifth on, it was all Carter, who won an easy 15-round unanimous decision.

                                                  Keeny Teran

Right after the fight ended, Uncle Ray wanted to leave. "Okay, guys, our guy lost; let's get out of here."

"No! We have to stay and watch Keeny Teran fight Bobby Garza. They are fighting a six-rounder," said Eddie.

Uncle Tony agreed. "Ray, Keeny is the toast of the town; we have to stay and watch him fight."

They stayed and watched Keeny win a unanimous decision.

On the way home, Uncle Ray asked Eddie and Chano if they wanted to box. "Guys, if you're going to become fighters, I'll train you. After you train for a few months, I'll take you to the downtown CYO, where Johnny Flores runs the boxing program. I'm sure we can get you some sparring. Johnny is my friend, and he'll help us out.

"Ray, you don't even know Johnny Flores," said Rudy

"Well, maybe not, but I know where the CYO is," laughed Uncle Ray.

Eddie and Chano were the toast of the school the next day as they held court with their friends.

"You should have seen Aragon land that left hook of his!" said Chano as he threw a left hook.

"Too bad he didn't land it enough," Eddie moaned.

"He was too weak from making weight."

"Yes, he was," agreed Eddie.

"But you should have seen that little Keeny Teran," Eddie and Chano said in unison.

"Guys, Chano and I are going to start training next week. My uncle Ray is going to train us," said Eddie.

Their lives had been forever changed by a single night at the fights.

John Martinez and the gloves

By kiki

Around 1977, my son Frankie was fighting the main event at the Olympic Auditorium, and around 8:30, Norm Lockwood came into the dressing room and handed me the gloves. I gloved Frankie up so he could begin warming up. Forty minutes or so later, Lockwood stuck his head in the dressing room and yelled, "ring time" I told Frankie, "let's go," "wait! Wait! I have to take a piss," Frankie said to me; well, we didn't have time to take one glove off so he could take a piss, this fight was on live TV, and the TV people had everything down to the minute, so I looked at my assistant, the late John Martinez, he looked at me. He said, "no, no, no, not me! "I said, "yes, yes, yes, that's what I'm paying you for (I wasn't paying him). I'll wait outside" - Most fighters get butterflies in their stomach; Frankie got 'em in his bladder.

I put my arm around John when they came out of the dressing room. I asked him, "Well, John?" his reply was, "you sonofabitch" I told him, "don't worry, John, I won't tell anybody, and I'll buy you a beer and a hot dog after the fight for been such a nice guy" By the following day all our friend knew about it!!

John and Bob

                                                     John and Bob

By kiki

In 1980 my brother Mando and I were planning a 7-day motorcycle road trip for Memorial Day. About ten days before the start of our trip, I ran into my friend Bob King, and I mentioned our upcoming trip to him; and knowing that he rode a motorcycle, I asked him if he would like to go, he told me he would think about it and that he would get back to me later with an answer. He called me a few days later and said that, yes, he would ride with us. He then asked me if he could invite a friend named John. I told Bob, “of course, invite him and others if you want to.”

We got together at my place on the Saturday morning of the Memorial Day weekend to start our trip. Bob and his friend John came early, and once everybody had arrived and had had some coffee, we got on the road. We rode all over NoCal during the week. By Friday, we were about 150 miles from home. We planned to ride home Saturday, so we needed to find a campground to spend our last night on the road, which we did at Lopez Lake, north of San Barbara.

As we set up our tents, Bob came to me and told me that he and John were heading home that night. I asked him why, and he told me that John had told his live-in girlfriend in the morning that we had started our trip, that he was going to the store to buy the newspaper and cigarettes, and that he would be right back !! So he was gone for a week buying the newspaper and cigarettes … LOL!!!!

“Brick Wars”

By kiki

One late 1940s summer day, the guys from up the hill came down to El Hoyo for a brick fight; I was behind a small dirt mount, about 3 feet high. I would get up, throw a brick, get down fast for the incoming bricks. The action slowed down, no incoming bricks, so I figured they had gone back up the hill; I figured wrong, because as I stood up to see if indeed the guys had gone up the hill, "POW" I got hit in the chest with a brick, I went down on my butt, couldn't get up for a while. That’s how we kid's spent the summers at the Simons Brickyard.

What a set of pipes

By kiki                                                   

"kiki! kiki!!" Connie was screaming at the top of her lungs at me. Man! Does that woman have a set of pipes on her?

"Yes, dear," I answered.

"What did you do to my blouse!?" she asked me as she held up a dark blouse for me to see. It was a dark blue blouse with some white spots that looked like they didn't belong there.

"I didn't do anything to your blouse, dear," I told her as I began to sweat.

"You do the laundry, don't you!?"

"Of course I do," I said.

"Well, look! You ruin one of my favorite blouses. Did you get some bleach on it!"

"It wasn't my fault," I told her.

"Whom's fault was it? The dogs? They are the only ones here with you during the day".

"If you want to believe that, that's okay with me," I told her as I walked away.

What a set of pipes!!

Willie, Joe, and Jack-In-The-Box

By kiki

                                               

 I once knocked a Jack-In-The-Box out. Even though that's only a short part of this story, let me tell you how. In 1970, I drove with other boxing trainers and guys with junior boxers to Phoenix, Arizona, for a junior boxing show. At that time, I had a 1966 Chevy pickup with a camper. One of the guys making the trip was my late brother-in-law Willie (he was married to my sister Annie). When I asked Willie if he would like to go to Phoenix with us, he said yes, that he would like to go, but said I had to promise him that I would take a picture of him with a Native American woman; I promise him I would; not knowing how I would accomplish that feat. One of the other guys was my wife's late brother-in-law, Joe. 

When we left home, Joe and Willie were riding in the back, inside the camper with the junior boxers; when we made our first stop, Willie jumped out of the camper yelling, "I ain't riding with that sonuvabitch no more" I told Willie he could ride in the cab. We got back on the road, and two hours later, we made another stop, and everybody got out to stretch their legs, and like lovers, Joe and Willie made up, they were now both going to ride in the camper again, they said. At the next stop, it was Joe that jumped out yelling; now Joe was riding in the cab; damn, I was beginning to feel like "Dear Abby," with Joe and Willie burning my ears off, telling me the other one was crazy!

We pulled into Phoenix at four in the morning, and we saw one of those 'open 24 hours Jack-In-The-Box restaurants' I was half asleep when I pulled into the drive-thru and hit the clown and knocked him on his ass; Jack was out cold before he hit the ground, I hit Jack because the camper was too high for the drive-thru! After we parked, I went inside for a cup of coffee, and what was the first thing I saw? Two Native American women! They were almost about Willie's size, too, 250 lbs. or more, but shorter, way shorter! I ran outside, got my camera, and told Willie, "Willie! I found your Native American woman" I got Willie inside, and I asked the bigger of the two women if it was okay for me to take a picture of her with Willie; she said yes, but that we would have to buy her and her friend a cup of coffee, we did. Afterward, she kept calling Willie "Mijo," Willie asked me not to show Annie the pictures, which was, of course, the first thing I did...

The morning after the kids fought, we left Phoenix and stopped in Buckeye for breakfast; some of us ordered pancakes, others ordered a bacon and eggs breakfast, 

Willie ordered half a dozen pancakes with a half dozen eggs, an egg in between each pancake, "AND" a side order of bacon and eggs, with hash brown and toast, and two beers; he ate "EVERYTHING," He then slept all way home.

That boy could eat! But maybe that's why he weighed in close to 280 pounds.