Born in East LA

My dad grew up in Los Angeles. I remember one of his Geezer Gleanings mentioned how much he enjoyed Cheech & Chong’s Born in East LA, because, he said, “That’s where I’m from.” In 1935 he hitchhiked to Berkeley to enroll at the University of California, where, in 1938, he met my mom at a student dance. He liked to say he hooked her with his Irish charm, though in one “Gleaning” he noted that she didn’t give him her phone number for nearly a year. Aside from several years during World War II, they were inseparable and as much in love on their 50th anniversary as their first. My mom is still going strong at 89, despite blowing out a knee in the ‘80s jitterbugging with my dad in the living room. Sadly, my dad passed away 15 years ago. He sure made my life fun and interesting. I miss him a lot.

You've Got to Start Somewhere

One of the most memorable (for me) of Dad’s original Geezer Gleanings was a Virgil Partch cartoon from 1963 that showed two prospectors trudging across the desert. One prospector, whose footprints trail off over the horizon, has a startled look on his face. The other prospector, trailed by only two footprints, is saying, “You’ve got to start somewhere.”

That’s where I am with this blog.

Inspiration

Back when I was in college in the early '70s, my dad, who had recently retired, would send me a newsy letter from home about once a week. He usually included things he would cut out of the newspaper — often cartoons, both humorous and political. I began compiling the cartoons in a scrap book, calling it (at Dad’s suggestion) Geezer Gleanings.

Now I'm about the same age as he was, and my daughter is away at school. I thought this would make a nice tribute to my dad, and something that my daughter might draw inspiration from.