Time Warp
There were times over the decades when my cousins Freddy, Leo, and I hung out. This happened when we were in our 20s.
We would spend quality time together, hanging out, going to record stores, bookstores, going for a drink or two, play some pool, or playing pinball. Freddy still likes to have an occasional cigar, Leo and I would just keep ours lit. We were in our 20s, very wise, we knew everything, and we liked to let each other know about it.
One Saturday night, we stopped to get chili cheeseburgers at Tommy's. On Saturday nights the best place to park was across the street at their additional satellite parking.
We ate our burgers, went back to the car, Freddy opened his trunk and got a carburetor and a bit of hashish, and he invited us to smoke. You had to hold your fingers over various inlets, hold open valves, and light it this way, and blow it that way, and inhale over here. It was about 11 o’clock on a warm, clear summer evening.
Well, when we were done we went for a drive. We went down streets on a route that was a favorite way to see the city. Beverly Boulevard, Hollywood Blvd, Sunset Blvd, down Santa Monica, up to Westwood Village, and then Wilshire Boulevard to the pier. All the while we’re talking away. Soon, it was only Fred and me talking. Leo, I checked to see if he was awake, was curled up in the backseat just looking out the window.
When we got to Santa Monica, I figure it was about 1:00 in the morning. We parked at the pier/beach parking lot, maybe go look at the ocean or something. We got out of the car. Looking toward the pier the sky was glowing an angry red.
Let me mention that I’m writing this story during the big fires in 2025. This memory was loud.
Looking there at the glowing red sky over Santa Monica with my cousins, we assumed that there was a big fire, and while we watched the red glow got bigger and bigger, we were talking about maybe getting out of there because maybe the city was burning and what if we were trapped because getting out of that parking lot, the only way to do it is to go to the east toward the red sky, we should stay where we were by the ocean it was the safest thing to do.
We decided to stay and keep watching.
It was summertime, the red glow that we saw to the east turned out to be the sunrise. It was roughly 5:00 in the morning.
That means our drive from Tommy’s to Santa Monica took us six hours. I could walk it in six hours. I have no idea how slow we were traveling. We drove the whole way 5 miles an hour? Did we not leave Tommy's for hours? Or did we stop for an hour at a red light. Where did that time go, that time done gone.
Oh, the glorious memories of a misspent youth.
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