John Leland & his lecture on "the history of hip" completely miss the relevance of the So. Cal cultural impact.
So. Cal is vast, angry, multicultural, musical, artistically rich & car/bike-centric.
San Francisco is an east coast city on the west coast & Oakland is a midwest city in Cali.
LA & the surrounding area is a unique beast.
In 1927 Louis Goebal opened Jungleland in Thousand Oaks, California, right on the LA/Ventura Co. line.
The pictures in the previous post are of me & my cousins at Jungleland in January of 1969, when I was 2 1/2 years old. It closed in October of that same year.
I delivered the "News Chronicle" to Mr. Goebels front porch & used his overgrown "Hollywood Zoo" as my own personal playground. It was history to me, the fact that Tarzan & Robinhood were filmed there or Jane Mansfield's kid got his arm chewed by a lion, meant nothing me.
It was ours, our turf, hang out, a free skate park.
The Z-Boyz tagged the bowls we skated, perfectly smooth vast undulating tracks of cement, where alligators, sea lions & ducks once ruled.
While surfing may have had a Zen effect on those living in Hawaii or No. Cal, it was mean & territorial in So Cal.
Car Culture & Vatos, Surfing & Skating, Punk Rock & Hollywood, all left a scar on my personality, that makes me relate immediately with a Jason or a Cole.
Is it real or unique, better or special, more clever or neat than any other growing up experience? I think not, but it is mine & when watered down & commercialized by those reminiscing about a past that is not their own for the sake of selling a clothing line, it is surreal & brings out that angry, territorial tendency ingrained in me, since my youth.
No, nor did Falcon Motorcycles...
