Life Stories


On the Street Where I Lived: a collection of personal stories

"There are places I remember 
All my life, though some have changed 
Some forever not for better 
Some have gone and some remain 
All these places have their moments 
With lovers and friends, I still can recall 
Some are dead and some are living 
In my life, I've loved them all"
                                               Lennon/McCartney
Call it a peripatetic life. Call it itchy feet. I’ve almost lost count of all the places I've called home. Three continents, six countries, over a dozen cities and well over thirty houses, apartments, condos, town-homes and a couple of summer sublets. 27 before I met my husband  (hey, I should call this 27 adDresses!) and a dozen since. 
My American Dream is to share my memoirish pieces in a book. 

Wanting to share stories of my past, getting them down before I forget them, I’m using the streets where I’ve lived as a road map to navigate these personal stories by. If every picture tells a story, surely every house does as well. 
I blame my parents for the first twenty years worth of homes, the places numbered 1 through 15; from then on ... well, I inherited their very bad case of itchy feet. Looking at the road map of places I've been I may never figure out why my life's journey took this particular route, full of false starts and detours but what I'll try to do here is tell a story set in each locale. I'm beginning with some dusty old pieces which have been sitting here in the archives for ages. I'm gathering the guts to try some new stuff as well. Below is a numbered list of all the streets where I've lived; my intent is to add links as I post my tales until there's at least one piece for each street. 
You might want to start off with #3, Turkish Delight or #4, "The Boy Who Took Out His eye" since they get things started. 

1. Salisbury Road, Richmond (call it London) England
    Home: Returning to Richmond
2. Queens Ferry, Wales
3. Izmir, Turkey
   Turkish Delight
4. Tripoli, Libya
5. Mansfield Drive, Hayes, Middlesex, England
5A. Our TransAtlantic Crossing
     Bon Voyage
6. Montreal, Canada
7. Eglington Avenue North, Scarborough, Toronto, Canada
8. Ryerson Crescent, Niagara Falls, Canada
     The Sparklers Red Glare
9. Cherry Grove Road, Niagara Falls, Canada
10. Avenida Ponce de Leon, San Juan, Puerto Rico
      Beach Music  via the Los Angeles Times
11. 3rd Street, Santa Monica
       Beach Music
12. 10th Street, Santa Monica
      Jailbait
13. 12th Street, Santa Monica
14. 14th Street, Santa Monica
      Boys and Black Coffee
      Waiting on a Friend
      E-Ticket to Ride
      In the Cups
      A guy, a girl, and a GTO
      Curbed
      On Sunset
      Behind Closed Doors

          Drug Store Beauty Queen 
         Pretty French Postcards (France)
        The Price of Potatoes (France)
       Sous le Soleil (Bandol, France)
        The Walk (Bandol, France 1/3)
        Garlic & Gauloise (Bandol, France  3/3)

          Dear Mr. Redford
         Job Done

15. Euclid Street, Santa Monica
      Leaving Home: Part Four
      Leaving Home: Part Five
      Leaving Home: Yesterday

 16. Barrington, Brentwood
      Leaving Home: Yesterday
17. Broderick Street, San Francisco
18. Washington Ave, San Francisco
19. Gorham Avenue, Brentwood
20. Dorothy Street, Brentwood, California
21. Bentley Avenue, West Los Angeles
      Photographic Memory
22. Ocean Park Blvd, Santa Monica
       Meeting Tom Cruise
23. Via Marina, Marina del Rey
24. Murietta Avenue, Sherman Oaks, California
25. Kester Avenue, Sherman Oaks

26. Dickens Street, Sherman Oaks
      Last Dance
      Meeting Brad Pitt The Favor
      Made on Location (Oregon/Free Willy)
27. Vista del Mar, Redondo Beach, California
       Moving Day
28.  Beverly Glen, Westwood (Los Angeles)
       Moving Day
29.  Spring Street, Friday Harbor, San Juan Islands, Washington
30.  Barrington Avenue, Mar Vista, Los Angeles
31.  Grandview Blvd, Mar Vista, California
      That Thing We Did
       That Thing You Do/2
       That Thing You Do/3
       That Thing You Do/4
32.  Mountain View Avenue, Mar Vista, California
       There's No Place like Home
      A Summer Place, Theatricum Botanicum
33. 110th Street, New York, New York
34.  Foxwood Drive, Oak Park, California
35.  Ridgeway Drive, Westlake Village, California
36.  Conifer Street, Oak Park, California
37.  Ogden Drive, Los Angeles, California
      Charlie
      7 Reasons We Love Older Men (via Good Men Project)
38.  The Street We Live On Now, Santa Monica
(Where I’ve been focusing on writing a novel as well as a smattering of short stories which I’m busy submitting, tweaking and continuing to submit. I’ve been getting the odd bit of encouragement to keep trying from carious literary mags so I suppose I will.
I’ll occasionally post something on substack—sim stack—and repost (again, occasionally) an old piece because, like Ann Patchett says … “If you haven’t read it, it’s new to you.”
"There are places I remember 
All my life, though some have changed 
Some forever not for better 
Some have gone and some remain 
All these places have their moments 
With lovers and friends I still can recall 
Some are dead and some are living 
In my life I've loved them all"
                                               Lennon/McCartney

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