Memories of el Monte (Oakland, San Gabriel: crime, school, to live)

[laquests]

Yeah, any body know what El Monte was like in 55-65? Back in R@R and R@B @ DOO *** days. I just listened to a song by the Penquins , "Memories of El MOnte" where they sing a litany of 50's songs and fantasy. But it was going on and Art Laboe on KPOP @ KDAY brought it to ya. From 1956 to? Anyway the song is by Frank Zappa and ? It is a pitch perfect Zappa pardoy of "greser" styles. Hey up in the SF Bay Area where I grew up we tried to live up to this stuff. Ah the cars I had: 48 Merc slope back, 53 Ford 2dr hrdtp, 57 Chevy Bel Aire 2 dr hrdtp- Coral@White wth. silver@blk interior. People I was accused of loving that car more than my girlfriend. Anyway ... I was reminded of "cruising"- I did a lot of it in the suburbs of Oakland, and I hope some of you were around in the glory days of LA cruising whether in East Los or Burbs. What streets did you do it on? I know LA county is a large place but so is the East Bay. Laquest.

[Charles]

There is an excellent book which takes place in El Monte called "My Dark Places". It is the true story of the murder of crime writer James Ellroy's mother. I read it. Outstanding - even though I didn't grow up in El Monte.

"Crime novelist Ellroy (American Tabloid) was 10 in 1958 when his mother, a divorced nurse and closet alcoholic, was found strangled to death in a deserted schoolyard in California's San Gabriel Valley. The case was still unsolved in 1994, when Ellroy hired retired L.A. homicide detective Bill Stoner to investigate...."

from

Amazon.com: My Dark Places: James Ellroy: Books