The Dana Street Saga

Life in Berkeley thirty years ago;
Searching for love and meaning

Friday, April 27, 1973 - 9:45 AM

Left on my trip about 10 after loading Pegasus into the VW bus. Drove south on 280 from San Francisco, and turned off at the Half Moon Bay exit. There, on Skyline Drive, I parked Jupiter, and unloaded Pegasus.

Rode first down to Half Moon Bay, but it was cold and overcast there, so I had to head back inland to the sunlight.

Rode on Skyline Drive awhile, and stopped at a pull-off area. There, a guy and a girl were having a joint in a car. They offered me some tokes which I accepted, before heading down a winding jungle road towards the sea.

It got cold part way down, so I stopped in a sunny spot to get warm. Had lots of stoned thoughts about competition, soaring (like an eagle), the jungle, worries about a breakdown, recognizing that in anything you do there are risks. I saw myself as more paranoid about other people than about the jungle life.

Talked for awhile with a couple of other motorcyclists who came past, then headed on down. It was freezing on the coast again, and I worried about being overexposed. Then I turned inland from San Gregorio, and it soon got warmer.

I stopped on top, and rapped with an old motorcyclist who had a Suzuki 500. He was really into motorcycles.

Followed another road or two, finally getting back to the van and loading up. It was about 4 or so by then. Headed home through Palo Alto, across the Dumbarton Bridge and up Route 17 to 580, then to 13. It was a very nice day.

Penny asked me to stay with Cici, as she wanted to spend the night at Chris's, so after having dinner at her place, Cici and I came home here around 8:30. Penny and I had gotten stoned first, had some pretty good rapping before Daryl came over.

Went to bed around 10:30 last night. Got up around 7 with Cici, who had to get off to school. There were 5 or 6 people in the kitchen having breakfast at that time.

Today's another nice day.

2:20 AM

I'm very stoned and drunk and the lamp's not working, but I just got home from a very nice evening at LaValle's Basement. I made a few nice contacts, so I'm feeling pretty good.

I sat at the bar for quite awhile, until I started getting the eye, so I thought, from this tall girl. I asked her to dance, and we did. Her name is Sunny, but she has an old man who plays drums for "the Rockets," who were really fine.

Her friend Joetta also really caught my eye. She's usually to be found at the Longbranch, in the loft, she said. Her old man is a sound technician with Primo Sound. She was pert and nice, and a Cancer, and seemed friendly to me. She got free pitchers of beer, and I went out to the car to get us a joint.

While I was dancing with her, a girl at another table was really giving me the eye. When she was about to leave with her date, I intercepted her. She's Lynn P, lives in Oakland. She told me she digs me, and I told her I dig her, which I do. At least she really excited me. I went up to her as she was leaving, cool as could be, and got her name and number. She'd made it very clear she was interested.

Also I saw Susan, the girl with the beautiful hair and nice body who I'd seen in the white sports car on the San Rafael Bridge and later talked to on Telegraph. I went up and asked her to dance, and she did, but didn't give me much eye contact.

Afterwards I said goodnight a couple of times, also told her I wished I knew her better. She gave a neutral shrug. She seemed open at least to the possibility of our meeting again.

At closing time I waited around, as I had gotten interested looks from other girls as well. One went out with the black guy who hangs around on Telegraph Avenue looking like a low-class pimp or dealer. I asked her, "Are you okay?" as she went out, and she said yes, though in a friendly way, grateful for my concern.

Finally, I got another beer at the Cheshire Cat, and came home at 2 AM, ripping off the mug from them (a consolation prize for striking out?). It was a high evening though, with potential for followup.

Saturday, April 28, 1973 - 6:45 PM

Today I woke up about 8 or so and couldn't get back to sleep, but lay in bed until about 10. Felt okay, but a little dragged out from last night.

Played a couple of games of chess with Mike. He's been quiet and depressed recently, so I asked him about it. He said it was mostly over his student life coming to an end, and not knowing what to do about it. He clobbered me at chess.

Then I walked up to campus and back, stopping at the Med.

Came home and called up Lynn P. She was surprised. She's a junior at Mills College. So I rode on down to see her. We had a low key visit. She was a lot less forward than she was last night. We walked a ways and sat on the grass, and I told her a lot about myself, and she some about herself.

She's 20, an Aquarius, non-religious, majoring in philosophy, may go to Law School. We didn't find much in common at all, I'm afraid. She has a cute face, but is overweight in the hips and legs, which turns me off a bit.

I made tentative affectionate advances from time to time, but with no response. Later, back in her room, I kissed her for awhile, but she was noncommittal and didn't give any positive encouragement.

I asked, and she told me she still dug me, but there wasn't much energy there. So I don't know now. There doesn't seem like much grounds for pursuing the situation further, unless she comes on stronger.

While there, I was surprised to see Joetta, who was there with her old man, who was setting up a sound system for a street dance tonight. I said hi.

Also, I tried to visit Windy before I left, but she wasn't home.

After I got home, Karen B called and invited me to go to an R.D. Laing movie with her in San Francisco, but she was already there, and I'd have had to really rush to make it in time.

I'm pretty tired, and don't know if I'll be up for dancing later tonight.

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