The Dana Street Saga

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

Saturday, February 9, 1974 - 9:05 PM

Went to the Seventh Seal last night with Mike and Marty to hear Dennis and Andy play. It was a pretty nice scene.

Afterwards, back at the house, Larry said that Lucky Strike was playing at Hard Times, so I decided to go, and he rode with me on my motorcycle.

At first there were no women there in whom I was interested, so I took a ride to the Irish Pub to check out that scene. It was about 11:20. But nothing was happening there either, though I said hi to Kevin, and I soon came back to Hard Times.

I danced with Kathy. We're pretty good friends by now. She lives in Richmond, I think, with Tom.

Much later, there were some girls that were attractive, one in particular, and she smiled at me in a very friendly way when our eyes met, as did I.

But I didn't get a chance to meet her for awhile, and in the meantime I danced with another attractive girl whose name was Anita. And she introduced me to her friend, Candy.

But then I got a chance to dance with the other girl, a very cute, slim blonde, whose name is Vickie. In fact, she's beautiful. We danced the last three or four dances. She lives in Richmond. I asked if I could call her.

She said, "Sure" and gave me her number, which I memorized (223-3318). She was quite friendly, though probably quite young, and I hardly dare allow myself to get any expectations, but I'm sure that if she dug me, I could fall very much in love with her.

So here I am again, but I haven't let myself get any expectations as of yet.

After the band was finished, the band and friends were going to party at Kathy's house in Richmond. I was ambivalent about going, as Arlene was going to be having a party at our place, which I'd planned on attending.

I flipped a coin with Kathy to see which party I'd go to. Kathy's won. But I overruled it, because of the long cold ride, and because I really wasn't all that up for it, though I almost was.

So I came home instead, happy at having met Vickie, and having gotten her number.

I stayed at Arlene's party for awhile. Her guests didn't arrive until about 3 AM, but a bunch of us got stoned and drunk in the kitchen 'til then. I was pretty tired though, almost passing out, so came up to bed after awhile.

Slept well. As I was laying in bed around 9, planning on sleeping 'til noon or after, there was a knock on the door, and Mike said there was someone here to see me.

To my pleasant surprise, it was Brad, down from Oregon. He was here to meet Sue at the Airport. She'd been in San Diego for a month or so.

So I got up, took a quick bath, and then we walked to Park & Shop, got some milk, came home, and had breakfast. Then we got stoned in my room while waiting for Penny and Cici, whom I'd called to come down.

When they arrived a little later, we all went to the bakery and then to the Med. And eventually we went up to Penny's house, where we all visited until 2 PM, when it was time to go meet Sue's plane. We got stoned and had a nice time.

I rode with Brad to the Airport, where we were a few minutes late, and first went to the wrong gate, before finding her and her daughter, Carrie, at the PSA baggage place.

From there we rode to her Aunt Ruthie's in San Francisco, where we visited for over an hour, having a pleasant visit.

Then we came back to Berkeley, went to Penny's house, in time for sunset (she has a nice view from her house, looking out over the bay towards San Francisco), and visited there until 8 or so.

Penny and Sue related quite well. They're both creatively into crafts. And Carrie and Cici related well too.

It was another very pleasant visit, though at times I felt a bit "out of it," being very stoned and occasionally feeling somewhat untogether and conscious of it, but able to flow past it.

I think we all had a very pleasant day. Then we came over to my house. When I showed them my housetruck, they dug it, and Sue asked if they could stay overnight in it.

I said sure, felt happy to be able to share it with them since they liked it. I told them they were my first guests to stay in it.

Then I showed them my room, introduced them to some people in the house, and they split to get something to eat.

Earlier in the day, I'd found that nut-shell Buddha in my pocket, where I'd been carrying it since Drew B gave it to me when he was here. On impulse, I gave it to Brad, and he liked it very much. So I felt good about passing it on to him. Also, I gave him a lid of grass as a present.

In the car, we had a good talk. I told him about Charmaine, and we talked about a lot of related things, our trips, etc. Later, I told him of the coincidence that the last names of my last two lovers were A (Lyndy), the same as Sue's, and T (Charmaine), the same as Gail's.

It's been a fine high day, though by now I'm quite spaced and tired.

After they left, someone told me I had a letter, and I found it was from Gail (another coincidence - synchronicity). It was a beautiful, close, affirming letter. She thanked me for my "gentle warm letter," said I sound "mellow and growing," said she admired my "persistence, honesty, and courage" of my "quest," and wrote of her current life in more detail. It was a beautiful letter, one that I'll always value, I'm sure.

Sunday, February 10, 1974 - 10 AM

Brad, Sue, and Carrie spent the night in the housetruck last night after they got back from dinner. I visited with them for a few minutes before they got settled, then I came in and went to bed around 10:30 myself.

Today's another nice sunny day.

1 PM

Another trip from Charmaine: I called her at work just now. Asked if she were there. The guy who answered asked who was calling. Then I heard him shout, "Hey, Charmaine, do you want to talk to Ralph?" Then he came back on the phone and said, "She's not here."

I told him, "I know she's there. Would you please ask her to call Ralph."

He said, "Sure. If I see her."

This really upsets me, that now she won't even talk to me, that we're down to this. I want to call her back, to try to get through, but don't know if I should.

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