Happy Birthday John Lazenby!

[johnl]

SEE JOHN?!!
Referencing some of KG's points ... do you remember some of our conversation during the ride back from Shoob's Memorial?
CRAZY (would be to me) to think of the impact you created all those years ago ... !
All these people, including myself, over all these years ... just 3 kids with some crazy ideas to have some fun?
So GLAD You and your cohorts decided to Take The Road Less Traveled ... !
Maybe, just MAYBE ... when the market is ready, ONE (less favored) piece of American Iron could be replaced by a New/OLD World replacement (possibly better than resurrection of the past?) for the past long since extinguished?
After these years, so long ago ... not so very LONG though .. what changes would or could be made?
Every Flame starts with nothing more than a SPARK!

Take care,
TxT
Thanks Tom.  Most of the points you make I've replied to from Keith's post.  I like the therm "SPARK".  Maybe you can be my ZIPPO.  Probably most reading this will be to young to know what a ZIPPO is.

[So.Cal.Life]

     John ,dont leave out Palm (Harbor Blvd) my family moved to Ana. Ca. in 55, I was 8mo.old ,first 6mo.at motel across from LaPalma pk.next ,rented 809 Palm near LaPalma pk.about a year , then bought a home on Palais rd ,Ball & Euclid, in 59 I started school , mom went to work ,Anaheim high cafiteria ,she drove a 57 T-Bird ,parked in the h.s. lot every day ,her name ,on her nametag ; CHICK ,the car ,charcoal w black top portholes,you know ,ring a bell?  A custodion at AHS name of Vance ,had a really clubbed foot & major speech problem but a real outgoing upbeat personality ,you have to remember him,yearbooks maybe? Anyway I spent alot of time at AHS ,because she worked there. I did know about Hatfield going there, and the drycleaners, but no clue about his dates, DD & Dtones ,yes and John ,do you remember TIM BUCKLY! he lived across the street ,he and his dad had knock down dragout fights,his dad was brain damaged bad , but TIM played Harmony Park and became pretty famous ,died way to young ,ODed ,nice guy,a very tourtured soul, had a son ,Jeff" SCOTTY"Buckly ,followed in TIMs footsteps exactly accept for the OD ,drowned swimming in a river near Memphis Tenn. sad irony.   I did not know about the props ,but yes, just agreat guy Stan Betz.  John , if" You" build a VW , build it to suit" You", and it will be original , classy, different and awsome, It will be , John Lazenbys  DKP CAR.                     Keith     

[johnl]

     John ,dont leave out Palm (Harbor Blvd) my family moved to Ana. Ca. in 55, I was 8mo.old ,first 6mo.at motel across from LaPalma pk.next ,rented 809 Palm near LaPalma pk.about a year , then bought a home on Palais rd ,Ball & Euclid, in 59 I started school , mom went to work ,Anaheim high cafiteria ,she drove a 57 T-Bird ,parked in the h.s. lot every day ,her name ,on her nametag ; CHICK ,the car ,charcoal w black top portholes,you know ,ring a bell?  A custodion at AHS name of Vance ,had a really clubbed foot & major speech problem but a real outgoing upbeat personality ,you have to remember him,yearbooks maybe? Anyway I spent alot of time at AHS ,because she worked there. I did know about Hatfield going there, and the drycleaners, but no clue about his dates, DD & Dtones ,yes and John ,do you remember TIM BUCKLY! he lived across the street ,he and his dad had knock down dragout fights,his dad was brain damaged bad , but TIM played Harmony Park and became pretty famous ,died way to young ,ODed ,nice guy,a very tourtured soul, had a son ,Jeff" SCOTTY"Buckly ,followed in TIMs footsteps exactly accept for the OD ,drowned swimming in a river near Memphis Tenn. sad irony.   I did not know about the props ,but yes, just agreat guy Stan Betz.  John , if" You" build a VW , build it to suit" You", and it will be original , classy, different and awsome, It will be , John Lazenbys  DKP CAR.                     Keith     

First, I hope the general readership of this site doesn’t get to upset with us sharing all of this personal stuff.  If so, just move on or advise both Keith and I and we’ll “shut up”.  Now to reply to Keith’s latest.

Harbor Blvd. was the actual name from Costa Mesa (Goat Hill) and as I recall became Palm when it hit the Anaheim border.  Once into Fullerton it became Spadra Road.  Speaking of “Palm”, when Christie and I were first married we lived at the corner of Palm and Harbor Blvd. on the east side of that intersection.  There was one home (where we lived) and just south a motel and then a bit further Dr. Offices and that is where Christie worked for a Dentist.  She rented the house prior to our marriage. 

That house (now replaced by a large Medical building) was where my Firemist green car came apart and the Butternut car was created.  Art Alvarez, DKP I, towed my shell of a car with his Dad’s Buick to Babe’s in Fullerton for the first attempt at Warbonnet Yellow. I’ve attached an early photo of the Butternut car in the front yard of that Palm location.  If you look close at that photo you will see I don’t have the left front cap on the American for some reason and to the left in the background was Mike Mahaffey’s green split.  This was a club event on a Sunday I think, but can’t remember the specifics. We lived there for a year or so before moving to our next rental house on Westmont Dr. in Anaheim.  From there we purchased our first home close to the intersection of Magnolia and Katella where we live for five years.  There is a very interesting story of that home, I won’t tell it here, but shortly after moving in there I sold the car.  Side note, Mike Dumphy, DKP II, lived just north on Magnolia & Pacific in a Condo and Dave Greiner’s wife’s parents live a few houses down from us.

The motel across from La Palma Park really hits home.  If this was to the east of the park in sort of an Island area between Lemon, Los Angeles and La Palma streets it is the SAME place we stayed when we arrived in California in 1955 and has since been torn down.  We had moved from San Antonio, Texas and stayed in that motel for a week or two prior to moving to Parton St. in Santa Ana in a duplex while our new home on Winter St. in Anaheim was being built.  We moved into the Winter St. location in June of 1956 and my parents lived there for over 30 years, so to me that is “home”.

Gary Michael Huggins co-creator of the DKP name and logo lived on Clementine St. just south of the Park and that is where I met him in 1961.  We met though our parents as both families attended the First Presbyterian Church on Broadway St. in Anaheim.

I kind of remember your Mom’s T-Bird, but don’t remember her or Vance the custodian, but will look in my annuals tonight.  The one I do remember is “Sarge”, no not DKP Sarge, but an older fellow who oversaw the parking lot.  He was a very likeable fellow and everyone thought well of him.

I remember my last day of school in 1965 when I pulled over about a block from the parking lot, removed the muffler and installed a stinger to drive in for the last time.  Between the exhaust noise and me dumping the Porsche clutch breaking the tires loose poor Sarge had his hands full. 

I do remember Tim Buckley, but didn’t know what ever happened to him.  Between Tim and his son it sounds like a tragic story.  Daily I travel north on Euclid and cross Ball going to and from work.

Where are you living these days?  I think I heard you were out of state, but I’d sure like to sit down and share stories with you.  Really strange how are paths have crossed so many times.  If you are not local lets plan on spending sometime together next time your in this area.

[javabug]

we’ll “shut up”.

Please don't, ever. This is part of what makes the Lounge great. Thank you guys for the stories.

[Harry/FDK]

X2 !!!

[johnl]

we’ll “shut up”.

Please don't, ever. This is part of what makes the Lounge great. Thank you guys for the stories.

I'm pleased to hear from a couple of you that you enjoy and find value in my ramblings.  Anyone ready for the story of our first home yet???   It will show you just how small the world really is............   

[Harry/FDK]

Keep them Zippo's flickin' 

[Donny B.]

John, keep it up.  I have memories like yours of growing up in Phoenix in the 50s and 60s.  So much has been bulldozed and changed for progress sake.  It's kinda sad, but I still have the memories!

[TexasTom]

John & Keith,
Y'all are good story tellers ... keep 'em coming.
Even though I pretty much have no idea of the where, I can appreciate the when ...

As for 'Zippo' ... I hope it doesn't stick. LOL

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/oAOEGzCWF8o" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/oAOEGzCWF8o</a>

TxT

[Rick Meredith]

John & Keith,
Y'all are good story tellers ... keep 'em coming.
Even though I pretty much have no idea of the where, I can appreciate the when ...

As for 'Zippo' ... I hope it doesn't stick. LOL

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/oAOEGzCWF8o" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/oAOEGzCWF8o</a>

TxT

Tobacco Barn is right around the corner from me... used to spend a lot of time there when I still smoked cigars! 

[johnl]

John, keep it up.  I have memories like yours of growing up in Phoenix in the 50s and 60s.  So much has been bulldozed and changed for progress sake.  It's kinda sad, but I still have the memories!

So, do you want to hear about my numerous trips to Phoenix (we had family friends that live there), cruzin' Central and going to Bob's Big Boy at the Christown Mall back in the day?      You weren't expecting that were you??   

[johnl]

Okay Lassies & Lads, here is the story of our first home:

10902 Mac Murray Street in Anaheim was our first home.  We purchased it in the fall of 1972 for $29,950.  There wasn’t much money so I was fortunate to be able to get a VA loan.  At the time we probably had less that $1000 in the bank, but by selling our 1950 Split Window that I actually took payments on and with some help from my folks we made it happen.  This was a car that we had purchased from Doug (Underdog) Gordon and he had bought it from Bruce Crower of Crower Cams, but once again that car is yet “another story”.  The house was kind of disaster cosmetically but just needed a lot of TLC.  The owners wouldn’t budge a penny on the price, but we saw potential and went for it.

For about the next three years we spent each weekend on various projects from building walls, pouring concrete (I got rather good at that one), painting, landscaping and the list goes on and on.  This is when I lost interest in the club and car as our lives were changing.  If you want to see a current photo of it today go to:  http://maps.google.com/maps?rlz=1T4ADRA_enUS332US332&q=10902+macmurray+st,+anaheim&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=10902+MacMurray+St,+Anaheim,+CA+92804&gl=us&ei=3W2wTdXRJoW-sAOg7MjlCw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBUQ8gEwAA
This was known as the “Oh my God” house as when you entered the living room and opened the curtains to access the glass sliding door to the patio and yard that is what was always said.  The lot was a pie shape and the back yard was HUGE.  If I had it today I could build a garage across the back to hold all eleven of the current fleet and still have a very oversized yard.

So we stayed there for five years, purchased our first of ten BMW’s, a used Bavaria.  I did continue to rebuild VW engines for people to earn some extra $$.  Two I remember were my brother-in-law Todd’s Squareback and my parents ’66 Black 1300 which became a 1600 in short term.

During this period I continued to work for the Rosevear’s at Auto Haus as GM and somewhere along the way I was looking for a Squareback, but Ed Craig had purchased a very nice ’71 type II with a sunroof.  I started looking for something like that and found a blue and white non sunroof, but it did have the middle fold down seat at Circle Motors in Long Beach. 

I built a 2ltr motor for it with K-dogs and an Engle 100 cam.  That thing would climb the side of a building.  I loved it, Christie hated it, but it stayed with us and was a big tool in the move from that home to our current one of almost 33 years.  Shortly after moving to the second home I sold the bus to the boy friend of one of the girls at Auto Haus.  As I remember her name was Joanne and for those of you with original Auto Haus Catalogs you would know her chest as it was the one being blocked by the large “ice cube” for the Rapid Cool’s.  (Yes, there is a story there too, but I think I’ll save that one for Ed Craig to share).  More stories about “the bus” in the future.

In 1977 we put the Mac Murray house on the market and sold it for $72,500.00 purchased the current home in Garden Grove, where once Americans lived, and moved in.  This home was just the opposite as it needed virtually nothing and had won the Garden Grove City’s “Home Beautification Award” numerous times.  Over the years we’ve won the award a few times ourselves.

Fast forward to 1997 when I ordered a BMW M3 from Crevier BMW located in Santa Ana right next to Commonwealth VW where Jim Edmiston worked until recently.  I received a call from my salesperson Brad Lindenstein introduced to me via Bill Moser (yet another Auto Haus former employee) who was working at Crevier in parts at the time. 

Brad tells me the car is in and I said okay, but I have a problem in that how do I drive a car down to the dealership, pick up the new one and get both home.  So Brad says, well don’t you live over close to where I did growing up.  I said where did you grow up and he says, “Mac Murray St. in Anaheim”.  I said gezzz, we lived on that street and I said what was your street number, he come back with 10902 which was “our address”.  Then it all clicks, we had purchased our first home from Brad’s parents.  Since then Brad has sold us every BMW from that time until now which I think is a total of six.

So there you have another chapter of our lives.

[So.Cal.Life]

      John , Yes, SAME MOTEL !! O-M-G!! Would it be to cool if we lived there at the same time? ,well , I somehow find it likely.  Oh ,off topic for a minute ,ALL OF YOU YOUNG GUYS OUT THERE , Here is a clue , A ZIPPO IS NOT A MARX BROTHER , OH , YEA, PROBABLY DONT KNOW WHO THEY ARE EITHER ,OH WELL .  L.O.L.                             John ,this thread is all about  " YOU" ONLY YOU can control its content ,but I know what you mean.      I have been in Roseburg, Oregon for the last 17 yrs ,have not enjoyed it much, long story, I will share sometime . BUG IN is a possibility. If I do make it, G Bunch , R Fleming , Deano , a host of others have our ph#s ,in any case , we "will" meet.  IT WILL BE GOOD.          Keith     

[Fastbrit]

      John , Yes, SAME MOTEL !! O-M-G!! Would it be to cool if we lived there at the same time? ,well , I somehow find it likely.  Oh ,off topic for a minute ,ALL OF YOU YOUNG GUYS OUT THERE , Here is a clue , A ZIPPO IS NOT A MARX BROTHER , OH , YEA, PROBABLY DONT KNOW WHO THEY ARE EITHER ,OH WELL .  L.O.L.                             John ,this thread is all about  " YOU" ONLY YOU can control its content ,but I know what you mean.      I have been in Roseburg, Oregon for the last 17 yrs ,have not enjoyed it much, long story, I will share sometime . BUG IN is a possibility. If I do make it, G Bunch , R Fleming , Deano , a host of others have our ph#s ,in any case , we "will" meet.  IT WILL BE GOOD.          Keith     

Keith, Bug-In is not a "possibility" – it's a DEFINITE! Get down there, pull up a chair, grab a beer and talk!

[johnl]

      John , Yes, SAME MOTEL !! O-M-G!! Would it be to cool if we lived there at the same time? ,well , I somehow find it likely.  Oh ,off topic for a minute ,ALL OF YOU YOUNG GUYS OUT THERE , Here is a clue , A ZIPPO IS NOT A MARX BROTHER , OH , YEA, PROBABLY DONT KNOW WHO THEY ARE EITHER ,OH WELL .  L.O.L.                             John ,this thread is all about  " YOU" ONLY YOU can control its content ,but I know what you mean.      I have been in Roseburg, Oregon for the last 17 yrs ,have not enjoyed it much, long story, I will share sometime . BUG IN is a possibility. If I do make it, G Bunch , R Fleming , Deano , a host of others have our ph#s ,in any case , we "will" meet.  IT WILL BE GOOD.          Keith     

Keith, I reviewed my AHS Annuals 1963-65 last night and found two photos of your Mother.  She was not shown in the 1964 book for some reason.  Interesting that I don’t remember her, but then I don’t remember any of those ladies.  What I’ve gone blank on is what I did for lunch.  We had a closed campus and I sure don’t remember “brown bagging” it, so I must have eaten there, but as I stated it is a blank.

Regarding the “Motel”, I just spoke to my 92.5 year old Mother who also has “the memory” and she said we were at the Motel in June of 1955.  Were you there at that time?  If so it would have to be the earliest gathering for two future DKP Members on the planet.  UNBELIEVABLE, is all I can say.

I thought you were living out of California and thought I remember hearing Oregon.  Would like to learn the details of why you moved there and why you are not happy.  As bad as SoCal is portrayed with the entire issues one reads about and sees for themselves I’ve still never found a better place, thus I remain.

Looked up 809 Palm (Harbor), now you didn’t state if it was North or South, but if North we lived very close to each other.  Is this the house?

Hhttp://maps.google.com/maps?rlz=1T4ADRA_enUS332US332&q=809+harbor+blvd.,+anaheim&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=809+N+Harbor+Blvd,+Anaheim,+CA+92805&gl=us&ei=npixTcq6KYyWsgPd2ajuCw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQ8gEwAAarbor and made the assumption it was North Harbor.   

If so you were just down the street from Horace Mann School that Mike Mahaffey and I attended.  Also, and I’ve told this before at the southwest corner of Harbor & La Palma was Bill King’s Chevron station which is the FIRST place I ever drove a VW Beetle.  It belonged to a classmate, Robert Allen’s parents and he came in one day and I asked to drive it in the lot.  I vividly remember how strange it felt after driving a huge Chrysler.  Today that location has a Taco Bell there.

Another side note to Bill King and the station was that Bill himself was a tall very good looking guy and he was the model for the large Chevron man with the moving arm at the station located on the southwest corner of Harbor and Katella at the south end of Disneyland’s original parking lot.  Bill and his brother Cecil were really nice guys and let me hang out and the station, use the lift and “manual” tire changer.  These are things that just wouldn’t happen today.

Regarding phone numbers, I see Gregg Bunch and Ron (Big Al Taming) Fleming regularly and really want to make the connection with you.  The BUG IN is a MUST for you to attend and if so PLEASE make contact with me.  If you send me your info at john@royze.com I’ll reply with mine so we can “hook up”.

You stated that this thread is all about me, but I disagree.  It is all about “us” and the foundation of what became a world wide PHENOMENON.  I look forward to future communications.

[johnl]

Looks like the link didn't work, so here it is again:
http://maps.google.com/maps?rlz=1T4ADRA_enUS332US332&q=809+harbor+blvd.,+anaheim&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=809+N+Harbor+Blvd,+Anaheim,+CA+92805&gl=us&ei=faSxTZ6ZLIa8sQO81rzvCw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQ8gEwAA

[So.Cal.Life]

     John ,I have made 1 mistake ,that,  due to my age,am only willing to blame on my computer-typing skilis, the year we moved to Ana Ca.was 56 not 55 ,that being said, and this being the internet , we should go with (" THE FIRST  KNOWN DKP MEETING THING") and we will ("never") be found out . L.O.L     THAT" is" THE HOUSE ,at somepoint ,late 60s-early 70s the house was a tiny drapery shop for years, Your posted picture of it made me say to myself YES!!  THANKS for posting it,you know the only picture I can find is of My mom,aunt ,two bros.and,me,taken by dad in our brand new, 1957 Renault Dalphine four door sedan,if I kenw how to or had a scanner,I would post it,It would make you smile & chuckle ,a fine Eurosport touring car,nothing but the best. I dont remember Mr Clean at Malloneys ,but I know what you mean about using the gas stations tire equipment ,businesses were friendly back then,I was never run off from any of the people at downtown businesses ,If they were car or motorcycle related I felt very much at home.  John didnt the OG. Schneider Motors building become the church lead by the biker pastor ?     Keith Goss

[johnl]

     John ,I have made 1 mistake ,that,  due to my age,am only willing to blame on my computer-typing skilis, the year we moved to Ana Ca.was 56 not 55 ,that being said, and this being the internet , we should go with (" THE FIRST  KNOWN DKP MEETING THING") and we will ("never") be found out . L.O.L     THAT" is" THE HOUSE ,at somepoint ,late 60s-early 70s the house was a tiny drapery shop for years, Your posted picture of it made me say to myself YES!!  THANKS for posting it,you know the only picture I can find is of My mom,aunt ,two bros.and,me,taken by dad in our brand new, 1957 Renault Dalphine four door sedan,if I kenw how to or had a scanner,I would post it,It would make you smile & chuckle ,a fine Eurosport touring car,nothing but the best. I dont remember Mr Clean at Malloneys ,but I know what you mean about using the gas stations tire equipment ,businesses were friendly back then,I was never run off from any of the people at downtown businesses ,If they were car or motorcycle related I felt very much at home.  John didnt the OG. Schneider Motors building become the church lead by the biker pastor ?     Keith Goss

Keith, even if the years are not the same it is truly amazing that we both ended up at the same location, the motel by the park….  I can’t tell you how many times I rode my bike by your house on Palm (Harbor) back in the day.

I’d like to see the photo of the Renault Dauphine as I remember those cars well.  If you ran across a “Gordini” version back in the day with your stock VW they would put you on the trailer.

Schneider Motors was a few things after Joe move out and set up shop in Orange on Chapman Ave.  So, it could have been a Bike related Church, in fact, I remember something like that.  Also, prior to J & F (Joe & Fritz) which later became Schneider Motors being there it was a DeSoto Dealership and I have a brochure from that agency that my Dad brought home with his writing on it.

Funny you mentioned Schneider Motors as yesterday I was going through some photo albums and found a shot of Joe and myself taken in 1997 at his retirement party.  That was at the Chapman Ave. location in Orange.  I almost brought it to work to scan and share and now maybe I will.

Also found a photo of myself with my car when Firemist Green in my folks driveway.  It must have been something special as I’m standing there with a white shirt and tie.  Last, there was a photo of Mike Huggins and I in my folk’s living room that I think was around the time we graduated in June of 1965.

So, it sounds like you will be down for the events this weekend.  If so I’m really looking forward to spending some time with you and see what else we can dig up as common interest.

[So.Cal.Life]

         John,Im not trying to be rude but am having laptop tech. problems ,so this reply is from the public library computers, the trip south is looking good though . Ill bring the Renault pic . MY TIME HERE IS UP     KG