Tales From LA 1977

Caught in a shootout in Pomona- Sunset Strip mind blower- Disneyland tripout. LA lived up to it's wild and crazy reputation.

My first trip to LA in 1977 was one for the memory books. I was a jacked up 18 year old from small city Canada wanting to see the big city lights of LA and Hollywood and boy did it deliver ! This will take two posts to cover.

After a few days acclimatizing to LA with some California relatives it was on to meet up with my buddy from Victoria who had moved to Hollywood with his family as his dad got transferred.

I met up with my buddy at Cal Poly State where he was attending and got the grand tour of the aeronautics engineering building. On our way back to his place we pulled up to a red light when we suddenly hear a couple of loud bangs that sounded like gunshots.

As the light turned green we carefully looked around... the guy in a van across from us hits the deck . OK... wtf is going on here ??

We slowly drive past the van and quickly see to the left side of the street an LA cop car in front of a bank with two cops laying on the ground, guns out, but taking cover. We were past the point of no return... we all instinctively yelled out: BOOT IT !! BOOT IT !! My buddy guns the car popping his head up and down.

Suddenly 3 shots in a row ring out... you could hear each one whizz by the car with a distinctive ZING sound I can still hear today. Each shot seemed like a long time in between... I winced as each one misses us .... steaming hot coffee drips down my hand as we duck for cover in this small old 60's Rambler weaving all over the road.

An LA cop helicopter suddenly swoops in low above us as we make our great escape. This is Hollywood right ? Nope, this is as close as you get to being another big city LA crime statistic.

With hearts a pounding, not even feeling my burnt hand... we both lit up smokes thanking the higher power and asking each other "holy shit !!.. did that just happen??"... talk about a crossfire hurricane !

Welcome to LA indeed... now onward to Hollywood... or AKA Hollyweird!! :)