Shadow Walk

Shadows are so much more active at times; this evening, twilight, the wind was blowing, the light active and dark coming on fast. It felt like the thing to do, walk until I reached the oil wells, or just before, and as I did the untrimmed bushes took on a life or their own. I found myself nearly accosted by their imagery, at times it seemed as if they were speaking to me, telling me a story about myself that I didn't want to hear, one that I thought I'd forgotten.

Venice along the boardwalk, walking East and West and then South, it is like a labyrinth. I kept going, tired after a long day of work, but willing to experience what I hadn't done in a long time. Darkness was very close now and it was as if I could hear the immortal words of Sachel Paige saying "don't look back, something may be following you." As I got close to the wells I turned North on Pacific, a favorite bar was only blocks away. A Hindu mantra helped me along...

It felt comfortable to go through the door, even though there was too much noise, and the juke box was a little high in volume, there was one bar stool empty about a third of the way back.

The main attraction of this place for me was a combination of the long aquarium behind the bar, and the owner's custom fed juke box (Billie Holiday, Bix Beiderbeck, Thelonius Monk, etc.). And that evening there wasn't soul in there I knew, that was good at the moment.

"Bar bourbon and beer back?" Yes, that will do. I miss the place now, it is long gone, doesn't exist in another form, as far as I know. Memories of Venice has been stoked recently by a video made about the Venice poets and art world of the fifties. Highly recommended:

"Swinging in the Shadows" - "Venice West and the LA Scene" with an excellent sound track. www.beaters.org