BREAKING

Travel Adventures

Scooter Tramp Scotty: Hollywood Part 2

Originally Published In The October 2016 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine

It was the winter of 2015 and, I had been living in the Hollywood houses for better than two weeks. I’d become almost used to this strange world of constant parties, movie sets, filming in the back yard, the occasional visiting celebrity, and the making of music and music videos. For me however, life in the relative solitude of my garage had fallen into a general routine of writing by morning, walking to the nearby gym in the afternoon, then enjoying whatever happened after that. But my private garage/bedroom was about to get a bit smaller. Chris “Naco” (From Naco New Mexico) had pieced together an old Shovelhead with his own hands and almost no money. Then he struck out to see the country. He’d been on the road all summer. Naco was now in Southern California and had hit me on the internet to inquire if we might hook up. I’d never met this guy before, but he certainly s o u n d e d interesting. So I asked Joe—the ruler of this twin mini-mansion party empire— if I could invite this Naco guy to make camp in my garage for a while. Joe enjoys a genuine love of wild and interesting times so his reply was, “I’d like more bikers here. Tell him to bring it on.” I did.

A few days later, Naco’s ratty Shovelhead pulled in and we made acquaintance. He’s a young guy with long hair who is just “Naco” and obviously didn’t particularly give a shit about impressions and appearances. His positive and uncommonly easygoing manner had earned him admiration and acclaim from across the country (I’d seen it on social media), and the feeling was the same here. After he set up his camp beside mine, and probably due to his age (late 20’s I’d guess), Chris Naco fell face first into the Hollywood party scene. He swam into it as naturally as the others. Everybody, and especially Joe, took a fast liking to our newest resident. I did too. Naco played a little guitar and it became a common thing to see him hanging in the music studio with our resident famous rap star, Micky “Memphis” Wright When he wasn’t hanging in the studio he was staying up partying with the crowd till all hours of the night. For me, and although there were many here who adored city life and cared to be nowhere else, I appreciated the countryside as well. For respite, my overnight and sometimes multiple day forays to other places continued.

Long ago, I’d worked on the set of a porn shoot in Sturgis. Adam and Eve productions had been making a series titled “Sex Across America”, and if one pulls up the Sturgis addition they’ll see, along with the others, my photo on the cover. For this shoot I was hired as a Production Assistant, which translates to: grunt, go-fer, chauffeur, Sturgis tour guide, pussy lamp, etc. In other words, I was not one of the actors. While on the set I became friends with the producer and his wife. They lived in the nearby suburbs of LA and I decided to pay them a visit. The home of Raymond (Luc Wylder) and his wife Tamar was set in a rather quiet upper middle class neighborhood. It had been quite some time since we’d last met and we were all older now. With its two stories and large beautifully landscaped backyard with pool, this was the kind of house I’d come to expect from the monetarily successful in this area. I sat at the kitchen table while Raymond manned the blender where he whipped up some very healthy deliciouis green smoothie drink, while Tamar stood at the counter putting together small munchies. Eventually, we settled at the kitchen table to eat, drink, and talk. I was told that, with the internet now giving away free porn in large quantities, the bottom had dropped out of the industry. Because of this, my friends were now moving into other business ventures. I asked Tamar what would become of porn now and she told me it would probably go mostly to the homemade amateur stuff. I’d long ago been told by those who worked for them, that these were very kind and thoughtful people which, Rio Maria (porn star) had said, was unusual in the porn world. Anyway, it was a good visit and I actually slept in an upstairs bedroom that night. By the following evening I was back in West Hollywood. As time passed, the home-front party scene was increasing to almost a daily activity while Joe, who loved the parties but was also very ambitious in his business ventures, fought to keep this action limited to only weekends. It was a battle that, in the coming weeks, he would almost lose.

It was on one pretty mellow weeknight when a couple of party girls showed up at the front door and Joe voiced his protest. But, being a sucker for a weird time, he listened as they offered to do a face painted, fire eating, skimpy lingerie dance out by the pool. This funky idea quickly won him over. Although the place had been quiet that night, those of us present, me included, got a big kick outta that show. Although the constant flow of groupies and party girls who frequented this place were too young for me, I met a girl in my local travels. Lisa’s a Jewish lawyer and I began spending time at her condo. We attended gatherings and watched movies at her place. At one such event we saw Steven Tyler with his companions Ringo Star and Joe Walsh. Lisa told me Ringo and Joe are married to sisters, both of whom were present, and this trio hung together a lot. I refrained from shooting photos however, because I am no paparazzi. Although we enjoyed each other’s company very much, our relationship was mostly a physical thing that we had mutually agreed upon. It had been quite a while and I appreciated this girl very much.

Although it was some distance beyond the city, my dad Robert, and his wife Robin, lived in this area and it had been years since I’d seen them. I decided to pay a visit. Their little house lay some distance outside the high desert town of Palmdale and, if the desert can be considered countryside, dad’s place is definitely out in the country. In his 70s now, and for as long as I’ve known him, my old man has raised almost all of his own food. After setting up camp in their back yard, I asked for a tour of the place. There were more turkeys living with the chickens than on my last visit. Always ardently attuned to the ways of animals, when I asked dad why he kept that old turkey who wasn’t good for much anymore he replied, “It’s best for their society to keep some of all ages among them.” The rabbit pens were empty now. They’d been full the last time I visited. Dad said rabbits became pets, which made him not want to eat them. But farm animals cannot be pets and so he’d let them go. The horses were boarded elsewhere now and the goats were gone as well. Dad told me that as he’s gotten older it’s become too much work to keep so many animals. The ones that were left were all he really needed anyway. Although it was winter and the garden lay pretty brown, dad’s bright green thumb kept those remaining winter plants in fine condition. By evening we sat near a wood fire drinking tea and, as always, I enjoyed a very natural plate filled with wonderful foods.

 

Thanksgiving was close and the next day I helped catch the turkey that would soon give its all for the holiday. Dad took him far from the others, petted his feathers for a while, and then set him on the chopping block. And as it had been in childhood, I helped to pluck the Thanksgiving bird. Later, in our conversation, dad told me he was having heart problems and they wanted to do surgery which, in his opinion, was ridiculous for a man of his age. I could not argue. Shunning doctor’s drugs, he uses only the natural herb so common to California these days. Dad said he didn’t expect to live as long as his mother, who’d died at 86, and I noted his obvious peace with this idea. It seemed to me that because he’s lived a more natural life and seen death frequently in his own backyard, he may simply have a greater understanding and acceptance than those of us more isolated from such things. Robin’s rather erratic and sometimes quarrelsome family was coming for Thanksgiving so I was okay with the idea of not returning for that. After four days I was back in Hollywood. What a stark contrast it was to my father’s seemingly hillbilly ways.

A very unusual woman, Little Laura loves to travel almost constantly and, in order to achieve this goal without encumbrance, she chooses to live in her pickup truck with a camper shell on it. Although she often wanders much farther, Laura’s main base is all of southern California. I’ve known her since high school and she’s always been like that. By my invitation, Laura showed up at the Hollywood house. From there she’d leave the truck behind and accompany me to the Easyriders Chopper Show; which would soon take place at the Oxnard fairground. Our attendance would require a 50 mile ride through Malibu then up the coastal hwy-1. I’d been anticipating this event since before coming to Hollywood. The day finally arrived and with the bike now packed for two, we started north. Although I’d no idea then, my time at the Hollywood houses was about to end rather abruptly. But this Hollywood adventure was not yet finished. It would, in fact, only move into the next chapter of travel with a man who’s lived from only the back of his Panhead for 33 years, and our stay at the home of a well-known actor/motorcyclist…

Related Posts

1 of 6