How did I know that Rick was the one for me? I was very shy and quiet and didn’t date at all, I had one date in my whole life before Rick and I started going out. Which was a disaster. It was 1983 and one of my sisters fixed me up with a guy from her temple. He showed up in black pants and a white shirt and a yarmulke. I met him at the door in my Norma Kamali skirt and a shirt that I got from Flip on Melrose and bright red lipstick (it was the 80’s after all). We went to Old World Restaurant on Sunset right at Holloway which was the cool hang out for musician types and I was fearful that I would run into someone that I knew and be embarrassed. After Old World we went and saw the movie “Flashdance” and we did run into people at the movies and I sunk down in my seat. I had nothing in common with this nice Jewish boy and we had absolutely nothing to talk about. At my parents door, he wanted a kiss and I said, no thanks, bye! That was my one and only date.
Rick and I would talk for hours. There wasn’t any flirting going on. It was just really good conversation. In fact it was weird when our friendship turned romantic. I remember I was 17 years old and hating 11th grade at Fairfax High School so I ditched classes a lot. I was working from 12:45-9:15 as a salesperson and later the night manager at Strouds Linen Warehouse on Crescent Heights and Beverly Blvd. I think that my sister said that a new place was opening and found me the job.
Attending classes was horrible, sorry Fairfax High School, it just wasn’t for me. The teachers were angry and all the other students were playing those horrible mind games that kids play in high school. I isolated myself from the few friends that I had and they weren’t interested in hanging out with me anyway. I remember once they asked me to go somewhere and when we got there they said thanks for the ride. It was mean.
I bought my sisters 1973 bright orange with yellow squiggly lines on it Volkswagen Superbeatle when I turned 16. My father hated that it was a Volkswagen. He always liked a Buudick (that’s a Buick with his accent). I would leave my parents apartment and drive to Deli Diner, on 3rd Street and George Burns near the Cedars Sinai Medical Buildings. I would order fresh squeezed orange juice and a lemon poppy seed muffin and Rick would drink coffee. We played the arcade games that they had there; Super Mario Bros. (where two people could play at one time), Mr. Do, Q*bert and later Marble Madness. We would hang out there and chat and play video games until I had to go to work and Rick would work on the band stuff or do his marketing research job. I would complain about my parents and school and he would tell me stories about his parents and hating school. I guess you could say that we were soul mates.
