20th CENTURY FOX LOT IN THE BATMAN-LOST IN SPACE-IN LIKE FLINT DAYS AND A JAUNT AROUND THE LOT

20th CENTURY FOX LOT IN THE BATMAN-LOST IN SPACE-IN LIKE FLINT DAYS AND A JAUNT AROUND THE LOT

Back in yesteryear, I used to visit my dad once or twice a year...as I lived with my mom and older sister. This one time, dad had wanted me to go to the studio to meet the head greensman, I imagine that he thought at some later date I may get a job there as a greens-man (setting up greenery for the sets) in my kid's mind I thought he was going to hire me then(never taking into account I was a kid and didn't live in L.A., th the time,) so somewhat dashed when, he showed me what he did and I did not get any job offer, but he then took me to the batman set and said it was alright to just walk around to the different sets and if anyone asked i was Frankie’s kid (my dad was one of the head chefs at the Cafe de Paris within 20th Century Fox Studios)

 

M.M. EATING THERE IN 1959

 and I wouldn't have any problems so, when I came upon

the set there was Batman and Robin sitting in director’s chairs with their real names on the back. Burgess Meredith was the penguin-arch enemy and his crew were the sharks and had cool and weird make-up and one other of the sharks had a strange face but perfect casting for a shark-like look. and there was Alfred (Alan Napier)
The Batmobile was there and it seemed after the did about 20 shots of Batman and Robin getting out of the Batmobile to be greeted by Alfred, assuming they were near the bat cave or Wayne Manor. they all got together with I'd assume the director, so while that went on I made my way over to the Batmobile and I was crushed-the phone was plastic and the labels were all(nicely done) but handwritten and the gauges look less cool than when on television, many being plastic and not the metal one I had assumed, the some and mirror of make -believe land!

 One of the realities of life that later would visit me again. Burgess Meredith was the Penguin and played it to the hilt, the long cigarette holder being his trademark he had and talked at times with it in his mouth.

They brought up on a flatbed pulled by a tractor trailer a front part of a boat, so they had a scene being shot where some of the sharks-man who were thugs for the Penguin where they came up in a quick dash-keystone cop like-and told the penguin something very dramatically as the penguin answered with his cigarette and holder in his mouth. After several takes, it seemed they were going to an early lunch-at the Café de Paris or some had the food brought to the sets if there were reading scripts and/or doing script changes together or alone. The kids have tutors sometimes on the set or at home.
Well one of them, a set crew guy told me that I could go wherever I want to go on the set and to just remember that when the red light was on at a stage there were shooting and not to try and open the door or make any noise if inside and green meant oi could move around. More or less what the head greensman told me.
This was before 20th-century fox sold off much of the studio land which later became Century City shop, offices etc.
So, with the aspect of seeing more movie and t.v. sets and having spent a few hours watching the filming and actor along with the setting up of the sets and scenes and these were all outside not inside a stage and was ready to further my horizons and venture onwards.
As the adventure continued now headed along another stage filled street there were stagehands some carrying different prop sets alone or together and some larger set props being pulled by little tractors trucks (forklift like) there were stages with no little placards or lights on, above the door and it looked locked up, on the sides there were all types of different props along the sides of most stages, taking a peek and saw some cool stuff, there was the front half of a car, a palm leaf partial background-corral-like posts

Still a bit scarred from seeing the Batmobile wasn’t as I expected I saw a placard lost in space and that’s where I wanted to go-the light was green, so I ventured inside carefully opening and closing the doors shut.

 Looking really intensely the spacecraft at least the sets version and there was like a cave set up to one side with a stairway and then by the spaceship were the rocks which seemed phony from where I stood but probably looked real when filmed-the ole smoke and mirrors. I could see the cast sitting in director’s chairs with their names on the back of the chairs canvas that supported your back.

There was Angela Cartwright-Penny and guy Madison and all the others and appeared to be going over the script as the director gave them some cues for their filming placement.

The director then had the cast go inside the spacecraft and again my bubble burst as the doors to the raft were opened and closed by crew members rolling the door (you couldn’t see) on a set of curved wood rails that gave the illusion of automatically opening via electronics. The actors took their places be it at a control console or standing or looking over someone’s shoulder. They went thru their paces for this scene and made whatever adjustments asked by the director, but he was open to suggestions from the cast.

 It made me aware how long it took to make what seemed a simple scene flow as naturally as possible-by blocking the shot-lighting and sound by gaffers. Then to keep the actors with a good camera shot-and to frame the shot so the camera is a smooth picture. Which more in hindsight than my thoughts at the time. So, they started the scene and one of cast missed the shot blocking and everyone laughed rather than belittle them, real nice fun interacting between everyone, not egos out of control. They redid the scene and it went like clockwork but had to reshoot because there was glare off one of the console screens, so they reset the lighting and two takes later the scene was done.

I was still looking around at the set and letting the idea of  

of pretend and smoke and mirrors try to set in. Watching the stage crew move huge rocks or roll out a set that changed to whole area still stunned me. It was a funny reality one part of me said make-believe

and the other said too cool-where film and many arts tell you to kill you hammer of disbelief and just be entertained. And not being quite as jaded at a younger age it was not an insurmountable task.

Just an example of the rocks that were created for scenes and that is a stage door with the robot in front of it but made to look like a gate opening.

Liked like the next scene was the setting that looked like stairs cut into a rocky cave and the crew had set up a mummy at the top with the tomb standing up.

Below are shots from the filming I saw “follow the leader” episode, which was the end of their 1^st season and they were going on hiatus after this until the next season shooting started giving them a few months off, depending upon shooting schedule and publicity arrangements or tours.

They had Guy Madison got to the top of the stairway in the cave rocks then he walked down from the tomb and as he looks at it, it opens with a mummy-like creature (and it is the helmet we see that John puts on and has his alter-bad guy ego come out) inside and that ends the scene. Some of the stagehands place a few more rocks and the director talks with Madison and other stage crew bring out a little machine and dry ice and it created a kind of fog/smoke effect-as that slowly fogged around the mummies tomb, as I’d guess another just an addition take of a scene with a special effect added so when it came to editing they could pick which scene fit.-

 Madison made his way to the top of the rock-like stairway-the lighting was reset so it seemed to amplify the fog and got the scene clapper out and the set was quiet on the set-action-Madison came up the stairs with one camera following him with one near the mummy to get a closer view of the fog effect and it picked up Madison as he looked at the tomb-shooting done-now suddenly a guy dressed as a mummy appears and the crew open the romp and he stands inside and do a test run with the tomb lid opening a few times-place the lights a bit differently and place both cameras (looked like the ones you see on tv shooting the evening news) and each shot the scene as the lid opened from two different angles while the fog hung in the air around the tomb.  Then I saw guy Madison and all the actors together on their director chairs and looks like they were rehearsing a scene and the tones and were busy at that and the crew was mostly gone so this seemed like a good time to head out the door and see what was on the other stages and look at some sets even if they weren’t shooting. (the irony of life is a friend married Penny Angela Cartwright)

And there was a call for a lunch break and my queue to exit stage left, but not before I went up those stairs to the mummy and if in my fog of memory I did take some photos, the old Instamatic camera, no one seemed to mind and I kinda did it without bringing attention to me and with most of the lighting a flash wasn’t needed-well those pictures are lost in the journey of a kids things.

Being a kid, I saw something off in the distance like a lake or shimmering, at the end of the one street I looked down. So, I thought I’d start from there and work my way back.  Got to the end of the long street and it was the dock for Peyton place and proudly had a placard stating on hiatus (movie talk for off season vacation, not shooting now) there was a small lake there more than likely used for lake shots. My dad had told me that it was called Fox Sersen  Lake

 and was built for the film Cleopatra.

So on with the adventure and there were props and vehicles around a lot of the stages. Saw the Riddler’s props with question marks all over them. Some parts of an assumption on my part spacecrafts in different sections and set backings.

The next stage I passed grabbed my eye as the placard said Voyage to the bottom of the sea. Lite Was not on so there was no shooting going on and the door was open, the lights were on low in different areas of the building, so I headed to the first stage within the stage building. It was the Seaview’s submarine interior and the controls floor with the periscope.

The consoles had lights on some parts-the radar, the maps, when I saw the periscope I had to go look in it, and to my surprise with few expectations after the Batmobile, pulled down the handles which were metal and looked like it fit and looked real.

 turned and did go up and down at least for a foot of so. After the scarring from the Batmobile, this redeemed it somewhat. In hindsight there was the movie first, the series came after, so this was more than not, the same set as the Irwin Allen film and was more refined for the big screen to keep the smoke and mirrors a bit more realistic and too then the set was already done and less of an expense. It at the least conveyed that it was a submarine with all the bells, whistles and lights and set as if you were on a submarine as opposed to handwritten controls and working lights.

I sat down at several of the stations consoles and pressed buttons, that were real buttons and light with various colored lenses and set up very professionally and not hap-hazard. I took another walk on the deck and headed out to father into the stage, as I stepped down from the raised platform of the deck one could see saw thru a stage doorway what looked like a tank upon reaching it, it was a tank with about an eight foot model with seaweed stands waving in the water (as an aside the crew of the Seaview wore Keds sneakers) and one could envision this as I watched the t.v. show, then  looking around the side and saw a bigger tank and couldn’t wait to look into it.

There were several other Seaview models in it and they were smaller than the 8-foot model in the other tank and the Seaview was smaller and gave a deeper in the ocean look.

 Looking for a while and then saw by a door to the side a huge model of the Seaview and found out was nearly 18 feet long and was on a small trailer and was taken to the Fox Lake Sersen

 to make surface shots and looked so realistic because of wind machines and savvy effect technicians who created a cadence to produce an irregular wave pattern that gave the shot more realism.

Barbara Eden was part of the crew on the Seaview,  of “I Dream of Genie” fame.

I hadn’t seen but there was an underwater tank outdoor shooting tank that was 60x60x11 feet and had set up for shots with a silk diffuser, so we didn’t see that swimming pool rolling shadow effect. There were convex underwater ports (to stop refraction of the light in the water and keep the Seaview looking normal not magnified (as an aside that ports were brought from Disney used to shot ‘20 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea’) There was several various film cameras there and even a few models of the flying sub about 3 or 4 feet across. Since no one was filming it was time to head out as there were a few more hours for me to

wander around the studio stages on the lot. Passing onward down one of the streets to look at the stages. There was on that had the door open but no placard, so I decided to look and there were several different stages set ups within. One was like a beach café, with palm fronds and bamboo as part of the structure and what look like a bar with booze bottles all along the back and some glasses stacked too. Neat but really didn’t capture my curiosity. Another had a car there with a projection screen behind it and what looked like some small tracks along the one side of the car, for a camera?

Then jackpot, there was a set with a black background with stars and then there was like a planets ground, looking kind of like rocks with little rock spires here and there. No one was there so I touched the planet’s floor with my foot and it sunk about 4 inches… couldn’t contain myself and had to walk on it and you , if you walked normally you would bounce almost as if you were in space without gravity. Went and dropped down and bounced and had a hard time getting up because everything was spongy and kept me falling off balance all the time so after twisting and turning I finally got up on my feet and bounced my way off the planets floor (never knew what it was for, I thought it was for” Visit to a Small Planet”, but couldn’t find a reference and it was released earlier than my visit) that was cool!!! There were a few more sets but they were interesting but not that interesting.

As I went by another stage after I left the other one, I could see more props on the side of the building and a guy on a small tractor pulling along a large section of a roof with several crewmen holding on to each side to keep it balanced. There were some stacked wooden kegs and several different backgrounds leaning against the stage.

There was one stage caught my eye, there was a placard with our man flint and I headed in there not know what the movie was but liked the title. The door was ajar to the stage building and I headed in, the first set I saw was a room with a lounge-like barber chair that swiveled and if I remember flint was getting shaved by a woman as Lee J. Cobb spoke to him about an assignment.

I think this was a studio still, but has him in that chair.

I looked around went  to a huge stage set that looked like an huge apartment.

Now for that era that was the height of cool except I didn’t see the New York building background as it wasn’t lite up or projected. So, the set was cool but I didn’t really care too much about room furniture except with the concept of cool. Set stuff does have a surreal feel to it as you look at it and most of the set was the real deal, at least in terms of decorations and there was a crew to build the furniture to fight the scene.

I looked for a while and headed to another set and it had a few lite up consoles with the lights and buttons but then the set of office furniture but fancy items.  And from there down the hallway to another set there was a fancy office with a big desk and fancy chairs. I went towards to stage exit door and there was a set in the process of being set up not sure exactly what it was except it looked a bit like a restaurant, at least tables set up as such. I turned around and headed back out the main stage door.  Heading down the road that lead to the Café de Paris where my dad was a chef I passed some greensmen carrying some plants and at least that day there were few people on the sets other than myself as visitors. It was close to around 3 in the afternoon and my dad came in on his day off as a request for him to make his outstanding Rueben sandwiches which were a favorite of everyone there and apparently one of the Studio heads had a small party and had requested my dad to set it up. So he had a half day, which also saved me from getting up early and was getting ready to leave,  as I got there one of the waitresses told me he’d be right out and gave me a small table to sit at and just brought me a malt and smiled and I vastly enjoy it to the last drop. My dad came over and he was in street clothes out of his chef’s uniform. I got up and as we headed out, and an older guy came over and thanked my dad for coming in and introduced himself as Mr. Zucker. As I was looking around as we left I noticed several people from the tables waving to my dad We were just about out the door and this tall thing gentleman came over and told my dad that he always came over for one of the Rueben sandwiches when he was at the studio my dad said this is my son we shook hands and as we headed out the door I asked my dad who was he? He looked familiar but could place him, my dad said that’s James Coburn. We got to his car which was one of the first 1964 ½ Mustangs which he brought forever after that. As we got into the car he handed me a manila envelope and I opened it and there was a bunch of 8x10 glossies of different stars all were autographed to me of about every show on the 20th-century t.v. shows and a few from movies. Sad to say there have parted with me during my crazy hazy 20’s. And so, a day at the 20^th Century Fox studios and freely wandering around both filming of shows and looking at the cool set came to fore filling end for a young lad

Sadly I missed Steve McQueen who was filming the last parts of the sand pebbles

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AN EARLY EVENING ON NOE STREET IN THE 60'S IN SAN FRANCISCO WITH DOGMAN

The night was young, dogman (actually Bob) who got this nickname from dancing with our house dog, aptly named Sport, who too, had a loving nickname of Port or Portster, for whatever strange unbeknownst reason. When someone rang the doorbell, depending upon his mood, need I mention sport was up there in his years, he would either go to the head of the stairs and peek down or just look up from his spot be it the couch, a chair or the rug section he claimed as his relaxing domain.

THIS IS ABOUT HOW IT LOOKED-ALTHOUGH THIS IS RECENT AS OPPOSED TO THE 1960'S
Now we usually looked out the turret of the front windows in the front living room, which had cool curved windows, which when we closed had a tendency to just drop down, so we had to remember to gingerly let them down, we could not even imagine what curved window glass would cost, which gave us an exceptional view of the not only the street but the marble stairs at the door front .Some would step back so we could see them better, other wouldn't and if we recognized them buzz them in or mess with them until they did make themselves visible to us. We did try a code ring, but that went away (no cell phones and a pay phone was a block or so away) apart from some never remembering the code, There was an incident where the code was used, so I buzzed whoever it was, assuming they knew the code, I would know them. the door opened and I didn't quite recognize him, had a brim on, a hat could be a fashion statement, sadly I was mistaken, it was a detective, infamous at that time who showed his badge and gun as he pulled his coat to the side.and then a herd of uniformed officers came up, one cop stood over me as I sat on the floor and they then proceeded to tear the house apart, thinking about it someone got busted and ratted anyone get out of a sentence  and gave the door code and said they would hit the motherload of drugs but after an ungodly amount of time, the detective said they found nothing ( lucky they were not in the planting evidence mode) but because I wasted his time he was going to make me stay in jail overnight on a humbug charge of some type. (luckily had we had something it was hidden so well, they probably handled it and thought it was nothing) since this wasn't the Columbia connection. Needless to say, it wasn't the most festive of evenings.I digress....

THIS IS AN IDEA OF WHAT THE WINDOW LOOKED LIKE EXCEPT NOT IN THE  1960's
So upon seeing it was dogman, went to the stairs and buzzed him in, (there was was pull handle for the door, but we rarely used it) so I looked down on dogman and he looked up at me with his shit-eating grin. As he trudged up the stairs, I knew that sport would be waltzing with dogman before the night was done. Always fun to see dogman and headed to the front living room (there were two, this one at one point was Blue Cheers bassist Dickie Peterson and his old lady and the bedroom next door Paul Whaley's the drummer and his old lady, which meant they were a couple) Sport was snoozing, so dogman let him continue his deep repast. There were cool moldings and actually shelves created by them, we had odd cool stuff on them from different opium pipes, hookahs and pictures popular at that time Maxwell Parish, Dali and some of the unique concert posters, Avalon Ballroom had some for Denver concerts that were really unique and a harder find that of the local area and were more of an artistic bend as it were and other odds and ends. I sat down and I asked if he wanted something to drink and he smiles,  so I headed down the hallway and passed one bedroom, then a bathroom, and the next bedroom, the cool thing was that they were each separated so that each had windows and faced each other with about 6 feet between each window noting they victorian style homes, there was little footage between each building so the unique design allowed for windows for the center rooms and a bit of an echo chamber to boot like a large E shape design. So the placement made sense and gave relief for some fresh air. You then entered the kitchen with stairs to the back out the rear door and to the right you had the other living room (probably a large dining room too, that had window too) Hadn't been to get the organic (at that juncture-I wasn't too aware of the benefits) watermelon juice and bottled water was thought only for disasters, but there was some orange juice so, poured a couple of glasses and headed back up the hall.

Dogman took a gulp and he starts off with 'check out what happened" and so the escapade begins...
Desoto man had seen me at the carousel (that was the Fillmore's another venue besides The Fillmore and the occasional use of Winterland, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd did bottom of the bill Tuesday nite Jams at the Carousel and occasionally the Fillmore itself) and asked me if I wanted help in a deal to come by the next morning and with no hesitation dogman said yes, Desoto man was named that because he had a cherry classic DeSoto, name was actually Michael. Well this dude wanted 20 keys or bricks (short for kilos 2.2. pounds) of a fresh crop of panama red that had just come up,and it was that panama red where the buds were different colors-light yellow-red and like a dark green and blue so we called it rainbow panama red, he wanted me to bring the dude a sample key and a baggie full for him to check out and he could checlk out the key too, them if he was happy Dogman would go around to the alley and then we can offload  it and finish the deal.

So I had the key in a sandwich bag and a fat baggie with some loose rainbow Panama red. so he could look at it and open a key to look at too. Desoto man had parked up the block, dude living on a bit of a hill and had the other 20 keys in his trunk. so I open the Desoto door key in a brown bag under my arm and a big baggie of weed in my jacket pocket, as I get ready to cross the street, man a cop pulls someone over  about 3 doors down from where I gotta go, so I keep on trucking  down the street to the corner store to wait for the cop then I remember I had changed pants and left my money in them, so I pretend to be looking at the magizines while peeping over at the cop with the car pulled over, man it seems it seems like forever and I don't want the guy at the cash register thinking I'm stealing magizines, There's a bus stop right in front of the store, so i head out and wait at the bus stop, I know desoto can see me -then I see a bus is coming, oh shit, I'm standing here and if I don't get on the bus will the cop notice me!

over the years they have now created this rainbow strain, the one we had wasn't as colorful in the leaves but the buds did have different colored hair and the resin tones: hence the original natural rainbow Panama red! and for an idea of inflation, a four finger ounce, which is 4 fingers high and full of this about $10.00 now via dispensaries  $400.00
I'm holding a key and a baggie full of rainbow Panama red, probably a couple of lids (a lid was a big ounce, called 4 fingers full baggie) man, I was sweating, you know how it feels when you feel like your in a spotlight, and if you breathe the wrong way, everyone knows it. The bus stops and the driver opens the door and I smile and wave him on, scared as shit. So the bus pulls away in slow motion and the cop is gone and I wiped the sweat from my forehead. Truck on to the traffic light, no jaywalking now and then make my way up the block.  Get to his stairs, climb them up and knock on the dude's door. He opens the door.. first thing I see is a triple beam scale (no digital then) on a short table in front of the couch several packages of rolling papers  books of matches and one I ain't never seen, and you know we know our rolling papers, must be some new ones out and a big hubcap ashtray and matchbooks scattered around with a few small pipes. I plop down on the couch and tell him I was held up by a cop who had pulled some car over by his house for a ticket, he nodded and said he had seen that too. So here's the key, I pulled it out of their bag, and here's the rainbow Panama red I put the baggie-full on the table.

 Told him big buds, Panama red, but had that rainbow buds look and taste, a lot of resin and a sweet smoke. A tight brick and didn't have lumber (thick long stems) pressed buds mainly tops and it had the stamp of a local area grower from Panama, (it was a thing of  pride for these farmers and sometimes was the co-op that grew together-some had different trademarks, some put a peso in the middle of the brick, colored wrapping and various stamps be they ink and some actually sealing wax with a logo or family emblem or if it was the distributor.) he took out the triple beam scale, put it on and pushed the weight indicators on the bar until it balanced and it was at 2.4 pounds, which took into account the wrapping and smart growers allowed for any minor shrinkage by adding the extra weight over the 2.2  pounds. put it on the table asked I m gonna open it and I said head on, he peeled the wrapping off, two layers, always helped so as not to be detected in shipping and took off the wrapper looked at it, very little shake a very well pressed and resinous brick he then pulled off a big bud and sure enought it was that rainbow Panama red, rubbed his finger on the bud and alot of resin was there, he laffed and said his hand were sticky , smelled it and smiled, wiped his hands on his pants and grabbed a small pipe bowl (used pipe parts to make small smoking bowl pipes) and broke the bud up so it would smoke better and put some in top the bowl of the small pipe, never really pack it or you lose the flavor and it can burn shitty! He took a hit, waited and passed it to me and I took a hit. As he exhaled, he smiled and said I'll take 19 more and keep this to make twenty. Damn good smoke, been a while since I had any Panamanian and this rainbow I only had once at a party. He handed the fat baggie back to me and said thanks but I always smoke from the brick when a deal is happening. And I'll have a good stash from this. He took a big bud broke it down and rolled it and we had one for the road.
I told him a DeSoto would pull around back into the alley behind his house. He said 19 is fine because he was going to keep the sample key I brought in and he pulled a bag out from under the table and it had the cash, so dude, it was on. I looked at one of the stacks that was banded and it was $500.00 and there were plenty in the bag. I told him he could have the baggie sample again he said to keep it and thank me for having the real product. So we'll come around back, he can weight the bricks (a tried tradition)and finish the deal.
So I head out the door and he says he'll be by the back door waiting by the back door.
Getting down the stairs I head straight across the street and as just I get to the curb, I see the same cop driving by and stops his car and says" you know you are jaywalking"! I say yes sir, as I felt that fat baggie of Panama red in my jacket pocket. and know my eyes gotta be red, and that was smoke heavy resin covered that weed considering I had only about 5 tokes altogether. I know DeSoto man is looking down the block from his car going "ah fuck".
Then the cop says 'this is a warning and man I looked forward to the long lecture about looking both ways and blah blah blah rather than be frisked then handcuffed.
So the lecture was way cool with me!!!
Anyway the deal went smooth as silk, we off-loaded the keys, went up the back stairs and he randomly picked 3 keys and each was at 2.4 pounds and he smiles and handed the money over Desoto man looked in the bag, looked at a couple of bundles to make sure no kansas city rolls there-(nefarious people would cut the ends the corners of dollars bills on the top and bottom of the bundle-on several bills and tap on 100 dollar bill corners instead, you can take up to, at that time 51% of the bill and get another one intaxt.) so you think you have the cash, but don't. All is cool so, he said he'd want more in a couple of weeks and he sees us at the Fillmore West probably by then or before.
Desoto man and I got to the car and he dropped me off down the block and here I am..
Desoto man gave me a baggie of sample rainbow Panama red for you and I just put it away, they gave me the big baggie sample and the dude at the house handed my another big baggie full and said thanks. and dogman pulled of a bunch of 20 dollar bills. And without breaking his stride said-dude, lets hit the store for some munchie goodies, on me!!!

It was just about wandering into the sunset and there were the makings of a sea mist-fog making its way up the street like smokey tendrils slowly making cloudy waves across the houses and the street. So I go to my room to grab a coat (I wasn't a glove-wearing person at that juncture in time) but always had jackets with deep side pockets, leather or otherwise, I had asked dogman if he wanted a coat but he had a scarf he pulled from under his coat and said he was fine. There was the little corner store a couple of blocks down, and we figured it was best to partake in the Panama red after we got back from the munchie run. although I did not take into account that dogman had been smoking and was in full-fledged munchie mode.
Made out way down the stairs and ambled down the marble stairs to the street and we could see the fog was denser and had the bone-chilling bite to it, festooning your whole being. So it had the cool but somewhat eerie effect.
Hadn't traveled very far, when I didn't see dogman walking along turned around and he was stopped and scraping his shoe off on the side of the curb while using some choice words in exasperation. I tried my best not to laff at the situation, but...man oh man, dogman was lamenting, someone brought am elephant down your street..felt like I stepped on a pile of marshmallows, letting me know it was there for something to have me remember this street spot forever  and sure as hell ain't marshmallows and we both were laffing as we continued the ever-thickening fog.

As dogman occasionally dragged his sole on his shoe to lose that which he may have missed he started making the motions of a Frankenstein which fit perfectly all the way to the store. I double checked my pocket to make sure I have some cash (I didn't like wallets either, but in those days I liked well-fitting pants and a wallet just killed the look, so my pockets pants or coat carried everything.
 
 this isn't the market and its a picture from today and not sure who's in the picture- as opposed to 1960's
In the midst of the sea tainted fog, we found the door to the little market, as we entered the and opened the door chimes and bells rang loud enough to wake the dead, or the guy behind the counter had he been in repast by any stretch of the imagination. As dogman started grabbing goodies off the shelves, I realized he must have had the munchies, cause he was loading up, None of us were beer drinkers, more stoners to use a coined phrase. As I looked upon the pile of orange juice bottles, and pastries, being less health conscious, I felt we had the motherload of munchie foods. Then I saw the bags of candy and sad to say a stack of pot pies and Swanson dinners.The little old man behind the counter knew us both and we paid cash money with a smile, we ended up with about 3 bags full of this and that. I was getting out some money but dogman wouldn't have it, said it was his treat and handed the old man some twenties, the little old man smiles and threw in 2 packs of cigarettes for free, think we got like 10 and at that time I smoked coffin nails (old beat expression) it took years and ex-father in law I dispised to get me to quit, motivation is a strange creature at times, he dared me to qiut smoking and my sheer dislike of the turd father in law inspired me and I stopped that day, and haven't smoked since, (don't preach to anyone about it, but if you blow smoke in my face-i will not have a chipper reply)
With our hands somewhat full we didn't lit up a smoke, but Dogman, being dogman, pulled out a monster doobie (the equivalent of a big blunt) and since we had much experience in the art of lighting a smoke in any conditions and with the contortionist acumen of circus de Soleil. So, having three big bags of goodies,

 Dogman had two and yet was able to lit the doobie without a hitch, the sea fog thick but the smoke we exhaled still cut thru in a thicker smoke. and after several deep tokes as we headed up the block, happily lit with rainbow Panama red and glad we hadn't dropped any of the bags. There were times when you could actually hear fogs horns in the distance, a reality not pot induced. We finally got to our marble steps and in those days you would leave your door open, but our door always locked and I was getting ready to fumble for a house key when the door opened and Angela was smiling and said I saw you guys!  Angela had come to visit and I had given her a door key so she wouldn't be stuck outside if no one was home. So she sees the two huge baggies of smoke and had assumed, correctly we might have gone to the store, heading down the hallway, we put the bags on the kitchen table and Angela and I kissed and hugged, we started to put stuff away and told dogman to relax and go one up to the front living room, well bring some goodies up, Angela offered to cook some pot pies and so the night began....