it comes in pints?

The Beach Boys Historical Monument

A couple of days ago, Ken had one of his great rock and roll geography trivia threads up dedicated to the Beach Boys. I mentioned I'd visited the registered California state historical landmark that's sitting on the property of what used to be the childhood home of the Wilson brothers (it was demolished to make way for the 105 Freeway over a decade ago), within walking distance of where I live now. The Beach Boys have a fond place in my heart; they're from Hawthorne, the closest thing I'll ever have to a hometown, having grown up an Air Force brat everywhere else in the world. They went to my high school. In 1969, they were the band that played our school prom. When I was still a student at HHS, one of my friends was a cheerleader and the band as it was then still invited the girls (and on occassion, the girls and the one or two boys that were man enough to not be insecure about their sexuality to try out for the pep squad) to come and sit in the front row of their local shows here in L.A. I don't know if they still do this, but can't imagine why they'd have quit after so many years of that tradition.

Some time in the late 80s or early 90s, Brian Wilson was invited back to be grand marshall of our dinky but proud little hometown parade. He came. The thing is, he used to play soft ball back at HHS, but was never awarded his letter because his music teacher gave him a failing grade for his song "Surfin'." That year he came home, his old coach arrived at the parade and presented him with his scarlet and gold "H," as he explained "I think your music teacher might have been wrong about that 'F'."

I still have the little blurb from that moment, with a picture of Brian Wilson posed on a surfboard (even though he never actually surfed - his brother Dennis was the only BB who did), holding it with pride, from Rolling Stone magazine all those years ago. I'll get around to scanning it and posting that as well someday. Until then, here are a few pictures from a quiet visit I paid one Saturday morning to the official California state historical landmark honoring the Beach Boys.

This is for you, Ken. I can't tell you how much it means to me to be your friend and blog partner sharing this crazy state together with love.

The view from across the street (which is residential. What you see right behind it is the 105 Freeway).

The official plaque:

Each original member has their own 45.

Al:

Mike:

Brian:

(Notice the brick right to the left of it from Carnie and Wendy. More about the bricks later)

Carl:

Dennis:

More about the bricks: the Hawthorne Chamber of Commerce sells bricks on the monument, to help raise money for the upkeep and to let people who loved the Boys to be a part of their legacy. I was stunned by the number of foreign contributions there were; I'd always known the Beach Boys did something special with their music that touched people who would never live the culture they sang about. I just never had any idea it would move them to want to be a part of this. There are contributors from literally all over the globe. Here are some of the best shots I got. Unfortunately, I took these about two days after I got my first digital camera and over-estimated the lifespan of its batteries. I had to leave without nearly as many pictures as I wanted. But for that moment, that morning, sitting there with my tea, just taking in my local history, something positive and memorable coming out of this town, I could barely believe my eyes, reading the joy and happiness something as small as music some guys from my town had spread all over the world.

And here's the closest shot I could get of the center frieze before my camera died:

Thanks, Boys. You give me a lot of reasons to be proud.

Emily Jones, HHS class of 1990.