My Story..Lesson's of Life

I was Twelve years old here

I was really proud of myself because i was finally focusing more on my school work and trying to improve my grades. You know when you are young..you just don't take life too serious. Everything seems to be a game and you do your best to play along.. sometimes even if you know it's not your kind of game.

I graduated from Robert Louis Stevenson Jr. High School in East LA in 1967 with a B average ( wow ! for me that was quite an accomplishment !) I was 14 years old and i thought i knew everything that i needed to know about life! Everything seemed to be going my way..i was young energetic loved to play sports ..had my eye on a few pretty girls !...the future seemed bright..But little did i know that soon my life would begin to spiral out of control !

I was so looking forward to enjoying a long summer vacation ( at that time schools let out in July and reopened in Sept.). The Viet Nam war was raging and the country was still feeling the lingering effects of  the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. I still remember where i was when Kennedy was assassinated ..i was attending Eastman Elementary School in East LA.. I was in my fifth grade class sitting in my desk waiting for Mr Salyer to give us our lessons..when suddenly we heard someone screaming from across the street....for us it was not unusual to hear loud noises or music playing during class..our bungalow faced Rowan Ave which was a residential street and Mr Salyer would always have the doors wide open.. "They killed the President" ..."They killed the President" !!.."They killed the President ".. Mr Salyer dropped everything and ran out the door..and we ran out behind him ! It seemed like the whole school was out on campus..I remember seeing the shock and disbelieve on the  faces of some of the teachers ..and many were just aimlessly walking around ..some in circles trying to make sense of what they had just heard ! ..I could see that some of the teachers were visibly shaken...others were dabbing there eyes with tissue..while others were outright balling ! At first i thought it wasn't real..someone must be playing a joke on us .. how could this be? I remember seeing President Kennedy on TV not to long before this.. promising the world that within ten years man would walk on the moon. I remember watching TV for hours and hours as they played over and over the events leading up to that fatal day ! So many sound bites and images were forever seared into my mind..Lee Harvey Oswald..Dealey Plaza..Dallas School Book Depository..the Grassy Knoll..Jack Ruby..the Funeral Motorcade..Jacklyn Kennedy holding John Jr.s hand and saluting the casket as it rolled by !! the Eternal flame !! Wow!  what an overwhelming rush of stimuli for a young impressionable mind..!!

I lived on 1048 So.Townsend Ave just off Whittier Blvd in East LA ( you can Google Map it to see for yourself !! ) ..it was a very narrow street..so narrow that cars had to maneuver carefully to pass each other..most of the time the street looked like a parking lot because everyone parked on the street ..most of the homes didn't have driveways..the only day the street looked wider was on Wednesday ..Street cleaning Day..!!   no one was allowed to park on the street during certain hour's on that day !..me and friends took advantage of this because we could ride our bikes without a worry in the world ..the fear of  getting hurt or hitting a car didn't even cross our minds on that day... this was a special day for us!! Our neighbors would struggle to find parking ..they would usually park on Dennison St. which is a cross street that runs east and west and runs parallel to the Santa Ana Freeway.. ( we didn't have that problem..we had a driveway ! )

Let me back up a little here because i want you to know where i was before we moved to this house on Townsend Ave.. We used to live in San Pedro Ca. on 4th Street just off  Pacific Blvd . My youngest sister Maria Elena ( we call her Neni ) was born there. My father ..Jesus Onate Leon ( He died of cancer of the kidneys in 1983 ) had found a job at the Star Fish Tuna Company on Terminal Island just across the channel.

I still remember vividly how he used to take us across the channel on the Terminal Island Ferry ( this used to be the only way to get across the channel until they built the Vincent St. Thomas suspension bridge )  . He would drive our car onto this huge barge looking thing ..and i remember the very loud  sirens that went off to warn the passengers that the Ferry was about to depart and that we should stay in our cars until we got to the other side where we would drive off and onto Terminal Island.... to this day we love to go to Port's of Call Village in San Pedro where the Ferry Building is still standing ..but is now home to a Marine Museum..When i stand outside the building .. all the wonderful memories come rushing back to me !!

 My father was making a pretty good living at the tuna factory ..in just a couple of years he was able to save enough to start thinking about buying a house for his family. We lived upstairs in a small cramped apartment  on 4th street not more than two miles from the Ferry House..I still remember hearing the sounds of the ship horns as they approached the channel. Then one or two tug boats would gently guide these floating monsters to a dock where they would anchor and then have their cargo off loaded. In my mind ..this was the most exciting place on earth !

 My father was a good man..honest..hardworking , family oriented. I don't have many fond memories of my father..he was mostly busy trying to carve out a living and providing materially for us...I guess you can say he was in search of the "American Dream"..It's funny how things work out..many people come to this country to give their families a better life..a higher standard of living. But in order to achieve that worthy goal..you have to give something up..you need to be driven..you need to focus all your time,energy and resources on getting where you want to be. And many well intentioned fathers found themselves caught up in this vicious cycle of upward mobility. I have seen this over and over again..fathers want the best for their children and sometimes in their struggles to find their place in the sun..they neglect the very thing that they came to this country for..And i have seen the results with my own eye's !...disfuncional families..abandoned marriages..broken relationships..children left alone and at the mercy of this cruel world...all sacrificed at the alter of ambition.!

I am not saying that my father was not their when i needed him ..what i am saying is ..if you want to play the game ..you have to play by the rules..and he found himself thrusted into a fast paced endless struggle just to stay in the game ! Something had to give ! that's just the way it is !

Well before i knew it we were living in Wilmington Calif.!  not to far from San Pedro..After looking around for some time my father finally found a little house that he felt he could afford..I think he paid three thousand for it ..that was back in the late fifties ! I have many fond memories of that city..we lived on O St. just north of  Pacific Coast Hwy ..to the west of us and over a bridge was Banning Park..I remember spending many day's playing and having fun there. I remember that they had a small museum in the center of the park and inside i recall seeing some old horse carriage's and an old fire engine. I remember that in the night from our house you could see ( and smell !! ) the Texaco Refinery plant with it's huge stack which was constantly spewing smoke from it's mouth. I loved it when my father would drive by the plant at night and it would be all lit up with bright yellow and white lights ..it kind of gave me a warm fuzzy feeling ..i could picture my father parking the car and all of us climbing out and running to the entrance of this huge Carnival ! And i could picture us standing in line looking up at this enormous Ferris wheel with thousands of little lights flickering in the night....and when we stepped into the basket and it took us up to the very top ..wow ! what a sight ! we could see forever !  but my father didn't stop..he kept driving..and as the last flickering lights slowly faded all i could do...  is Dream !!

I was thirty years old here