Reply #33: I grew up in So. Cal.in the 60s. Looking back on it, it was [View All]

pretty wonderful. The Byrds and Grassroots played at dances at my high school. There was a summer tv show called "Groovy" filmed down on the beach, and anyone could show up and be on it. There was another show called 9th Street West which was sort of a west coast version of American Bandstand. Getting tickets to that was easy too. Over spring break there was the teenage fair at the Hollywood Palladium. Disneyland was inexpensive, and there were all sorts of special nights when local businesses would buy blocks of tickets for their employees and take over the park during the evening hours. It was uncrowded and fun. If you lived in the South Bay, it was not unusual to see one of the Beach Boys hanging out.

My daughter is 17. There are no dances at her high school. There are no local tv shows for teenagers. There is no teenage fair. Disneyland is expensive and crowded as hell. She's seen a few rock stars, but she's paid big $$ for the privilege.

I actually feel bad that she'll never be able to experience growing up in So Cal the way I did. I'm not happy about being 57, but I wouldn't have traded growing up when and where I did for anything.