The Swivel Calculator Organizer

Yesterday we were sorting clothes in the garage (amazing photos to come) and came across the Advantage Organizer. It's not even a knock off Filofax. But it's still a day planner, address book, and adding machine in one! Watch out iPhone!

The best part is the calculator. Built in to the leather case, it swivels from the front to the inside cover so you can keep your business in the front or the back.

She's Got L'eggs

Here is more pantyhose either from the future or deep past. I like to imagine that Sheer Energy L'eggs keep the futuristic legs of David Bowie or Janelle Monáe dancing lean and mean. 

I always keep the unhatched pack of Sheer Energy on my computer desk, just in case. 

Goodbye Summer

Summer is over before it even began. This was the coldest LA summer ever! Here's to hotter days.

This is me on Redondo Beach Pier with Jack, the neighbor's kid.

In the summer my family would go to the pier every week for steamed crab and corn on the cob. We'd bring our own dip (soy sauce, minced raw garlic, and vinegar) and dine on the stone tables overlooking the boats in the marina. When we'd finish, my parents would pacify me with quarters for the Fun Factory, an dank arcade styled after a Coney Island boardwalk.

Insert quarters into the quarter balancing on the ledge game or the ancient Pong cabinet. Take a spin on the Tilt-A-Whirl and risk throwing up your meal. When I was feeling brave, I'd give fifty cents to Morgana, the fortune telling machine. Morgana was a disembodied mannequin head with an animated face projected onto it. She had cat eyes like the evil queen from Snow White. She'd tell your fortune, but it was impossible to hear over the din of the arcade. But maybe you're just not suppose to know your fate.

Since I checked last summer, Morgana, Pong, and the Tilt-A-Whirl were still at the Fun Factory.

Gone Fishing

My dad a huge fan of fishing. It was of his dad hobbies like guns, electronics, and cars. While I've noticed women tend to have the sole hobby of shopping, men tend to develop outdoors and tech related passions. 

My dad was never seen without his cargo pocket fishing vest. It had velcro flaps, netted pockets, and a keyring at the zipper. It's the common uniform of older (from Asia) Asian men, as I've seen it on many a Japanese, Korean, and Chinese dad. I guess they like to be prepared with their Kleenex, meds, and Tiger Balm in easily accessible pockets. 

Redondo Beach Pier, late 70s. 

I like to think he fished because it reminded him of the coastal town in Taiwan where he grew up. 

On a boat, early 90s. 

While I was in high school, my parents would frequently take day fishing trips off the San Pedro shore. They once came home riled up about how one of their fishing friends had caught a baby shark. 

Like my mom, he was never the kind of person to just have one of anything. He had quite a collection of fishing poles. We used to have twice as many but over the years my mom would give them to friends and relatives who asked. After a while she hid them in the master bedroom jacuzzi because she was tired of the fishing pole mooching.

Other People's Collections: "Please Let My Kid Buy Cigarettes" Notes

A while back, I asked readers to send in photos of their unusual family collections. Margaret from LA, who worked at a small grocery store in the early 80s, sent me her stash of cigarette buying permission notes. Back then, you could get away with selling cigarettes to minors as long as the smoker parents put it in writing.

This one has a grocery list and phone number, in case you want to verify the existence of Ms. Higgins.

This is my favorite one. Totally spaced on the cigs!  

Thank you Margaret!

The Garden View

Before I was an adult craft dabbler, I was embroidering sunny gardens with my grandmother.

The Perpetual Diary

Found the Perpetual Diary in my mom's dresser drawers. Pretty infinite sounding.

(Definitely more so than the last diary I found.)  

At first glance I thought it was a free copy of the New Testament. About the same size anyway.  

The Perpetual diary helps you keep track of forever, and some statistics too.  

In the jacket cover my mom had filled out her personal information including her social, blood type, and an old address I never knew my parents had. Mysterious! I'll have to do a drive-by this weekend.

A Quality Product

Actually, we've saved on many.