Born in East L A almost
beneath the shadows of the Willard Battery water tower, which also happened to be east of the B F Goodrich tire pressing
plant on Olympic Boulevard. Consequently, down wind from the pungent odors of pressing hot rubber tires.
Our
little Okie home was a small white adobe house on Simmons Avenue half way between Olympic and Ferguson Avenue in East Los
Angeles 22 California. My parents had been recent transplants from southern rural Oklahoma where they
had left in 1941. So, being born 1944 in East L A, I am purebred blue collar California Okie. So,
I write about my Okie past and comment on our sociological/cultrual present. My daily blog, The Red Dirt Post is
written on current events and Okie Without Borders, is about my early Okie life growing up in Los Angeles. I hope you
enjoy visiting my weekly journal,
Okie Without Borders.