A strong and passionate Civil Rights Movement was growing in 1965. There were demonstrations across the United States. They were peaceful gatherings, a walk and prayer in silence led by Dr. Martin Luther King. But it all turned ugly when demonstrators involved in just one of those peaceful marchs in Selma, Alabama were attacked by State Troopers.
With the winds of war growing, and the civil rights of our citizens being denied, we became a restless nation. In a very hot August, riots broke out in Watts, Los Angeles, California. For five days, stores were looted, many businesses were destroyed and burned to the ground. People were beaten and killed.
Yet, somehow we found solace in our music. We listened to Simon and Garfunkel, "Sounds of Silence" We sang, "We Can Work It Out", with the Beatles. We symbolically agreed with The Mamas and the Papas when they sang about "Monday, Monday". And when Percy Sledge sang, "When A Man Loves A Woman", we believed every word.
The number one show on television was Bonanza, with Michael Landon. But we still had humor to pull us through with shows like; The Lucy Show, Gomer Pyle, Red Skelton Show, The Andy Griffith Show, Bewitched and The Beverly Hillbillies.
1965 was a tumultuous year. We would become more involved in the Viet Nam War. We would watch in horror as stories and pictures would begin to flood our television sets. We had become an impaired nation with the death of JFK. Yet, we still held to our idealisms. Our path would take us to an even darker time soon and we would once again mourn for our brothers.
The Viet Nam war was a very unpopular war as we could not see an end in sight. At Kent State in Ohio, National Guardsmen opened fire on a group of students protesting our involvement in the war. It had been a peaceful demonstration. Four innocent students were killed, eight were injured.
And in 1970 two of our most gifted musician/entertainers would succumb to drugs and alcohol. Jimi Hendrix would be found dead after choking on his own vomit from alcohol and pills and Janis Joplin, the blues singer would die of a heroin overdose in her hotel room. In 1968 Janis released two albums, one with her first band called, Big Brother and the Holding Company and another one called, Cheap Thrills. Cheap Thrills was Number #1 on the Billboard charts for 8 weeks.
In 1966 we went to see Thunderball, starring Sean Connery. It was his 4th James Bond movie. It seems we couldn't get enough of him or the Bond character he played. Spy movies were big because we were coming off a cold war with Russia
On the weekends, summer and in our spare time, some of us were hanging out at the beach, Lifeguard Station 13 or 21 at Huntington Beach or surfing at the pier or just plain goofing off at Seal Beach or getting crunched at the Wedge. But we often just took the bus to Cherry Beach and walked the tunnels down to the ocean.
Some of us were going to the Canteen in Houghton Park or sock hops. We went to the beautiful Town and Crest Theaters and saw two feature films for only 25 cents!!
We played miniature golf at Shady Acres. We hung out at Lion's Drag Strip and some of us, even raced our own cars.
We cruised Grisingers and the Clock. And almost got arrested on Tweedy Blvd and Bellflower Blvd.
Some of us stayed home and watched old movies. But we all had something to do and knew that we never had to go too much farther then Long Beach to find it.