10050 Cielo Drive

Monday, August 9, 2021

Lately, I have been isolating myself from the world that is out “there.”   At first, I would go to the woods every weekend, and then it would be four days out of the seven, but now as much as possible I try to stay in my cabin, that is not that far away from what would call civilization.  When I go back to my backyard, I can see the city lights, which are beautiful, but one can only notice such beauty away from the city itself.  Over the years I have built a small farm to grow vegetables, and I try to eat from this land as much as possible.  I’m not a meat eater, and I truly believe one should eat that is green and came from the mother earth.   A good friend of mine, Wojciech Frykowski, who is an actor from Poland, told me “the highest form of self-restraint is when one can subsist not on other animals, but of plants and crops cultivated from the earth.”  He is entirely correct, and by total instinct on my part, I always trust a European on such matters.

Since I don’t have a telephone at the cabin, I can only be reached by mail, sent to my post office box in West Hollywood.  Wojciech wrote to me that there is going to be a small gathering at a home he’s staying in at 10050 Cielo Drive, which is not that far away from my cabin.  I was there many years ago, and it’s an interesting home built by the architect Robert Byrd for the French actress Michèle Morgan.  The house was constructed in 1944, and Morgan gave the residence up when she moved back to France in 1946.  The legendary actress Lilian Gish moved in with her mother, while she was working on the film “Duel in the Sun.”  Afterwards Rudi Altobelli, a music and film industry person purchased the property and rented it out to Cary Grant and Dyan Cannon (their honeymoon nest in 1965), Henry Fonda, George Chakiris, Mark Lindsay (of Paul Revere & The Raiders), and Terry Melcher (son of Doris Day) and Candice Bergen.   When that couple split up in early 1969, the house was rented to Roman and Sharon.

I never met Roman, but Wojciech told me that Jay, my hairdresser (when I can afford him) will be there, and I always enjoyed his good cheer and company - so for sure I would try to make it over.  Also, Wojciech wanted me to meet his new girlfriend Abigail, who I heard about from my other “Polish” friend Jerzy Kosinski.  He met her when she worked at the Gotham Book Mart on 47th street in New York City.   He was the one that actually introduces Abigail to Wojciech, so what a small world.  So I was just a little curious to meet her as well since she is close to both of my friends.

Another weird coincidence is that I was looking for someone to build me a stereo system for my cabin and a friend of mine Bill who is the caretaker at the Cielo Drive told me about a kid named Steven, who is an electronic geek, and could build me a system for a little money.  I hired him, and he is a fascinating kid.  It appears that he was in trouble time-to-time with the law, due that he stole electronic parts to build radios and equipment of that sort.   I used to see him at his nighttime job, which is the Jonas Miller Stereo on Wilshire Boulevard.  Some people live lives that they don’t find attractive, but Steven is so into electronics and stereo equipment, I just see him to be the Baudelaire of stereos.  He understood the unique work that makes up a sound and therefore a stereo set-up is a very subjective listening device for a customer.  I know nothing else about him, because the only subject matter he’s interested in is electronics, especially when it involves sound.  He’s perfect!

The truth is when it was now time to go to the party tonight at the house, I chose to stay in my cabin.   As I get older, the solitude becomes more important to me.  I just refuse to be in “need” of the companionship of others.  For me, self-reliance can be both spiritual as well as economic.   I also don’t drink anything stronger than green tea, so it’s hard for me to go out with friends because they do drugs, drink and that is not my scene anymore.  I just like to go in my backyard in the middle of the night, and lay on the grass and look up at the stars.  That’s plenty of company for me, and I really like the stars.

Written in 2014, edited in 2021