One Step Beyond

I just read a book written by a friend of mine, whom I have not seen since I was a teenager. Mike Pearson's  One Step Beyond is about growing up in the 80s on the westside of Los Angeles. He captures life during that time perfectly, and there are a few stories that had me laughing so hard I wiped tears out of my eyes. Of course, he changed the names to protect the innocent, and I had fun trying to guess who the people actually were in the book.

A couple stories that cracked me up were one where his friends shaved part of their dog and glued the hair to their faces to look older so they could get into a club, but were underaged. Another was when they partied and could not find one guy, who they later found in the back of Mike's truck buried in stolen lawn furniture, and nobody had a clue what happened. There are also great stories about working at the Chevron station on PCH near Rustic Canyon. That place has seen it all, and then some.

It is amazing to think how much things have changed since then. Pacific Palisades is unrecognizable compared to how it was in the 70s and 80s, before everyone built huge houses with gates and landscaping alone that costs more then my house in the valley. One thing that has not changed is the toxic alpha need to crush the competition and the me first attitude that exists there. I remember after leaving that part of town, being surprised that not everyone was like that. What a relief.