SANTA MONICA 28 March 1964

SANTA MONICA 28 March 1964, a photo by Lance & Cromwell on Flickr.

There is a nostaligic charm of a bittersweet nature that beckons me back to these photos posted by Lance and Cromwell.

Time and again, I return to view this marvelous set of photos. It is not only the lust and the wishful thinking that lures my aged mind to return to the promenade, it is the overall mistique of the set that takes me back in time if I simply close my eyes for a few moments after viewing.

It is as though I hear the voices of the youth drifting up from the surf to tantalize my senses; it is as though I catch a breeze that is carrying a Kosher submarine sandwich combined with the scent of 60s tanning lotion. My olfactatory elements are almost ready to blow a fuse from the intensity of this illusionary scene.

I close my eyes and relax; I doze off brief only to awake to find a dove looking at me with more curiosity than I care to describe. Several moments pass. The dove's mate lights beside the other.
It is good to have such fond memories. It is good to be alive and able to remember those youthful, joyful days when my eyes met the eyes of many of my peers and generated a lustful wish.

Perhaps, perhaps there is more to lust than one might want to admit, at least publicly, but it is a writer's duty to record the reality of the past and the present.