I graduated college in May 1996. I spent the summer at home on Martha’s Vineyard working on Film Score Monthly, and some time in August, my mom said to me, “You’re leaving soon...right?” I said, “Uh...yeah!”
So on October 3rd, 1996, I flew west with as many bags as I could take—we shipped the rest, including my FSM stuff and my Subaru Impreza (I have never had the patience for even short car trips, let alone long ones). Now it is 25 years to the day...what happened?
At the time, it was the start of a fantastic adventure—one that I had dreamed about for years.
I stayed for a couple of weeks with Daniel Schweiger at his apartment in Beachwood Canyon in the Hollywood Hills. Thanks Dan! I remember he was fighting with his neighbors about how loud he liked to play Hans Zimmer music, and one time cracked me up by spontaneously singing “All Time High” with a Russian-Jewish accent: “All I vanted vas a sweet distraction for an hour or two...”
I found a studio apartment nearby on Chula Vista Way, near a nice block of restaurants and shops and the Mayfair Supermarket. I was there for almost two years.
I don’t have many pictures from this time, because it was before there were decent cameras in phones, and I had—but never used—a digital camera. (I think it stayed in its box for 10 years.) But the above is roughly what I looked like at the time.
If you encountered me during this time, I’m sure I was annoying and insufferable, so apologies.
I don’t have a lot of nostalgia for this period. I don’t think I was particularly happy. And life seems unthinkable without my family, who would not come until many lonely years later.
But I do notice October 3rd on the calendar when it rolls around, and this year, it struck me that it’s been 25 years.
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