Our destination was the “Lighthouse,” a jazz club on Hermosa Beach, owned by Howard Rumsey, former bass player with the Stan Kenton Band. After parking the car, we could see the club right off the beach, and heard great jazz “riffs” emanating from the building. The place had a tropical look with a feeling of openness. Chet Baker was blowing trumpet with Shelley Mann on drums and Rumsey on bass. Beautiful girls in bathing suits were all over the place, and more were coming in, sandy feet and all. Needless to say, Pete, Norm, Mo, and I were all smiles and ogling the chicks. California, the sun, a convertible, jazz and fantastic chicks. It couldn’t get any better than this, just the way I’d imagined California would be. << less