Blast From The Past

Above, three "yutes": Arleigh Kerr, yours truly and Gary Julian. Photo by Ken Huthmaker(?).

Today, I received in the mailbox the above photograph. As Glenn Thornhill is clearing out stuff in preparation of moving, he came across the photo (how he ended up with it is unknown to him). Pictured are (from left) Arleigh Kerr, yours truly and Gary Julian. All of us were in our 20s when the photo was taken.

It looks like a print from Assemblyman Paul Bannai's administrative assistant Ken Huthmaker. He was an ex-press photographer who shot in black & white. Obviously, it was taken at a convention.

At first, my thought was that it was taken at a Young Republicans or California College Republicans convention. But if it was a Huthmaker photo, it is more likely from a California State Central Committee Convention in San Diego at the Town & Country Hotel (September 1975) or the convention in April 1976 in Fresno.

In either case, it was during the California Primary campaign as I am wearing a "RSD" button (for Robert Spencer Douglass, who was running for the 51st Assembly). We had a lot of conventioneers wearing them by saying they meant "Reagan Should Declare" against President Gerald Ford.

I don't recall ever seeing this photo before.

In San Francisco Then And Now

I came across an old photo of me that was taken in San Francisco in 1978 while I was there for a California Republican Party convention at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

For the fun of it, I have the photo from 1978 and one from last year below when I spoke in San Francisco at the Japan Society.

The convention, for me, was most notable for being a drunk-fest. Several candidates for state offices had hospitality suites. One would have wine, another would have margaritas and another would have a full bar. And so on. I hit them all.

This led to the worst hangover ever. A former co-worker was attending UC Berkeley and came over to join me while hitting the suites. He also got plowed. He managed to lose a very nice umbrella while in his drunken stupor. I never heard from him again following that weekend. I didn't feel better until I was flying home the next morning.

That's what happens when one mixes and has too many drinks. I never did that again! 

Here's a photo from 1978:

Above, yours truly in San Francisco in 1978. Photo by Ken Huthmaker.

And, a photo from 2015 (a lot more sober) in San Francisco: