Ron Hill Has Always Been "Lucky"
In 1962, the 91 Freeway bought my parent's home. I had lived there for 18 years. We moved to Garden Grove, June 1962, where I knew no one.
I soon realized there were more girls in my neighborhood than boys and most of these girls were my age. Bill Boyes used to love coming down to see me.
One girl I dated and really liked, also dated Steve Martin. At the time, I didn't know who Steve Martin was and nobody else did either. This girl, "LINDA" would tell me I was the second funniest guy she knew, which pissed me off in those days.
Steve had dog named "**** HEAD" which I thought was a "DUMB NAME".
Anyway, by summer's end, I knew a ton of people in Garden Grove.
I enrolled at Orange Coast College and Jimbo moved in with us. The first year was not that fun, as there were many "War Babies" and over crowded classes. Jimbo's mom's restaurant was doing poorly, so he moved home to Needles.
By mid year, my second year, I realized I could graduate (two year college) but needed some elective credits.
My friends said, "Take photography, it is a fun class".
So I signed up for photography. The teacher said, "Are you Russ Thrill's brother?" Then he said, "I mean, Russ Hill's brother?" He said he and Russ had been friends at Long Beach State. This sounded good!
I checked out a camera. After the first day, I decided to figure out what "Depth Perception was".
So, I'm walking across campus...and I see this girl that lived on my street that everyone called "The Garden Grove Statue Symbol" because just dating her gave you status. (SHE WAS AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL, TOO, her name was Lynn but she would give Natalie Wood a run for her money.) I had seen here many times when I was driving home but had no reason to talk to her.
So, now I have a camera. I see her walking along. I go, "Hey listen, I need to take some pictures for 'depth perception'". She says, "Don't you live down the street from me?" I say, "Yes, and I know who you are, you are the Garden Grove 'Statue Symbol'"
She says, I never heard I was the "Garden Grove Status Symbol". I say, "Well, you are and everyone knows it...."
So, I take a few pictures and tell he I'll bring them by so she can see them.
Well, in 1963, having a 8 X 10 of your head is pretty cool. The Status symbols and I date til January 1967.
So, I go off to college in Arizona, they give me credit for Photography as art for teachers.
Oh, on the side bar, there were a few other girls that I took pictures of, they all loved the 8 X 10 head shots.
I fell in love easy and often in those days!