The Summer of 1969

The summer of 1969 is more than just a song by Bryan Adams--I lived it. For my 9th birthday in July, my mom and dad let me stay a week or so with my grandmother.

Surrounded by thousands of other cookie-cutter apartment buildings in San Jose, California, Grandma's place seemed like a safe haven to play "hide and seek," or a game of marbles with the neighborhood kids. But because I was afraid of the boogie man, I rarely left Grandma Zoe's side.

I had ample reason to be afraid. The Zodiac killer was on the loose in greater San Francisco, frightfully near San Jose, murdering young people (The killings occurred between December 1968 and October 1969). Altogether, four men and three women between the ages of 16 and 29 were the unfortunate victims of this vicious maniac (other reports suggest he actually killed dozens more). In any event, I was scared stiff. I can remember seeing the ciphers--coded messages--written by the Zodiac, printed in the newspapers that Grandma Zoe left open on the kitchen table.

1969 was also the summer of Apollo 11 and the first men on Moon. Less than a week before America's youth invaded Woodstock in Upstate New York on August 15th, Charles Manson and his "family" committed the Tate-LaBianca murders in the Benedict Canyon area of Los Angeles. I clearly remember watching the news on T.V. with my family after returning home to Orange County from my time with Grandma Zoe. It was the day after the Tate murders and a local station was reporting from an L.A. freeway off-ramp while authorities searched the dense vegetation for a gun, a knife, and any evidence purportedly thrown from a suspicious car.

After Manson and his cohorts were apprehended, the entire country--especially those of us who were less than an hour's drive from the horrendous crime scene--sat stunned. This "peace and love" hippie, Charles Manson, shattered the "love not war" image of the Haight-Ashbury flower child. We were now looking into the face of a monster. Everything changed that summer.

I know all this seems bleak, but there is a time when a child first realizes the world is a dangerous place--that life is fragile. That summer was my initial wake-up call. I don't live in fear anymore, but all it takes to bring up these memories is a T.V. show like the one I watched last night about the Zodiac killer. It's amazing how one summer can change your little universe...and the whole world, too.