The date is December 27, 1986. Paula and I have put train tickets to Long Beach, California on our first department store credit cards (as explained in my "Toronto, Part One" entry) and we would arrive in time to see Glass Tiger opening for Journey on New Year's Eve.
We left Toronto in the early morning (me from the Covenant House shelter I'd been staying at, but since I was leaving before program completion, I couldn't go back for 30 days so at this moment I had no address). I had $100 cash on me because my parents sent me a money order for Christmas, and since banks are closed Dec. 25 and 26, I could only use my bank card to deposit it and get $100 cash back. Canadian. Which is an important fact later in the story.
We got on our train that would take us to Chicago. Nothing worth mentioning happened during that 10 hours. We disembarked in Chicago, where my Canadian money meant NOTHING. I couldn't even sneak in a Canadian coin when trying to buy a drink! Paula had to cover me for everything.
We had a 22 hour stopover in Chicago. As much as I wanted to see the Sears tower and Oprah, we were under the impression that if we went outside we'd be shot. Hehe. So we stayed within the confines of the train station. We had no money, anyway. We slept in the station - which was not easy. We tried to get comfortable on the hard wooden benches, with our coats and purses wrapped around us to ward off thieves. But we were woken up by security every half hour anyway, to show proof that we were, indeed, awaiting a train and not just looking for shelter.
We boarded the Amtrack train the following afternoon and found our Coach seats, which were to be our home for the next two days. We walked around the train to see the different cars, but spent most of our time in the Lounge car where we got to know Bob, the bartender. He served us our Doritos and hot dogs which were all we could afford over those days, Paula was still paying, and his bar was home to the free potato chips we ate during Happy Hour.
I think we were the only Canadians on the train, so I do remember we represented all Canadian women during that two days. Sorry! One gentlemen sitting near us took a shining to our unshowered smelly selves, and while talking to him I believe we promised him we'd do our best to get him on Glass Tiger's guest list, and he suggested he take us out for dinner when we arrived. I don't even know where he lived, but my guess is he drove quite a ways to pick us up at our motel in Long Beach. But I digress.
We arrived at the train station in Los Angeles. It must be close to mini-Mexico, as we wandered around there and bought some 25 cent jewelry from a street vendor. We went to a Bank of America so I could finally get my $100 Canadian switched to American dollars. What a hassle! I thought I could just get my currency exchanged at any teller's counter. NO. I saw several teller's and at least one manager, all who asked me if I had an account there. I kept telling them NO! THIS IS THE BANK OF AMERICA. I AM CANADIAN! I don't know how long it took and how many people I saw, but I finally walked out of there with 65 American dollars. Woo hoo! California, here I come.
I think it was $6 or $8 to catch a bus out to Long Beach. We then had to find a place to stay. I think someone along the way mentioned the City Centre Motel was affordable. So in our winter coats and boots we left wearing in Canada, we wandered down the streets in 80* California weather to find our motel. It was strange to see Christmas lights and decorations being up when it was so sunny and warm!
We got our room - $45 per night. It was now December 30 and we were heading back on the train New Year's Day, so I paid for one night, and Paula for one. I remember needing to fill out a form that required your home address - that's when it hit me that I didn't actually have one! There was a small fridge in the room and a Safeway across the street, so we filled it with cheap food. We took showers and freshened up. We called Glass Tiger, who were in San Francisco that night and told us to go to Will Call to get our tickets on NYE. We didn't even ask about that guy; we knew he wasn't coming. We were just using him for dinner!
So, he picked us up for dinner. We cleaned up real nice, so he was pleasantly surprised. He got to spend the evening with two young, cute blondes in sundresses, so who cares about concert tickets? We told him we tried, blah blah blah. He took us for pizza, and we went back to our room without him and full tummies. We checked out our TV, and watched MTV for the first time!
The next day we found a dollar type store and bought some silly gifts for Glass Tiger. Or maybe just Paula did, I can't imagine I had much money left. We were so excited, we had all these visions in our head of spending the evening with Glass Tiger and ringing in the new year with them. HA
We found our way to the arena where they were playing. Security searched through our bags and took Paula's Aqua Net hairspray bottle hahaha! We found Willl Call and got our tickets and backstage passes for after their show. We found our seats, and watched "Concrete Blonde" go on first, followed by Glass Tiger's set. After they played we went backstage. Which, if you've ever been backstage at a hockey type arena for an opening act, is nothing to write home about. I remember standing near a gate and the members of Journey squeezing past me to the stage. I figure Randy Jackson was one of them... So maybe I nodded at Randy Jackson? Claim to fame.
I got this photo back there, of me and Wayne Parker, bass player and my favourite member of Glass Tiger:
The band had to leave right away to drive to the next city for their next show. Oh. That wasn't the NYE we were expecting! So we said our goodbyes and headed back to our hotel. It was about 11:00 at night.
In our room, we settled in to watch some MTV and giggle about the boys, their reaction, my disappointment at Wayne taking the hand of a girl and casually introducing her as his girlfriend... Stuff like that. I still can't believe we took this trip to spend, maybe, an hour with Glass Tiger. But I've got this story.
So the clock strikes midnight, and we go out on the balcony of our motel that overlooks the courtyard/pool area and all the other motel rooms. A few people were out there, hootin' and hollering and popping champagne. We went back into our room and went to bed.
I guess some guys next door saw us. Some large, non-Caucasian gentleman would be my guess. All of a sudden they were banging on our door, window, walls. Surrounding us. Yelling "LET US IN!!" and scaring us to death. Banging, banging, banging, all around us and demanding to be let in. We were scared shitless! We stayed huddled under our covers shaking, and tried calling the front desk. Endless ringing, no answer. We called 9-1-1. They didn't seem to care too much considering it was NYE and they were kinda busy. I don't know if they ever sent a car around, but about 2 hours later (it seemed like so much longer) they stopped the banging and yelling. Maybe they just gave up because we were NOT responding. We just prayed they weren't able to break the window or knock down the door, because it sure felt like they would at any second. SCARY.
The next morning we packed up and checked out. We told the guy at the front desk about our evening, and how there was no answer down there all night. He seemed surprised, but also like he couldn't care less.
At some point over that two days someone told us there was a regular bus we could catch that would take us right to the Los Angeles train station. So while Paula wandered to a pay phone to find out where we could catch it, I sat on a bench with our luggage and waited (did I mention Paula brought two HUGE suitcases? She hadn't decided on her NYE outfit before we left so she just brought most of her wardrobe). A man in the ugliest colour of green Porche drove up and stopped near me. He came over. "Do you need a ride somewhere?"
"No, that's fine, my friend is making a call and then we'll be on our way"
"Your friend? What friend?"
I pointed down the sidewalk where Paula was on the phone.
"Where are you going?"
"Home"
"I can give you a ride".
"It's pretty far". (I'm seriously thinking, if you have the money for a Porche, why would you get that colour of green?!? I wouldn't be caught dead in that).
"I'll drive you".
"It's in Canada".
"I'll still drive you".
Paula came back. "We're all set then? Good, let's go. Thank you". I nodded to the man and we scurried away. Ew.
We took a regular city bus to the train station, found our seats and settled in for another couple days in Coach seating (it was Jan. 1st and we arrived back in Toronto Jan. 4th. Yippee!) Soon a familiar voice came over the loudspeaker: "this is Bob coming to you from the Lounge car, where our coffee's so fresh you need to slap it three times!" Bob! Our bartender buddy was working for our trip back, too. Awesome.
We also made friends with a couple guys who were musicians sitting near us. SURPRISE. I remember a group of at least 10 of us heading down to the luggage car and sitting on the floor amongst the suitcases, singing songs. A couple guys had their guitars. It was like our own campfire without the woods. Or the fire.
When we weren't down there, we were sitting at the bar chatting with Bob and eating chips and hot dogs. Two days went by, and we were back in Chicago for our 22 hour stopover. Once we got our luggage together, Paula went to find a pay phone while I sat against a wall, guarding our suitcases as usual. She was going to call the Mission because there was NO WAY we were spending another night in that train station.
I was approached by a dark-haired man in a long black coat. "So, you need a place to stay?" Ummm... Total stranger alert! "No, I'm fine".
"Oh, well, your friend over there (pointing to Paula on the pay phone) says you do".
OMG Paula told a complete stranger we need a place to stay?!? I gave her Devil Eyes that I hoped she felt burning in her back. "No, we don't".
Paula came back and said "the Mission says they'll take us". The guy said "two white girls won't last five minutes at the Mission. I talked to my mom and she says it's fine if you come back with me".
At this point, his coat opened to reveal an Amtrack pin on his collar. Well, it was a good sign that he worked for Amtrack, they all seemed like good people. But it was Bob's endorsement, as he came over to say goodbye to us, that sealed the deal. "Derek? Oh, he's a good guy, we've worked together for years". So, it was decided. We would go with Derek to his mom's house. I was picturing chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate.
We got into his car, and started driving through Chicago on this dreary night. Wherever we were going, seemed a pretty poor and run down part of the city. I mean, really run down. He stopped at a boarded up storefront and we followed him inside, speechless. I think we were both scared. It was dark inside, but it appeared to be an old art supply store or gallery, with ripped canvasses on the floor and broken ceramic peices. "He's brought us here to kill us", I thought. We wandered into a back room and Derek knocked on a door. It was opened by a psychic gypsy looking woman, with long curly hair, lots of overdone makeup, long nails, big jewelry, big mumu. "Hello Derek! And you must be the two ladies he told me about! Come in, come in!"
In the back of that store was an apartment where I guess she lived with her 10 dogs and 20 cats, and Derek stayed when in town. Chicago was the central hub so most Amtrack employees lived there. Anyway, we settled in the living room while Derek ran out to get pizza and cigarettes. We all smoked back then.
I don't remember much of the night, just that the house was very messy and cluttered, you had to move an animal to get anywhere, and we slept on what was a double bed under a pile of stuff. Oh, and there was no hot water. But, they fed us, bought us smokes, let us sleep there and in the morning Derek would drive us back to the train station as he was going back to work. They were lovely.
The next morning we arrived at the station and boarded our train at whatever time we were supposed to. I know we arrived in Toronto late at night, because Paula had made arrangements with this crazy lady named Nancy for us to sleep on her floor, so Paula didn't have to wake anyone up at the home she was living in (live in nanny). I, of course, was officially homeless. I couldn't live back at Covenent House for 30 days as per their rule mentioned earlier, so I had nowhere to go. But I found a place to stay. More on that another time!
