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ORIGINAL PHOTO OF VENICE WEST CAFE BY R.L.HUFFSTUTTER 1960

The scene of my first public readings of some of my free verse in 1960. It was inside this landmark building that I fascinated groups of beatniks who had flocked to the West Coast in search of liberty and personal freedom to live the life of the artist and writer as read about in high school English Lit classes. Yes, it was not really that complicated--we simply wanted to get drunk and become famous overnight. Imagine two or three dozen youth gathering with their spirals, waiting for their turn to change the world by reading a few poems. Yes, there were some that had a sing-song meter, but we were polite and allowed them to read. We even clapped afterwareds. Several tried to make us believe they had writen "A rose is a rose is a rose."

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Uploaded on August 22, 2011
Taken on March 11, 2009