Reading Full of Life, the biography of John Fante, I underlined some mentions of the addresses where Fante himself or people who were related to Fante lived so that I could visit those places sometime, maybe over the summer. Among them was this place on Quincy street in Long Beach, where Helen, the older woman Fante dated, the model of the woman, Vera, in Ask the Dust, lived.
A while ago, I decided to pay a visit to this place, for it's not very far from where I live, and found out it was a huge castle-looking building called Gaytonia. I was very intrigued. I wondered what kind of place it was. Is this like a gay-utopia? Do only gay people live here? Did Helen really live here? The questions remained unanswered until today, when I got to talk to a woman.
When Pecha and I drove by, the door of the place was open; so we stopped, thinking of exploring the inside. As we got off the car, the woman came out from the door and said hi to us.
"Hi, do you live here?" I asked.
"No, but my friend lives here," She said and told us it was a pretty luxury apartment.
"You know, the person who built this place was named Gayton. That's why it's called Gaytonia, and at that time, the word didn't mean what it does now..." She explained and said something about it appearing in a gay film.
So it was just a really nice apartment. Not a castle of gay people. I was glad to know the truth, but it was a bit disappointing. It would've been cool if Fante had come visit his girlfriend who lived in a gay-utopia, especially after how Dr. Cooper told us about Fante's extremely heterocentric perspective. But then, if it had been the case, Dr. Cooper wouldn't have missed it in the biography. Shoot.
The woman said we could just go in and look around if we liked, so we did.
The inside was gorgeous.
Who knows, Fante might've opened this door.
The place was built in the late 20s to the early 30s, I later knew from some internet research. If Helen really lived here, she might have been one of the first tenants Mr. Gayton had at the castle. She must've been pretty rich, and Fante must've enjoyed being able to stay at this luxury place.
It was exciting to imagine my now-favorite author might have really been there. It reminded me of the sensation I felt when I realized that I was on the train line which my favorite writer wrote she used to go to high school and that she must've seen the same view from the train window I saw at the moment.
My next goal, as long as Fante concerned, is to visit Bunker Hill.
3 comments:
How funny. I've always seen that neon, night-shattering sign up on the hill and laughed at it as some ridiculous banner of homosexual pride. I pictured a similar banner in Huntington Beach - Heterotonia, but you've opened my eyes to it. For that to happen, some guy named Heteroton would have build an apartment complex, and that's just ridiculous. But then, so is, I guess, the name Gayton. What is that?
Russ told me there's a great book at the Central Library with beautiful illustrations of Bunker Hill, a la Fante days. I'll have to find out the name for you.
Jon,
Heteroton would be a very extraordinary name... So it's correct to think Gayton isn't a common American name? Hmm, I wonder when the word gay started to mean homosexual.
Sarah,
Oh I'd love to look at the book. Let me know if you find out what it's called!
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