Hi folks, I'm back perhaps a little quicker than expected. In this part of the story (and for the rest of our 1983 Investigation) we'll be examining incidents and situations that may be unpleasant. However, we must press onward.
Returning to the Chi-Chi's Incident, the picture became clearer yesterday. When the memory first came back (earlier this Summer), I recalled Gary Patterson coming to my table, acting as if his sudden presence was a surprise or coincidence, and then sitting down and "being snide", sort of "lecturing me about my life". That was all I had and it didn't at first seem crucial.
I should pause to explain how blocked memories return. Sometimes "the whole fish" comes out of the water at once, or most of it does. When that happens, you are stunned. You know that a major, unremebered incident has "bubbled up" to the surface. What is more common, though, it that you start with just a fragment of a memory. This has happened to me over and over, and it happened with the Chi-Chi's Incident. I had no awareness whatsoever of that incident until I started running through my movie title triggers for 1983. "The Year of Living Dangerously" (released on January 21) left a mark. I associated it with depression, a bad day or week. I saw that film, though I don't remember if it was with Lillian or my friends. But I knew it was a bummer, and I also knew that the Lancaster Speed Run took place at around that time (see previous blog).
That's when I got a flash of "sitting in a restaurant with Gary Patterson", and that's how these fragments arise. They are images from blocked memories that "bubble up" from the subconscious when triggered by temporally-associated memories from the conscious mind.
"Sitting in a restaurant with Gary Patterson" developed, as many of these initial fragments do, like a Polaroid photo, slowly but steadily. Another apt comparison is a jigsaw puzzle; the more pieces you put into place, the quicker the rest fit together. It's also obvious why this particular fragment was interesting to begin with: Gary Patterson was a notorious person, a very bad guy, a drug dealer associated with Eddie Nash. Had the fragment showed just "me sitting alone in a restaurant", I might never have developed it further. But it showed Gary sitting at my table, and I knew it had to be investigated.
A problem, to start with, was that I couldn't recall the name of the restaurant. That left me without context. Context helps a great deal in memory recovery. If you know where something happened, and when, it helps you to remember what happened. "Sitting in a restaurant with Gary Patterson" was already associated with January 1983, because it was triggered by "The Year of Living Dangerously" (January 21), and the Lancaster Speed Trip. Because it was associated with January, I then recalled watching the Super Bowl in the still-unknown restaurant. This made me think it was a sports bar. But I somehow knew the restaurant had been at (or near) the intersection of Nordhoff and Tampa, across from the Northridge Mall, and I couldn't think of any "sports bars" that were ever located in that area. I next thought of Mexican Restaurants, and Googled "Popular Mexican Chain Restaurants From the Early 1980s". "The Red Onion" came back. I knew it wasn't that. We had a Red Onion, but it was further out on Corbin or Topanga Canyon. I ruled out Acapulco, which wasn't well-known at the time. Then I thought it might've been El Torito, but that didn't ring a strong bell.
I got more specific in my Googling. I like the Google AI because you can ask it questions, and it's almost uncanny how it responds. I asked, "Was there a Mexican restaurant located near the intersection of Tampa and Nordhoff in the early 1980s?"
The answer was "Yes. Chi-Chi's Mexican Restaurants was a chain that had a Northridge, California location, across from the Northridge Fashion Center at Tampa Avenue and Nordhoff Street..."
An immediate look at Google Images confirmed Chi-Chi's facade and interior and I knew I had the right place. My certainty was further cemented when I found a Reddit thread about Chi-Chi's famous "Mudslide" drinks.
"OMG", I thought. "I remember Mudslides. Dennis loved Mudslides. He talked about them all the time, and even mixed up batches himself." Thus, I now had my location, and some context: "Sitting alone at Chi-Chi's Mexican Restaurant (across from the Mall) on Super Bowl Sunday 1983, watching the game and waiting for someone (probably Lilly) when Gary Patterson approaches my table."
This is how a blocked memory fragment develops.
As noted, my first impressions of Gary's visit were interesting but did not seem overly-consequential. I thought he'd sat down with me, asked a few snide questions about my personal life ("So, still unemployed? How's the band? Whataya do for money?"). The way I initially remembered it, I sat there thinking, "I don't know this fuckin' guy. Why is he prying into my life?" But in my memory, he was just "Arrogant Gary", David Friedman's friend, a guy I jammed with once and bought pot from two or three times. "Why did he get so personal?" was my impression of the developing memory.
This prompted further investigation, which involved more meditation on the incident.
Three days ago, I had a breakthrough. I now had a clearer picture of Gary's appearance. He'd come into the restaurant with a friend, a female friend, and when he started talking to me, and asked if he could sit down, he told his friend to "go wait at their table" or to "go get a table". In other words, he told her to leave us so he could talk to me alone. She did this, and Gary sat down.
Folks, I am going to "couch the details" here. Not completely, but somewhat. My initial memory was that Gary had been snide, had asked me personal/rude questions, and had got up and left at some point. The new, more developed memory, showed that wasn't the case. Oh, his visit was intimidating, but what actually happened was that he tried to present himself as my ally, in a "word to the wise" kind of way. Gary told me that, though I didn't know it, I was in a situation that could get me hurt. In my meditation, phrases like "stuff going on behind your back" and "stepping on people's toes" came up. I got a strong image of Gary holding a pen and writing on a small piece of paper. This image persisted and I knew it was important. "What was he writing?" I wondered. I still don't know, but I have a feeling that it may have been his phone number. "Give me a call if you hear anything about it", meaning whatever he was talking about that was "happening behind my back".
The new memory very clearly showed his female friend returning to our table (my table) and asking "how much longer is this gonna take". She was waiting for Gary to go sit with her. He snapped and told her to "just go back and fuckin' wait for me. I'll be there in a few minutes."
The memory then showed Lilly arriving, just as I initially assumed. I had a flash of her sitting down at the table, but I couldn't tell if Gary was still there.
Finally, the memory developed further. The next part was extremely clear, enough to almost place it in the conscious memory.
Lys was there also. She arrived with Lilly. I mentioned what had happened with Gary (who may have still been at my table when they arrived). I asked Lilly some questions. She indicated she had no knowledge of what I was talking about. But Lilly was nervous. She had only just turned 18. Suddenly, Lys got very upset.
She went to Gary Patterson's table, where he was now sitting with his female friend, and she read him the riot act. Lys basically tore Gary a new one. I remembered getting up from our table (where I had now been sitting with Lilly), and walking over to Gary's table to calm Lys down because I didn't want any trouble. Lys may have said something to Gary like, "I'm not afraid of you" or "No one threatens my friends!" I had to coax Lys away from Gary's table, and that is where the memory stands.
I will attempt to develop it further.
It is important to note that Dennis got his new studio at around this time, in a converted garage at the Reading Center near the intersection of Devonshire and Woodley. Dennis and Gary had an association through David Friedman, and both Dennis and Gary were heavily involved in the 1989 Event.
We will continue our 1983 Investigation shortly. Thanks for reading, back sooner than usual, tons of love as always.
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