Well said Rick, in a sense Frank is our muse. He provides inspiration to us. He's seen it all, done it all.Rick Farris wrote:Frank Baltazar . . .
Frank inspires memories that make me want to write. He'll post a photo, sometimes setting up a story I would not have oherwise written. I don't sit down intending to write anything, just read the posts. When I do write here, I rarely edit anything, or attempt to do so as I might a deliberate story. I just write with the flow of thoughts that Frank brings to my mind. I FEEL L.A. boxing, I have since the first day I walked into a gym, studying it was never a chore, but a desire, something that totally controlled my mind and spirit from childhood. Today, Frank's words, pictures, memories, etc. take me back to that special era that today's fans, who weren't a part of it, cannot imagine. There was a magic to the Olympic, and the Main Street Gym, and the FORUM fights that George Parnassus promoted, not so much with the latter FORUM promoters, who put on good shows on Monday night for prime ticket, however, a diluted version of what we had, not the real thing, if you know what I mean.
It was not the places, so much as the players that occupied them. Steindler, Eaton, Parnassus, Davies, Chargin, Fraser (thank God he's still with us!), Flores, Jaregui, Shagrue, Welch, Epstein, Baltazar, Kabakoff, McCoy,and dozens more I don't have time to name. And of course, the FIGHTERS! And yes, they were boxers, but more so, they were FIGHTER's!!!!!
Today I'm a lighting tech in the film industry. The three things I like best in life are fighting, writing & lighting . . .and of course, senioritas. Why not?
-Rick Farris
However tiny , minute and insignificant my role was (non existent really) I'm just glad to have been there and seen some of it. It was an era that exists only in our memories now.
