Portal to the past

Daniel Francis Eggink
      Bill Fassett was the one who opened the door of Nepenthe to me. It was a door that lead into a labyrinth of possibility and ambiguity.
      I was a runaway from the cultural conformity of suburban San Jose and recently discharged from the Army when he hired me as a bartender in the Summer of 1958. I was comfortable with Bill because in many ways he was like a big kid who was determined to enjoy life and talk about it.
      Bill knew who was who and how they were related socially or in business. It was a wonder watching him table hope among the socialites and celebrities weaving his personal spell. I worked behind Nepenthe's curved bar and Bill introduced me to the gossipy world of the rich and beautiful.
      One eventful day 3 well groomed men arrived to whom Bill gave particular attention. He then came over to me and asked if I would find Dorcus and Holly because his guests wanted to see us do some Greek folk dances.  I asked him who his special guests were ? He told me that the short one was Henry Wilson, the most powerful agent in Hollywood and the dark haired one was actor John Saxon. He said Henry Wilson was the one who discovered Tab Hunter, Rock Hudson and many others.
      It was dusk and the fire pit was blazing as we danced. Afterword Henry invited me to his table for a drink and Bill said, "You better watch out because Henry is very gay".
      I joined the party and during the conversation Henry asked me if I was interested in Hollywood. I of course was trying to be my coolest and said its a very different world than Big Sur but I did like acting and had been in a couple of plays at the Warf Theatre in Monterey.I also told him I had heard he was gay and that wasnt my bag. He laughed and said "I am a business man, I dont have sex with all my cliants".
      He gave me his card with his home phone number and invited me to visit his home on Stone Canyon Drive in Bell Air. Two weeks later I flew down to L.A. and Henry put me up in the Beverly Crest Hotel and rented me a car. At his house I met Rock Hudson who was living with him at the time. Henry had some pictures taken of me and we agreed that I would return to Hollywood in 2 months for auditions.I crused around Hollywood and discovered a place at Laurel Canyon and Sunset Boulevard called "Pandoras Box" where the Hollywood beatniks hung out.One of them was actot, poet James (Jimmy) Gavin, who told me about another place called 'Cafe Renaissance and there I met my favorate actress Tuesday Weld who I had seen in  in Rock,Rock,Rock. The next day I was walking down a side street from Sunset Boulevard and I smelled that smell beatniks and hippies cant resist. It was coming from a guy sitting on some stairs, who when I looked at him offered me a the joint he was smoking. It was Rafiel Campos an actor I had seen in Blackboard Jungle.
      When I got back to Big Sur and told Holly about my Hollywood trip she laughed and told me that her uncle was a producer and wanted to put her in the movies but after one visit she didnt want it.
      As it turned out my destiny was not to be a Hollywood actor because in November of 1958 I was involved in a highway accident that killed my best friend Don Morgan and left me crippled.
      Now 40 years later the wounds have healed and I am a richer person because I knew and loved the Fassett family.

Horrible Cafe

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