Camera Adventure

In the mid 70’s my in laws lived in Palos Verdes Estates, CA, about 20 miles due south of LAX.  Somehow I coordinated a business trip to NASA Ames Research Center in the Bay area with a visit to them including Kathy and the kids.  I flew from San Francisco into LAX around 2 pm on Friday.  I cannot recall whether or not Kathy had flown in from Houston before me or after me.

For some reason I wasn’t being picked up at the airport so I chose to take a bus.  In the days before Google I have no idea how I figured out how to get the correct bus.  There was a bus that ran south from LAX on Pacific Coast Highway through El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach and reached the intersection of PCH and Palos Verdes Blvd.  I schlepped my suitcase, attache case (de rigueur for an engineer) and my Pentax Spotmatic SLR camera in its carrying case onto the bus and claimed the seat in the back where I could spread out my gear and relax for the 20 mile bus ride.

Sitting in the back seat  was a throwback protest to the segregated buses I had ridden regularly during my adolescence in Beaumont. When the buses were desegregated in the late 50’s, my friend James Cole and I rode the Pinecrest bus into downtown Beaumont to work at the public library after school.  We arrogantly sat in the back seat, formerly relegated to blacks.  Some of the black regulars looked askance at these two white boys showing off.

Back to the story:  This was probably a 45 minute bus ride through familiar territory and I signaled that I wanted to get off at the stop at Palos Verdes Blvd.

From there to my in laws was a couple of miles relatively uphill on Palos Verdes Blvd, no big deal for a young guy in ok shape.  This was before rollers were popular on suitcases so I was carrying my bag.

Just before I reached the top of the rise near the entrance to  my in laws’ neighborhood, I noticed hang gliders working the onshore breeze at Torrance Beach. They were fascinating as they rose and turned in the rising air. I reached for my Pentax to grab a shot.  No Pentax!!!  I had left it on the bus!

My camera was a prized possession that had cost me a bundle.  This was in our early marriage period when cash was scarce. Two children, a mortgage, a car payment..the list goes on.  I think I may have used the bonus I received from NASA for getting my first patent to buy the camera.  I was distraught that it was missing.

The bus was long gone.  I still had 5 minute walk  to get to my in laws house before I could borrow a car and chase it down.

Pretty hopeless.

When I got to their house about 4 PM, I phoned the bus company and described the camera, its case, the bus, the route number, the time I left LAX, the time I arrived at PV Blvd, and so on. I knew what the half life of an expensive camera would be on a Beaumont or Houston bus.   I had almost no hope of ever seeing it again and I was trying to figure out some way to squeeze the budget to replace the camera.  I felt really stupid.

About 7 PM I received a phone call from the bus company.  Be at the same stop on Pacific Coast Highway to meet the same bus at 7:28 PM.  I was there early and when the bus pulled up, I stepped inside and the driver handed me the Pentax in its case.  My hat goes off to the honesty of whomever was involved in turning the camera in and to the bus organization who figured out how to return it to me.