mom, dad & me: 1965-'75
Mom and me catching some rays by the pool at Tyrone Terrace Apartments - 1965.
In my crib at Tyrone Terrace Apartments (#12-B), around 8 months old - 1966.
Not the last time I'd be dragged before the Superior Court. Me, Dad, and Mom at my official adoption proceedings, Family Court, Los Angeles - 1965.
Me with a big stuffed tiger, surrounded by more tigers in the background - 1965.
Mom and me at our first Christmas together at Tyrone Terrace Apartments - 1965.
My first birthday at Tyrone Terrace Apartments - June 1965.
Mom and Dad and me - 1965.
In a studio portrait that hung prominently on the breakfast room wall of our home at 15472 Huston Street, Sherman Oaks - 1966.
Proudly showing off my Las Vegas vanity plate while waving from atop my shiny red tricycle in the driveway of our new home at 15472 Huston Street, Sherman Oaks - 1967.
On the toilet with tigers in hand at Huston Street - 1967.
Happily reading the funny papers on the breakfast room floor - 1967.
Me in front of the bears (possibly at Knott's Berry Farm) - 1967.
Pretty happy with my big stuffed camel at the Huston Street house - 1967.
Escaping the afternoon heat on the cool dichondra lawn of our Huston Street yard, with a Japanese White Pine and Blue Fescue ground cover behind me - 1967.
Getting a closer look at that curious tree - 1967
With a stuffed Tommy Trojan, the USC Football mascot - 1968.
Hosing off the built-in bench in our backyard at Huston Street - 1967.
My aunts, Roxy and Sheila, and me with Tommy Trojan and Dobie the dog. Christmastime at the Huston Street house - 1967-ish.
Dad and me with my cool Fire Dept car on the back patio of the Huston Street house - 1968.
Dad and me on Mission Bay Beach, right beside the Bahia Motor Hotel in San Diego, CA. We vacationed there and visited friends in town almost every year - 1968.
Mom with a horse - 1968.
On a carnival motorcycle - 1968.
Aunt Roxy holding me tight - 1968.
Beside our first-floor Tower room at the Bahia Motor Hotel on Mission Bay - 1969.
At the balloon-popping game - 1969
My favorite photo of my Dad and me, taken in the driveway of our Huston Street house - 1969
At an unknown location overlooking the ocean - probably 1970
In a ride at the carnival - 1969
With our family nativity set, assembled each year on the flagstone hearth of our living room fireplace at Huston Street - 1969.
Fourth Birthday party - 1969
Carefully eyeing a spinning red UFO atop a stick in the front yard, 15472 Huston St - 1969
Mom, me and friends at table - 1969
Halloween with Mom and a pumpkin full of candy. Butterfinger bars remain my favorite to this day. Mom didn't like being in photos much since she'd had extensive facial reconstructive surgery after a devastating car accident in her teens - 1969.
Mom and me at the L.A. Zoo - 1969
My Great Aunt Evelyn, my Mom, my Great Uncle Rob, and me in front of the Japanese Pine tree in our front yard. Uncle Rob had a pacemaker the size and shape of a deck of cards he would show off, implanted beneath the skin of his chest; freaky stuff for a kid! - 1969
Aboard my first two-wheeler bike (with training wheels) on the patio outside my parents' bedroom, 15472 Huston - 1969
At the petting section of the Los Angeles Zoo - 1969
With Dad at the L.A Zoo - 1969
At the petting section of the Los Angeles Zoo. I still recall the smell of the dust, and the handfuls of animal feed pellets we could buy, and the feel of the animals' hot breath and snouts tickling my palm as I fed them - 1969
Dad and me at Los Angeles Zoo - 1969-ish
Proudly graduating from Kindergarten at Hesby Elementary School, just around the corner - 1970.
At an unknown location overlooking the ocean - probably 1970
In full Superman regalia, with Dad - 1970
Still in Superman mode, with Mom and a strange mystery man (LOL) - 1970
Pointing at some ducks fleeing into the lake at Reseda Park, Reseda, CA - March 1970
Japanese Gardens, possibly at the Yamashiro, Hollywood, CA - 1971
Sixth Birthday party, Aunt Roxy on the dining room patio behind me, at the Huston Street house - 1971
With our tiny Poodle-and-Papillon mix Baby Doll, Christmas morning in front of the tree - Dec 24 1971
Dad and Mom dressed as Old West characters - Halloween 1973
Throwin' them peace signs whilst sporting a bold motocross shirt, vacationing in Hawaii - 1973
With Baby Doll and friend Lauren, on the back patio of the Huston Street house - 1973
Dad and me (flashing peace signs again) on the sidewalk in front of Aunt Sheila's house on Ranchito, Van Nuys - Thanksgiving 1973.
With our family friend Kevin on his family's boat in San Diego. We vacationed with them almost every year; a cherished memory that spans my entire youth - 1973.
Posing proudly with two teammates and our trophies from the Encino Little League "Pirates" baseball club. (Tragically, during my mother's brutal robbery and murder in our Huston Street home nine years later, this very trophy would be used as a weapon to inflict multiple blunt force traumas.) - Summer 1973.
My Ninth Birthday party - June 1973.
In my All-Stars team ("Reds") uniform photo - 1975.