Journal Entry 08/21/1993: Moved to Los Angeles
I packed everything I owned into my 1987 Chevy celebrity on August 21st ,1993 and set out to drive to California alone. Soon I would be naked sitting on Lemmy’s couch with cocktail in hand chain smoking.
My Dad gave me a $50.00 bill and said, “I’ll see you in a week”. Ha, no chance. I was moving as far away as I could get without driving into the ocean.
Good-Bye Cambridge, Ohio….. Good-Bye cold sub-zero winters….. and Good-Bye hillbillies who don’t have a cultural bone in their body – Hello, Beaches and sushi and the life of a rock stars girlfriend.
Filled with anticipation of my new life, I drove cross country alone for 4 days. Of course, the first person that I called when I arrived in town was Lemmy and he was so happy that I had made it out to California ok and had not been killed by some crazy roadside serial killer on the way.
Hello California
I remember standing in a phone booth in Long Beach talking to Lemmy. Scared to death of my big adult step, My body was electric with good fear. Lemmy was incredibly supportive and said all the right things to reassure me.
I didn’t know that many people in Los Angeles at that time. My Ohio friends from the bands Liquor Sweet and Legs Up had moved to California years prior, so they could keep a close eye on me and keep me out of trouble.
I found an apartment in Long Beach (which is about 22 miles south of West Hollywood, Lemmy’s home). That distance in Los Angeles is about an hour …to an hour and a half drive in traffic. Nobody gets anywhere fast in L.A.
A couple days after I arrived in Los Angeles, I drove to Lemmy’s to visit. And, of course, I got lost. I am not that great with direction. How I ever made it from Ohio to California without getting lost in Canada is a mystery to me. It took me forever to get to his place.
Driving down Sunset Boulevard as the sun was setting, the palm trees lining the street, and it was like a scene from a movie. Not a bad place to lose your way.
When Lemmy answered the door in his tiny underwear, enveloped in the usual thick cloud of cigarette smoke, I was in heaven. I was so happy to see his face.
We drank and smoked and talked about my trip. Motorhead had a new video by Tom Rainone for the song “Burner” and Lemmy was super proud and happy to show it to me. I felt incredibly lucky to be one of the first to see it.
Naked with cock and cocktail in hand sitting on Lemmy’s couch chain smoking.
Lemmy and I hung out and listened to music and watched movies. The apartment on Harratt Street became a no clothes zone for me. I would arrive fully clothed and boom, like magic my clothes would disappear. I would usually stay naked for most of my stay. Naked with cock and cocktail in hand sitting on the couch chain smoking. We would order booze from Gil Turners Fine Wine and Spirits and when the young men would arrive to deliver, Lemmy would get me to answer the door totally nude or dressed in very skimpy lingerie. We would giggle and giggle at their reactions.
Lemmy loves the Everly Brothers and would play acoustic guitar and sing along. I could not love him more in these moments.
The next day I cleaned Lemmy’s bathroom. This was the beginning of my neurotic “get out the gloves, Comet® and bleach” cleaning of his place. Spending naked time in a dudes dirty apartment is not a good thing. The place needed to be a bit cleaner if I was going to be spending any time at his place. Especially naked time.
Where is my Melrose Place And my Sexy neighbors with drama?
Those first few months of living in LA did not turn out to be the “Melrose Place” fantasy that I had dreamed of. I had to drop out of school for financial reasons, I slept on the floor and barely had food to eat. I thought I was doing a damn expert job hiding my car, nonetheless it was repossessed. There was lots of bad luck and thank the stars….tons of good luck. I was able to survive.
Dating Lemmy was not what I expected at first. Thinking back on who I was and how truly wacky I was, I am shocked that Lemmy stayed in a relationship with me. I was like a crazy stripper from a daytime reality tv show with crazy expectations of what I thought our new relationship should be.
When I first started dating Lemmy, I knew what he was all about; A 58-year-old rocker who has never been married and is not in a serious relationship nor has ever been, is not the settling down type. Lemmy was looking for someone to hang out with and for sex and I was looking for the same thing – loose, fun companionship with sex and no strings attached. Just a bit of fun.
I knew that he had several women at this time in the same situation as me. My eyes were wide open. We had fun during this time. Drive to Hollywood in the middle of the night? Why yes, I did. When Lemmy called at 2:00am and wanted me to come to visit, I would get out of bed and drive to see him. It didn’t matter. It was all about having fun.
Postcard journey continues
Lemmy left for Germany on September 04 and was gone for about 10 days. I received my second postcard from Lemmy sometime in late September.
He opens the card by calling me “Debby”. I had given him hell for calling me that before and he loved to taunt me with it. This name calling had turned into a game of sorts. I hadn’t been “Debby” or “Deb” in a very long time. It made me feel like a little girl and I did hate it. I was now “Debra”; all grown up and in charge. Yeah, right. He would act as if he had forgotten that I hated it and call me “Debby” just to see me react.
I did get a kick out of Lemmy’s playfulness. The game would begin with him calling me “Debby” . This was always followed by me giving him the evil eye and he would say “OOOOH” with a big smile that would creep across his face. The fun for me was giving him a slug or a pinch to the underside of his arm, which is very painful but playful enough just to keep him in line.
This playful side of Lemmy was a great surprise for me. He can have these truly childlike moments where he is so goofy and silly. We used to sit around, and something would set one of us off and this would begin a giggle fest and we would laugh and laugh until our faces hurt and tears were rolling.
Journal Entry 10/30/1993: Lemmy called – To Hollywood – To the Rainbow with Lemmy!
The first time that Lemmy and I went out in public together (not the airport or recording studio) was to have dinner at the Rainbow. In the beginning of our relationship, when we left his apartment to walk up to the Rainbow, we would start off walking together. As we got closer and closer to the restaurant, he would start to walk farther and farther ahead of me. And then walking into the Rainbow it was as if he were alone. Then we would grab a booth together. So funny.
I guess he thought I would not notice. But I did. And I pointed it out. He would deny. I would give him grief about being a grown up and a gentleman. Ultimately, he would hold my hand and walk by my side, but that took time.
Our first holiday season
Journal Entry 11/24/1993; Lemmy called at 2:20am – To Lemmy’s.
One night I drove to Hollywood to have a late-night visit and Lemmy had no idea that Thanksgiving was the next day. Being a rural country girl, I was used to having Thanksgiving with my family with a big turkey and all the trimmings and this was my first year alone, so I begged Lemmy to celebrate with me.
Never assume right? I figured that we had been dating for a year and had become close and that he would want to spend the day with me and help me celebrate in the fashion in which I was accustomed. I had just taken for granted that he would want to celebrate with me, but he quickly reminded me that this was an American holiday. Lemmy pointed out that Americans assume that the rest of the world thinks and acts just as they do. In usual Lemmy fashion, he moaned about the holiday and then gave in and seemed to enjoy himself. We spent the day together, had a nice steak dinner and then he caught a plane to Germany for one month.
Journal Entry 12/14/1993; Postcard from Lemmy
The Night before Christmas
On December 23, Lemmy returned to Los Angeles. Nevertheless, the rest of the holiday season did not turn out as I hoped.
I didn’t see Lemmy when he first got back to Los Angeles. But he called Christmas morning at 11:00am and invited me up to Hollywood for the day. Because I no longer had a car, I took a taxi from Long Beach to West Hollywood. Lemmy amazed me at how he didn’t even flinch when paying high cab fare, We spent the day together and Lemmy gave me a ring as a gift. I left at 10 pm that night to return home to drink beer, watch TV and pout. Lemmy had “plans” and therefore I couldn’t stay.
Can New Years Eve be better?
New Year’s Eve was worse. Can you imagine the high hopes of a rockin night out with Lemmy that I had? . Waiting by the phone, just sure it would ring at any second….. but he never called. Time stood still and I waited and waited and waited and was so angry at Lemmy. I finally went to the liquor store down the street and got a bottle of Jack Daniels and started mixing myself drinks. I passed out about 10:00pm. My maintenance man/Side lover showed up about 11:30pm thinking I was in Hollywood. When he stopped to put flowers in my apartment to surprise me, there I was asleep.
The maintenance man having keys to my apartment was weird. He came and went as he liked until I set rules down. When he came in that night it was for a good reason, so it was ok, he was only trying to cheer me up, but still when I think back on it now, it is kind of creepy.
Our first Year together comes to an end.
The time that I spent with Lemmy in this first year would surprise me. I was expecting rock n roll parties and concerts and hanging out with celebrities. But Lemmy is a real stay at home kinda guy. I would catch a cab to Hollywood, and we would watch movies or listen to Goon Show radio show tapes. We would order take out or Lemmy would cook which was always great and yet surprising. I say surprising because he could cook but cleaning and laundry were not on his list of priorities or even things that he really knew how to do.
For example, once he tried to clean the bathroom. He took a can of Comet® cleanser and just basically powdered the entire room and then added water. And when he saw that it was not going to just wash away, he just left it to dry. Oh, and it was everywhere; on the floor , the sink, the toilet. I couldn’t believe it, what a funny scene; blue smears and piles of caked on powder. It took me forever to get that stuff up, but it was worth the laugh to see how perplexed he was.