It was the "Get It On Shoppe" on Mission Beach Boulevard in Mission Beach (kitty corner to Belmont Park amusement park). I was back in that area a couple years ago, and the place is still open. I stepped inside for a little trip in the way back machine, and it all smelled the same as I remembered, but the merchandise was a bit different. The owner is now the son of the owner who had the place when I worked there.
For the record, we didn't sell anything that got you high; we only sold the stuff that you USED for the stuff that got you high. Papers, bongs, clips, incense, mirrors, pipes, "Super Stones," T-shirts and hippie clothes, sandals, underground comics, Kama Sutra products, etc.
We got our share of shoplifters, and one day, I catch a kid around 10 years old trying to sneak out with a T-shirt tucked down his pants. I call the cops, to come and put some "fear" in him. The kid acts all macho and sez that his dad is a member of the Hell's Angels (we had a few in that neighborhood) and he was going to get him to come back and kick my a$$. I told the kid that I'd be happy to talk to his dad (I was young and stoopid at the time). So, the kid leaves, and about 30 minutes later comes back with his dad. I'm a little "apprehensive" at this point, and the dad (who really WAS a Hell's Angel) asks me if his kid really was caught shoplifting and if I called the cops on him. I say, "Yes, that's what happened." Well to my surprise (and RELIEF), the dad starts in on his kid about how "they have to live in this neighborhood, and he's better not hear about him (the kid) doing this sort of thing EVER again." He then turns to ME, and APOLOGIZES! Now, I'm not so naiive to think that this guy was Mr. Good Citizen. It was more like his kid had brought attention from the cops where attention didn't need to be, but I was very RELIEVED that it was the kid rather than me that got the evil eye.
Ya just never knew what was going to happen way back then and there...
Ahhhh, those were the days...
