A Typical Day in LA
by Victoria Cavaleri
It was a typical day in LA – sunny and hazy, with everything bathed in the soft, yellow light that only the right amount of smog and sun can provide.
Donna Port, a tall girl of twenty-one with long brown hair, dressed in a Mexican peasant blouse, bell-bottoms, and sandals, sat impatiently tapping her fingers on the dashboard of her powder blue ’65 Satellite while waiting for Neil Young to return to the car with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay, and Bruce Palmer.
Donna, who was born and raised in southern California, was the only one with a car and had offered to drive the four members of the Buffalo Springfield to Doug Weston’s Troubadour, where they would be rehearsing afternoons for their Whisky a Go Go booking in exchange for a one-night performance at the Troubadour on April 12, 1966.
During the rehearsals I realized that Richie was singing Neil’s songs. I didn’t understand why, and I told Neil he should sing his own songs. He sang them at home, and I thought he captured the feeling better than Richie, and I loved Neil’s voice. Stephen was resistant, and Stephen was the band leader.
Between the Troubadour and opening night at Whisky, Neil, Stephan, Bruce, and Richie were anxious to see a little of Southern California. Disneyland was at the top of the list.
Donna agreed to drive. Arriving at Disneyland to an empty parking lot was a surprise. We saw a closed sign but noticed activity around the entry gates and decided to investigate.
The park was in the process of preparing for reopening after the winter break. We pleaded and were able to convince the Disney employees who were close to our age to make an exception and let us in.
Most rides were closed they said, but Tom Sawyer’s Island was accessible on a log raft across the Rivers of America, and since there were no electric rides open on the Island, they offered to drop us off on the Island and pick us up three hours later. We could explore the haunted caves of Dead Man’s Grotto and climb through a fort built by the frontier’s early settlers. Inside the dimly lit Pirate’s Cove, Bruce Palmer produced an unexpected joint that we shared.
Happy with our Disneyland adventure, we headed back to Hollywood in time for dinner at the Whisky before Donna and I had to start work. The band and their manager Dickie Davis had dinner with us and hung out for the night’s entertainment. According to the online information I found, Otis Reading was the performer that night.
Donna and I started working on January 13, 1966.
Here is the schedule of the Springfield’s shows from that period:
January 13, 1966. Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood, CA (The Rascals)
January 16-28, 1966, Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood, CA (The Rascals, The Enemys (Jan 21 thru 28 only)
February 4-20, 1966, Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood, CA (Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Leaves)
February 22-March 10, 1966, Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood, CA (Love, The Leaves)
March 1-17, 1966, Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood, CA (Grass Roots, Hardtimes)
March 18-24, 1966 Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood, CA (Beau Brummels, Grass Roots)
March 31-April 10, 1966 Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood, CA (Otis Redding)
April 28-May 8, 1966 Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood, CA (The Gentrys, (3rd only) Grass Roots, (3rd only) Buffalo Springfield)
Buffalo Springfield’s Whisky opening was a huge success. They became wildly popular overnight.
Neil, Donna, and I had been nicknamed “The Three Musketeers” by our Hollywood friends. They said if you see one of them the other two are sure to be nearby.
Donna was promoted to head waitress at the Whisky; she always had plenty of cash and she was very generous making sure Neil and I had everything we needed.
The three of us shopped at The Hollywood Western Store where we bought our moccasins and Neil’s first fringe jacket. Donna said this was where the film studios bought clothing for western movies.
The Buffalo Springfield played the Whisky from April 28th until May 22, 1966. My job was selling or taking tickets and ended at 1 am. As an opening band, Neil was also off at 1 am. This was great because it gave us time to catch the final performance at other Hollywood nightclubs. We could usually leave at 12:45 am and walk to the Trip, The Troubadour or The Action.
Neil was too young to drink alcohol in the clubs where he played music, and I didn’t drink because one drink would make me cry, so we were happy to go our own way and avoid the after-hours parties Donna usually attended.
Magnolia trees are a spring and early summer favorite around Southern California, with pink blossoms thickly festooning branches. Our Hollywood nights are filled with the fragrant smell of the pink flowering trees.
We settled into a routine. Other than gigs, Neil went to a few rehearsals and worked on new songs.
Neil wrote songs that made me wonder how he knew what I was thinking and feeling. Donna was dating The Doors’ drummer, John Densmore. Neil and I explored Hollywood and shared stories of growing up in small towns, we both had divorced parents at a time when that was not the norm.
We looked for electric trains and dreamed about the future. He planned to write songs and sing them himself; someday he would own a ranch and a big boat. I had lived aboard “The Dwyn Wen” a 109’ Schooner and loved it when I wasn’t seasick.
We were friends and living this magical time in history together. I had never been happier. Donna’s life was changing — she said Neil, and I were the biggest dreamers she had ever met.
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