Nathan B. Spooner
That was never my
plan, but then again, it just kinda happened.
In Spring of 1962 my
application to the University of California Riverside came back to me as
accepted and my intention involved attending UCR that Fall.
In the meantime my
high school friend Ron Smith invited me to visit him in Berkeley since he had
enrolled there and had obtained third year status in one of the science
disciplines.
So, one day in July I
took the bus from Bakersfield to the bay area, arriving in San Francisco after
8 in the evening. After getting basic directions from the station I boarded the
local bus to Berkeley and arrived somewhere after 9 PM. The nearest street
signs read Shattuck and University Avenue.
Ron’s address read as
somewhere on Cedar Street. Having no idea which direction to take I walked up
University toward what looked a large open area with lots of trees and partly
lighted buildings. Crossing Oxford Street it became clear that I was now on
edge of the UC campus.
Not knowing where to
go I noticed machinery and covered tarps near a large concrete structure a
little way into the campus area. It was obviously under construction and since
there were no doors or closures installed, I walked in. Kinda dark but not at
all foreboding. I’d worked the previous summer on a construction site out of
Cheyenne, Wyoming and felt at ease around in-progress work sites.
Just to my right in a
corner against a bare wall I walked into a large open construction crate, lay
down, curled up and slept the night. Just after dawn generators and fork lifts
woke me so I stretched, found the latrine and walked away.
Finding directions to
Ron’s was easy and within 10 minutes he welcomed me into his student one and a
half room apartment. After a few days walking around the campus and Telegraph
Avenue, I decided to transfer my records to UC Berkeley. They accepted and I
graduated a few years later with a degree in Philosophy with a minor in Latin.