Innermost Limits of Pure Fun*

Yesterday was one of the most extraordinary days of my life. I had agreed (after some reluctance) to give a talk at the funeral of my college buddy Richard Zanuck in front of 500 mostly Hollywood people in a Beverly Hills Episcopalian church. I got there early and got a program. There were a total of 5 speakers and they were, in this order:

Dean Zanuck

Tim Burton

Sherry Lansing

Clint Eastwood

Lloyd Kahn

Holy shit! I started to hyperventilate. Vision immediately popped into my mind of a singer going to his gig and upon arrival learning that Otis Redding is the opening act.

Well, a fuck of a lot happened yesterday, every bit of it good. In a nutshell: the family told me to tell the real stories, and I let it rip. True tales of 2 punk pranksters in the ’50s pedal-to-medal in pursuit of pure fun. Trips to Baja and Mexico, surfing, our exploding car at Malibu Colony, fights, practical jokes of fiendish intensity, the pure F-U-N of it all. Once I started with the stories, they were with me. Channeling fer shure.  They loved hearing about this side of him. This was a much-loved guy. It was a sweet spot in time.

More later. I’ve got to digest it all. What a day!

I am so loving Southern California.

*Title of George Greenough in-the-curl surf film

About Lloyd Kahn

Lloyd Kahn started building his own home in the early '60s and went on to publish books showing homeowners how they could build their own homes with their own hands. He got his start in publishing by working as the shelter editor of the Whole Earth Catalog with Stewart Brand in the late '60s. He has since authored six highly-graphic books on homemade building, all of which are interrelated. The books, "The Shelter Library Of Building Books," include Shelter, Shelter II (1978), Home Work (2004), Builders of the Pacific Coast (2008), Tiny Homes (2012), and Tiny Homes on the Move (2014). Lloyd operates from Northern California studio built of recycled lumber, set in the midst of a vegetable garden, and hooked into the world via five Mac computers. You can check out videos (one with over 450,000 views) on Lloyd by doing a search on YouTube:

12 Responses to Innermost Limits of Pure Fun*

  1. My condolences on the loss of your friend Mr. Zanuck.
    While you are down here enjoy the sun, the local fresh produce and the ocean temps have warmed up to a civilized temperate so try to get in the water.

  2. Lloyd, my condolences also at the loss of your friend. But a vibrant life that's lived in full is to be celebrated, not mourned. I have read many obituaries that have left me feeling admiration and amazement, actually left me with a positive and inspired feeling. They make one want to say- Well Done! I'm sure you understand. Your friend certainly filled the bill. His family also did well by asking you to speak of him, no doubt there was a lot more to him than the Hollywood crowd concerned itself with and I'm sure they were fascinated and surprised to hear your shared youthful history.

    I sure would love to someday read those stories and maybe see some photos of you guys on those surf trips. A classic time and it sounds epic!

  3. Lloyd,
    sounds like the adventures all young men (and the older ones too) should experience…..From the bit you have told us, it sure seems as if you two were kindred spirits…

    Hope that more young men of today have the chance to have similar sort of experiences…. It makes for better adults, better men… a better world. (I think there must be something very Soul Satisfying, and edifying about these types of experiencs.)

    Maybe someday you will share more with us.

  4. My late sister was a famous Carmel artist that drowned while she was a guest at Brook-Kothlow's house at Rocky Point owned by Allan Fox. Did you know Mr. Fox? There may be a movie made about my sister.

  5. hey Lloyd, been thinking about your posts re Mr Zanuck, your experiences, and some of the (to my mind) very sad news of many (western) Youth leaving their VERY good (mostly) educations/homes/lifestyles to go and support/fight with the Horrific __________ (I refuse to give them more notoriety by putting it yet again in print).

    For some time I have been thinking that possibly what these Young People are desperately missing (and many many others too) is:
    The opportunity to challenge themselves in meaningful / useful ways.
    The opportunity to achieve for themselves in meaningful/useful ways.
    The opportunity to validate themselves in meaningful/useful ways.
    The opportunity discover life for themselves in meaningful/useful ways.
    The Opportunity to learn/discover/Master "Basics" in Life, before Technology
    etc..

    Over the past many horrors / young folks lost to this I have often thought in my mind something like above is "needed" for these "kids"…without exactly specifying (in my mind)..
    I kept coming back to many of the things yu've written, both about Mr Zanuck and your exploits, and other posts, and wish these "activities of old" could be once more become common/popular for Youth.

    I repeat my comment of above..
    Lloyd,
    sounds like the adventures all young men (and the older ones too) should experience…..From the bit you have told us, it sure seems as if you two were kindred spirits…

    Hope that more young men of today have the chance to have similar sort of experiences…. It makes for better adults, better men… a better world. (I think there must be something very Soul Satisfying, and edifying about these types of experiencs.)

    and also, with above, I keep in mind some of the experiences you've talked about with

    http://lloydkahn-ongoing.blogspot.ca/2014/05/michael-kahn-artist.html

    http://lloydkahn-ongoing.blogspot.ca/2014/04/how-i-got-into-building.html

    http://lloydkahn-ongoing.blogspot.ca/2014/02/dissing-authoritarianism.html

    Of course I realise this comment ain't a whole lot useful, in the greater scheme of the current "problem", but, still and all, it think the type of experiences would go a great long way to interesting these kids in life instead of ______.

    Just thought you might like to know, your posts have stuck in my mind, maybe even affected I how interact with some young folks I know/have contact with…Thanks

  6. I have still been thinking about my above comment…

    Truly, I am thinking I should have replaced the word
    Opportunity
    with
    Necessity….

    I think Necessity may well be what is needed. There may well be WAY too much opportunity, and WAY too much help with many opportunities.

    Yes, I think I may well should have used the word "Necessity" up above, instead of "Opportunity".

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