Our Smokin' Cool Christmas Gifts

We were living in Culver City in a little house in a modest area of town. I was in a brand new school, Marina del Rey Junior High School, and very involved.

In fact I had been elected Student Body President of the school - running on a platform that included a speech addressing the seagull "poop" that we all had to dodge every day. Very edgy, deep stuff.

The point is - I was a big man on campus - well, not really a big man - but on campus.

Our parents tried hard to provide the necessities of life - but the luxuries were another matter.

Everyone at the school surfed - we even would get on our boards and paddle down Ballona Creek behind the school and paddle right out the channel into the break.

True surfer outfits always included a white T-shirt, levis, white socks, Purcells (the tennis shoes with the black slice in the toe) and PENDLETON shirts.

Well, we did pretty good on most of the stuff - not real levis, off brands on the tennis shoes, white T-shirts - check...

Now for the Pendleton shirt...not so much...too expensive!

Christmas was coming around and expectations were running hight...our parents knew that we really, really wanted Pendleton shirts. Now remember, Christmas gifts were usually purchased on Christmas Eve at KMART (Blue light specials).

Christmas morning rolls around and we see two boxes under the tree that are just the right size for the expected shirts. We open all the other gifts (probably 1-2 max) and then excitedly tear into the wrapping on the "big gift".

When we unwrap the present, we are immediately puzzled. The label said Pendleton alright, but it was a shirt that we had never seen before. It was large - oversized - and had a pocket on the upper chest and two large pockets over the stomach area. We only remember two pockets in the upper area on the shirts we had seen at school.

We proceeded to try them on - Mine a blue plaid and Kent's a brown plaid. We told our parents how great they were and how much we appreciated the gifts. Later we met in the bedroom to try to decifer what the heck these things were.

When school started again I remember going to Home Room and how everyone admired (OK - they stared) at the Pendleton jacket I proudly wore! I remember the first kid who asked me what that thing was! I told him that it was a special Pendleton jacket - no one else at school had one just like it!

Note: Actually the jackets were Smoking Jackets! Our parents got a real deal on these babies because why would teenagers wear a jacket to smoke their pipes in? The upper pocket actually was for the pipe, the lower pockets were where you put your pouch of tobacco and lighting accessories.

Well, word got around pretty fast that the Hambly boys had special Pendleton jackets!

Kids started coming up to me in my first class and wanted to know if he could wear the jacket. I told him that he could - just trade his Pendleton for my Pendleton and we would change back after the class. This went on all day. I got to wear everyone else's Pendleton - and they got the special jacket.

The teachers were especially amused. I think they figured out the purpose of our jackets pretty fast. They made some comments behind my back - but I was too young or naive to get it.

Anyway, the moral to the story. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. These cool jackets took on a life of their own. If the cool guy wears something unusual, odds are that kids will think that it is special.

Kids!