THE DAY I MET REAGAN

 My parents lived in Pomona, California for about five years - from when I was age seven to eleven.

Pomona was a sleepy, rather uninteresting city back then. My parents chose it solely because it was centrally located for their jobs. 

Dad worked for a steel company in nearby Los Angeles. Mom had a top secret government job with the Convair Research Center, which had to do with blueprints for military aircraft. Convair (later General Dynamics) was within walking distance from our home.

When my parents finally moved away (to a nearby small town), Mom occasionally came back to do shopping in and around Pomona.

Pomona was one of the first cities in the U.S. to turn the main downtown street into a pedestrian mall. It generated a lot of interest at first, but years later the mall became run-down, stores started losing business and many folded up. From what I heard, Pomona is now largely sleazy and crime-ridden.

The Pomona pedestrian mall

Things were different when I was a kid. Buffums was an exclusive high class department store on the mall. Elizabeth Taylor bought plane tickets there while she was working on "The Sandpipers". Groucho Marx's wife Eden occasionally shopped there.

Buffums Department Store

On a balmy October day when I was thirteen, my Mother decided to go shopping in Pomona. We went to several stores on the mall including Frashers, my favorite bookstore, where I bought a biography of Mozart.

As a last stop we decided to go to Buffums, mostly just to look around. In the men's clothing department on the first floor, we ran into Anthony - a family friend - who worked there. He said to us " Do you want to see Ronald Reagan? He's upstairs in the book department. I think he's promoting his new book. "

My mother seemed more interested than I was. She remembered Reagan from some of his films.

Suddenly, I remembered Reagan in "Dark Victory" with Bette Davis, where he had a minor role. Anyone who did a film with Bette Davis was nearly a God in my eyes.

We hurried upstairs to the book department, timidly wandered in, and got the shock of our lives.

Apparently the book signing hadn't started yet. The large room was completely empty, but Ronald Reagan was sitting all alone at a desk - surrounded with copies of his book entitled "Where's the Rest of Me?".

This was before Reagan got into politics and became the governor of California. At this time he wasn't exactly in public demand.

Mom and I lingered cautiously, deciding what to do. Finally I decided to go forth and get his autograph.

That's when Reagan looked up and spotted us. He seemed surprised that we were in the room. He had a very subtle quirk, cautiously sizing up strangers to.....see if they were kosher ( that's the only way I can described it).

He smiled. We passed the test.

I noticed he was looking at my mother a lot more than me. Mom was beautiful and well-dressed. Reagan wasn't a flirt or a womanizer, but I figured he knew class when he saw it.

Mom lingered behind, but I walked up to the desk.....

....and said the most brutally embarassing thing I ever said in my entire life (I still shudder when I think of it).

"I can't afford your book right now, but can you please sign this?"

I pulled the Mozart book out of the Frashers bag and presented it to him.

He looked at the cover, thumbed through it, and graciously signed the title page.

Afterwards he spoke to my Mom and I. We talked about trivial, benign subjects - life in California, Hollywood, the weather.....

My impression of Reagan was that he was soft-spoken, kind, and congenial. I never thought he was particularly photogenic, but he looked much better in real than on film. He had a deep tan and a natural look without makeup. He was wearing a casual sport jacket with an open-collar white shirt. His eyes looked very deep blue.

Since we didn't want to be imposing, we thanked him and graciously left the room.

At that time we didn't know if he'd be governor - - and we certainly never dreamed he'd become President. He was just a humble actor.

In retrospect, I look back at this incident in astonishment. We were entirely alone with Ronald Reagan, talking freely and casually with him almost as if he was a friend.

I only wish that I had been older than thirteen....and more mature.

Jon