WEBVTT - 9. The Fall Guys 0:00:15.036 --> 0:00:22.036 Pushkin Hey, Lost Hills listeners, it's Dana. I wanted to 0:00:22.076 --> 0:00:24.196 let you know that you can hear the entire new 0:00:24.236 --> 0:00:27.556 season of Lost Hills ad free, along with other great 0:00:27.596 --> 0:00:31.836 binge listens by becoming a Pushkin Plus subscriber. Find Pushkin 0:00:31.916 --> 0:00:35.156 Plus on the Lost Hills show page in Apple Podcasts, 0:00:35.316 --> 0:00:46.556 or at pushkin dot fm Slash Plus. Mickey Dora, the 0:00:46.636 --> 0:00:50.076 Dark Prince, had vanished from Malibu in nineteen seventy four, 0:00:50.596 --> 0:00:54.716 but he didn't disappear from the surf world's collective consciousness. 0:00:54.756 --> 0:00:57.676 Everybody wanted to know where the so called King of 0:00:57.756 --> 0:01:02.036 Surfers was. Some people claim to have spotted him surfing 0:01:02.396 --> 0:01:05.756 in California. Others said he'd given up the surf life 0:01:05.796 --> 0:01:09.676 and was a lawyer in Century City. The article Curse 0:01:09.716 --> 0:01:13.196 of the Shumash said, quote in nineteen seventy five, he's 0:01:13.236 --> 0:01:16.556 so conspicuous in his absence that there were collective group 0:01:16.596 --> 0:01:22.076 hallucinations in which numerous sycophants saw his illusionistic presence unquote. 0:01:23.076 --> 0:01:26.036 Someone kept tagging the Wallet surf rider with the words 0:01:26.476 --> 0:01:34.156 Dora lives. Was Mickey Dora dead? Not possible. He was 0:01:34.196 --> 0:01:38.236 sending letters postmarked from all over the world from anywhere 0:01:38.276 --> 0:01:42.796 but where he actually was. A few years into Mickey's 0:01:42.836 --> 0:01:48.436 Vanishing act, two young surfers set out to find him there. 0:01:49.156 --> 0:01:54.116 It is Craig Kevin, and this is Mickey. How's that 0:01:54.236 --> 0:01:56.876 this is my son's T shirt? They had to wear 0:01:57.036 --> 0:01:58.836 even though it's my son's. You got to take a picture. 0:02:01.236 --> 0:02:05.156 Kevin Naughton and Craig Peterson are pushing seventy now, still surfing, 0:02:05.476 --> 0:02:08.916 still close friends. I met them at Kevin's house in 0:02:08.916 --> 0:02:12.316 the Buna Beach, California. Kevin greeted me wearing a T 0:02:12.476 --> 0:02:14.956 shirt printed with a photo of Mickey flipping off the 0:02:14.956 --> 0:02:18.156 camera at Malibu in nineteen sixty three. 0:02:18.556 --> 0:02:24.196 I'm Kevin Naughton, and I used to be a surf journalist, 0:02:24.356 --> 0:02:28.316 mostly for Surfer Magazine, traveling around the world and writing 0:02:28.356 --> 0:02:33.676 stories of great venture tales for about our travels. 0:02:34.876 --> 0:02:38.956 And I'm Craig Peterson. I was the photographer staff photographer 0:02:38.956 --> 0:02:42.236 for Surfer Magazine for over a decade and during our 0:02:42.556 --> 0:02:44.796 surf travels back in the seventies and eighties. 0:02:46.396 --> 0:02:48.196 We made our way into the living room and I 0:02:48.276 --> 0:02:51.356 noticed a photograph leaning against the wall. It was a 0:02:51.396 --> 0:02:54.156 picture of Kevin, his back to the camera, sitting on 0:02:54.196 --> 0:02:57.156 a bench looking out at the Bay of Biscay in 0:02:57.196 --> 0:03:01.196 the south of France. The waves are peeling in perfect, clean, 0:03:01.556 --> 0:03:05.716 mostly right breaking lines, and there's not a single surfer out. 0:03:06.956 --> 0:03:09.076 See that photo there. That's where we first met Mick. 0:03:10.116 --> 0:03:13.916 That's when we met Mickey at Guitary And this is 0:03:13.956 --> 0:03:17.636 something that will never You'll never see again in your 0:03:17.716 --> 0:03:21.196 lives or anybody's lives from now until the end of time. 0:03:21.756 --> 0:03:24.476 There's empty perfect gitory as perfect as it. 0:03:24.516 --> 0:03:29.316 Gainst Gitori is a small fishing village on the Basque 0:03:29.316 --> 0:03:32.196 coast between Beerret's and Saint Jean Balous. 0:03:33.916 --> 0:03:36.636 So oftentimes I would look at it and just to 0:03:36.676 --> 0:03:39.676 think that it's almost like going through a portal into 0:03:39.716 --> 0:03:42.156 another world, to look at the photo. World that will 0:03:42.156 --> 0:03:44.556 never come back. But we were a part of it. 0:03:44.596 --> 0:03:47.356 And then this is probably within the same week that 0:03:47.396 --> 0:03:51.396 we had met Mickey in nineteen seventy seven, and it's 0:03:51.436 --> 0:03:54.596 a phenomena that only surfers really could appreciate, to see 0:03:54.596 --> 0:03:57.636 a way this good, at a spot this famous and 0:03:57.676 --> 0:04:00.636 no one out, And this was Mickey's spot. 0:04:01.836 --> 0:04:06.676 Here in France. Mickey had found a new Malibu Gitori 0:04:06.756 --> 0:04:10.236 in the seventies was a surfer's paradise. It was hidden, 0:04:10.356 --> 0:04:13.596 tucked away off the radar, and it had a perfect 0:04:13.676 --> 0:04:16.436 right breaking wave, Mickey's kind of wave. 0:04:18.076 --> 0:04:19.996 So we served it with him quite a few times, 0:04:20.036 --> 0:04:22.196 and quite a few times it would just be the 0:04:22.236 --> 0:04:24.196 three of us, that's just us. 0:04:24.036 --> 0:04:31.276 Out in France, Mickey was unexpectedly mellow, no measure schmidting 0:04:31.316 --> 0:04:35.156 other surfers or posturing with his Nazi surfboard, and he'd 0:04:35.196 --> 0:04:37.996 left his SS trench coat behind in the storage unit 0:04:38.036 --> 0:04:41.396 in New Zealand there was no one around to intimidate anyway. 0:04:42.676 --> 0:04:44.156 Yeah, it was nice to get to know him in 0:04:44.196 --> 0:04:47.476 some place other than Malibu, were he was so entrenched. 0:04:47.516 --> 0:04:52.076 He was so ingrained there that it was like his 0:04:52.836 --> 0:04:57.676 little personal fortress or fiefdom. And when France were all 0:04:57.716 --> 0:05:01.396 there sort of on this neutral were in Swiss neutral country. 0:05:01.156 --> 0:05:04.516 He would have poured the boiling oil on you in Maliboumi, yeah. 0:05:04.396 --> 0:05:06.756 Right, Whereas in France it was more like it was this, 0:05:06.796 --> 0:05:09.636 we're in neutral ground. Everyone was more on neque footing, 0:05:10.596 --> 0:05:12.756 and that's how you felt when you were around in there. 0:05:14.356 --> 0:05:17.356 But Kevin and Craig were not just twenty something meters 0:05:17.436 --> 0:05:21.316 surf nomads stoked to find a kindred spirit. They were 0:05:21.316 --> 0:05:26.116 traveling on assignment, and their assignment was to find Mickey 0:05:26.556 --> 0:05:31.676 and report back to their boss at Surfer Magazine. Turns 0:05:31.676 --> 0:05:36.436 out finding Mickey would be the easy part. The hard 0:05:36.476 --> 0:05:43.876 part would be getting away. I'm Dana Goodyear and this 0:05:44.756 --> 0:06:18.076 is Lost Hills, Episode nine. The Fall Guys. Kevin and 0:06:18.156 --> 0:06:21.796 Craig got their start young. They published their first piece 0:06:21.916 --> 0:06:25.796 in Surfer in nineteen seventy three when they were still teenagers. 0:06:26.916 --> 0:06:29.676 And the two of you were a team. 0:06:29.876 --> 0:06:33.236 Act right right, We're a photojournalist team. And the funny 0:06:33.236 --> 0:06:35.476 thing is Craig needed someone to take photos of somebody 0:06:35.516 --> 0:06:38.116 you could surf. He was a good photographer. I was 0:06:38.116 --> 0:06:42.276 a good surfer, and we both like adventure and searching 0:06:42.316 --> 0:06:43.036 for good waves. 0:06:43.396 --> 0:06:46.276 A bonus too that Kevin was a good writer, so 0:06:46.316 --> 0:06:48.996 we could write the stories and send them back to 0:06:49.076 --> 0:06:50.716 Surfer Magazine. 0:06:51.916 --> 0:06:55.316 The pictures of them from this time are classic. Craig 0:06:55.436 --> 0:06:58.796 with his shoulder length blonde hair and Jesus Beard wearing 0:06:58.836 --> 0:07:01.636 his frame backpack, a surfboard under one arm and a 0:07:01.636 --> 0:07:05.316 silver briefcase full of photo equipment under the other. Kevin 0:07:05.356 --> 0:07:07.796 with a Duffel bag and a board and a curly mane. 0:07:09.116 --> 0:07:11.956 Heaven and Craig filed dispatches from all over the world 0:07:12.236 --> 0:07:15.716 under the heading the Further Misadventures of Kevin Naughton and 0:07:15.796 --> 0:07:19.436 Craig Peterson. Early on they wrote about a surf trip 0:07:19.476 --> 0:07:23.196 to Al Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. At the time, 0:07:23.516 --> 0:07:25.796 it was Tara incognita for surfers. 0:07:26.916 --> 0:07:29.836 Surfer said, hey, you readers love this stuff. This is 0:07:30.516 --> 0:07:34.476 really popular because at that point you time, you're mefor 0:07:34.756 --> 0:07:37.156 think that most of the articles you saw in the 0:07:37.196 --> 0:07:42.596 magazines were about Hawaii or California, you know, maybe Australia 0:07:42.636 --> 0:07:44.396 once in a while, but that was kind of it. 0:07:44.956 --> 0:07:47.916 So we kind of opened up this kind of window 0:07:47.956 --> 0:07:50.196 of hey, there's a lot of surf adventure out there 0:07:50.596 --> 0:07:53.956 to be done in Surfer. To their credit, they recognized 0:07:53.956 --> 0:07:56.516 that and said, hey, you know, what, where do you 0:07:56.516 --> 0:07:59.476 guys want to go next? You know, and because this. 0:07:59.516 --> 0:08:03.996 Is working, their timing was good. Surfing had fully taken 0:08:04.036 --> 0:08:08.316 off in California and the breaks were crowded. Here's Craig. 0:08:09.516 --> 0:08:13.356 Malibu was crowded, Huntington, all these places. So when I 0:08:13.396 --> 0:08:15.316 approached Surfer magazine, and said, hey, we want to go 0:08:15.396 --> 0:08:17.276 down and try to find some waves down in Central 0:08:17.276 --> 0:08:19.596 America and see who we can find. They kind of 0:08:19.596 --> 0:08:21.076 didn't know what to make of it. They knew that 0:08:21.116 --> 0:08:23.636 there was probably good waves there, but it was like, well, 0:08:23.676 --> 0:08:26.116 we don't know how many articles will do or get 0:08:26.116 --> 0:08:27.916 out of it, so let's just see what happens. 0:08:29.236 --> 0:08:32.316 Kevin and Craig traveled to West Africa, the Canary Islands, 0:08:32.356 --> 0:08:36.156 the Caribbean, and back through Central America, publishing stories as 0:08:36.196 --> 0:08:42.156 they went. When they returned home, Surfer Magazine asked them 0:08:42.156 --> 0:08:45.356 where they were headed next. Kevin and Craig were hoping 0:08:45.396 --> 0:08:49.196 to explore the unknown surf spots of Europe. They pitched 0:08:49.196 --> 0:08:51.756 a trip to Portugal, Ireland and France. 0:08:52.836 --> 0:08:54.996 So Surfer kind of scratched their heads and said okay. 0:08:55.676 --> 0:08:58.516 And then right before we left, it was one priceless 0:08:58.516 --> 0:09:01.236 moment where the editor called or publisher called, was into 0:09:01.276 --> 0:09:03.596 his office and he said, okay, you guys are going 0:09:03.596 --> 0:09:05.676 to France, and we know Mickey Dorr is hanging out 0:09:05.676 --> 0:09:08.436 in France. He's been dropped off the radar now for 0:09:08.636 --> 0:09:11.516 a few years and no one's heard anything of him 0:09:11.876 --> 0:09:14.756 or from him. But we know he's there, and you 0:09:14.796 --> 0:09:18.396 guys are going there and no matter what, you know, 0:09:18.596 --> 0:09:19.356 what did he say to you? 0:09:20.156 --> 0:09:22.956 He said, if Mickey even farts, I want a picture 0:09:22.996 --> 0:09:23.236 of it. 0:09:24.756 --> 0:09:28.236 That's how much they wanted coverage of Mickey. Right. Of course, 0:09:28.836 --> 0:09:31.356 he was one of our surf finals from the sixties, 0:09:31.756 --> 0:09:33.876 so we were all stoked a chance to meet him. 0:09:34.236 --> 0:09:35.916 So we said, okay, we're on it. 0:09:38.436 --> 0:09:41.676 Kevin and Craig had grown up on Dora stories. He 0:09:41.796 --> 0:09:44.636 was legendary, not just for his surfing, but for his 0:09:44.716 --> 0:09:49.516 celebrity surfer persona, the elegant, vicious prankster who'd show up 0:09:49.516 --> 0:09:51.756 to the beach in tennis whites, built a kid out 0:09:51.756 --> 0:09:54.796 of twenty bucks and drive off in a lotus. 0:09:55.196 --> 0:09:58.596 He had this genes sikuah, this air about him. He 0:09:58.636 --> 0:10:02.876 had this more than just the surfer persona. He had 0:10:03.116 --> 0:10:07.756 another persona that he took, you know, all the way 0:10:07.876 --> 0:10:10.316 on the land. It's not just in the water. The cat, 0:10:10.396 --> 0:10:11.676 you know, the mysterious cat. 0:10:13.196 --> 0:10:15.636 It made sense that Mickey had fetched up in France, 0:10:16.516 --> 0:10:20.636 quietly on the surf world's Whispernet, that stretch of Basque 0:10:20.676 --> 0:10:25.196 coastline that included Saint Jean Valou's Gitory and Beeritz was 0:10:25.236 --> 0:10:29.636 becoming known as the next great spot. It was California 0:10:29.796 --> 0:10:33.756 as it used to be before Gidget, before the crowds. 0:10:34.476 --> 0:10:37.076 It's probably why Mickey was so relaxed. 0:10:37.836 --> 0:10:40.756 Everyone at that point surfers in California had been to 0:10:40.796 --> 0:10:44.356 France or braving about how much it was like California 0:10:44.396 --> 0:10:50.116 in terms of climate food waves. So the word was 0:10:50.156 --> 0:10:54.076 out from like nineteen sixty nine on that France was 0:10:54.076 --> 0:10:57.076 a cool place to be in. Mickey just was one 0:10:57.076 --> 0:10:58.556 of the first guys there hanging out. 0:11:00.036 --> 0:11:04.556 It was the ultimate assignment surf largely undiscovered waves in 0:11:04.596 --> 0:11:08.636 an idyllic place the next Malibu, and in the process 0:11:08.836 --> 0:11:12.796 meet the most mysterious figure in surfing who you've worshiped 0:11:12.876 --> 0:11:17.916 since childhood. Kevin and Craig were in They made it 0:11:17.956 --> 0:11:20.236 to the south of France in the fall of nineteen 0:11:20.276 --> 0:11:20.996 seventy seven. 0:11:27.956 --> 0:11:29.916 It was late in the season, I think around November, 0:11:30.556 --> 0:11:33.516 so all the surfers that had been there kind of 0:11:33.516 --> 0:11:36.116 cleared out. There was this surfer migration at the time 0:11:36.156 --> 0:11:39.396 where everybody kind of moved on from France down through 0:11:39.476 --> 0:11:42.116 Spain and Portugal and went to Morocco for the winter. 0:11:42.316 --> 0:11:45.316 It was nice and warm, so everybody was gone, and 0:11:45.316 --> 0:11:47.316 we pulled in in a kind of a stormy, cloudy 0:11:47.396 --> 0:11:51.276 day to get to ree and lo and behold, there 0:11:51.316 --> 0:11:55.116 in the parking lot was Mickey's big green Mercedes then 0:11:56.116 --> 0:11:59.476 and you know, outsteps Mickey looks at us. It was 0:11:59.556 --> 0:12:01.356 just Mickey and us in the parking lot, you know, 0:12:01.436 --> 0:12:01.996 no one else. 0:12:03.756 --> 0:12:06.436 Mickey spotted the surfboards tied to the top of their car. 0:12:07.076 --> 0:12:10.236 He came over and they could feel him sizing them up. 0:12:11.036 --> 0:12:13.396 He could tell right away that Kevin and Craig were 0:12:13.396 --> 0:12:16.796 from California, and he invited them to surf with him. 0:12:17.996 --> 0:12:20.476 He's a you know, a little bit of a initially 0:12:20.756 --> 0:12:24.916 shy guy, cautious, but you know, approachable in that way. 0:12:25.356 --> 0:12:28.996 And I kind of think he already knew who we 0:12:28.996 --> 0:12:33.036 were from our previous articles on surf travel and misadventure theory. 0:12:33.156 --> 0:12:36.076 So absolutely he did. Because after a few days of 0:12:36.116 --> 0:12:39.316 hanging around in his Mercedes Van, he was feeding us 0:12:39.316 --> 0:12:41.916 from this bottomless pot of stew that he would just 0:12:42.276 --> 0:12:45.356 keep throwing whatever he had into the stew. It never emptied, 0:12:45.396 --> 0:12:47.876 it never ended. It was great for us because he, 0:12:48.436 --> 0:12:50.516 you know, he always offered us something in the vent 0:12:50.596 --> 0:12:53.476 and come in for surf or freezing and get some 0:12:53.556 --> 0:12:54.476 of his stew and talk. 0:12:57.076 --> 0:12:59.876 As far as the surfer assignment was concerned, they were 0:12:59.956 --> 0:13:02.956 killing it. They'd surfed with Mickey, They'd hung out in 0:13:02.996 --> 0:13:05.156 his van, they were gaining trust. 0:13:06.556 --> 0:13:08.956 And then finally, after about a week of this, you know, 0:13:08.996 --> 0:13:11.436 the other shoe dropped and Micky said, Okay, look at 0:13:11.516 --> 0:13:14.876 I know who you guys are. You know, and you 0:13:14.916 --> 0:13:16.956 guys have done a bunch of star for surfer. I 0:13:17.036 --> 0:13:21.236 read your articles, I've seen your stories, and here's the deal. 0:13:21.836 --> 0:13:24.516 You know, I know you're here. You've probably been told 0:13:24.556 --> 0:13:27.316 to take photos of me and write something about me, 0:13:27.516 --> 0:13:31.116 because I just can tell. You said, but here's the 0:13:31.156 --> 0:13:33.356 deal I'll do. You guys are as broke as can 0:13:33.396 --> 0:13:36.116 be broker than any surfers I've ever run across, which 0:13:36.196 --> 0:13:40.116 was typical for surf journalists at the time, And you said, 0:13:40.156 --> 0:13:44.036 I'll make you a bargain. I'll feed you on this 0:13:44.116 --> 0:13:46.436 pot of great stew I have going to my Mercedes 0:13:47.156 --> 0:13:49.516 all the time. As much as you want, doors always open, 0:13:49.516 --> 0:13:52.436 you're always welcoming, You're always ready to have a ball 0:13:52.556 --> 0:13:56.236 of a stew on the condition that you don't take 0:13:56.276 --> 0:13:58.756 any photos of me, and you don't write anything about me. 0:13:59.516 --> 0:14:01.036 And if you're going to try to take photos and 0:14:01.036 --> 0:14:02.956 you're going to try to write about me, get out 0:14:02.996 --> 0:14:05.036 of the van right now and get out of my life. 0:14:05.916 --> 0:14:10.116 What's it going to be? So it was like this 0:14:10.596 --> 0:14:12.876 ten second of pause. You know, Craig I looked at 0:14:12.916 --> 0:14:16.396 each other. Well, you know what, remember what best remember 0:14:16.396 --> 0:14:21.956 your tolgienced surfer. We thought, uh, well Mickey uh never parted? Yeah, yeah, 0:14:22.076 --> 0:14:25.316 Hannah is a bull of that stew. Yeah. 0:14:25.476 --> 0:14:28.596 Kevin and Craig decided to ignore their assignment for surfer 0:14:28.876 --> 0:14:33.276 in favor of something more sustaining. The stew was good 0:14:34.276 --> 0:14:38.596 and a lifetime supply of Mickey stories that would be 0:14:38.676 --> 0:14:39.636 totally worth it. 0:14:50.636 --> 0:14:52.876 We took his offer up on the stew and Craig 0:14:52.916 --> 0:14:54.996 didn't take any photos of him, and I never wrote 0:14:54.996 --> 0:14:57.916 about him. But we all hung out together and surf together, 0:14:57.996 --> 0:15:01.356 and you know, through New Year's and Christmas and had 0:15:01.396 --> 0:15:04.076 a great time surf in incredible ways through that winner. 0:15:04.156 --> 0:15:06.996 It was just an epic winner of surf in France, 0:15:07.036 --> 0:15:11.156 and you know, nobody was around except seemed like Mickey 0:15:11.196 --> 0:15:14.236 and us. And that was it, really, that was it. 0:15:15.636 --> 0:15:18.756 When Kevin and Craig met him. Mickey was alone, and 0:15:18.796 --> 0:15:22.156 he was hiding. He was evading any number of angry 0:15:22.236 --> 0:15:26.876 innkeepers and restauranteurs and antiques dealers, having burned bridges from 0:15:26.876 --> 0:15:30.676 Hong Kong to Nairobi. There was a bench warrant out 0:15:30.676 --> 0:15:33.916 for him in California, a federal warrant for the alleged 0:15:33.956 --> 0:15:38.196 passport fraud, and another federal warrant for allegedly defrauding the 0:15:38.236 --> 0:15:43.556 Diners Club of nearly twenty thousand dollars. Interpol was looking 0:15:43.556 --> 0:15:48.396 for him too. Add to that, Linda had left. She 0:15:48.556 --> 0:15:53.156 was exhausted, sick of fighting, sick of running, and she 0:15:53.276 --> 0:15:56.516 told authorities she was afraid of Mickey. He was so 0:15:56.716 --> 0:15:59.396 paranoid she'd run away from him in the middle of 0:15:59.436 --> 0:16:03.556 the night. A couple of wide eyed surfers from SoCal 0:16:03.836 --> 0:16:05.756 were the perfect distraction for Mickey. 0:16:07.836 --> 0:16:09.996 You know, he was so entertaining. I mean, it's hard 0:16:10.036 --> 0:16:13.516 to describe. He seemed to like company. You know, he 0:16:13.596 --> 0:16:16.196 wasn't like he was a recluse or hermit, or he 0:16:16.316 --> 0:16:20.556 wasn't completely antisocial. He was actually quite social. But he 0:16:21.796 --> 0:16:23.596 it was almost like a big game for him all 0:16:23.596 --> 0:16:27.756 the time. You know, the social interaction with people. He 0:16:28.756 --> 0:16:31.436 had a wicked sense of humor and he liked to 0:16:31.516 --> 0:16:32.276 keep it sharpened. 0:16:34.716 --> 0:16:37.476 Mickey was as quick as ever mentally, and for a 0:16:37.476 --> 0:16:42.396 guy in his mid forties, he was surfing well. 0:16:41.396 --> 0:16:44.116 At that time, in the fall of seventy seven. Mickey 0:16:44.236 --> 0:16:48.476 was very athletic still, you know, a great surfer, had 0:16:48.596 --> 0:16:54.196 his classic style, and we never really saw him physically 0:16:54.236 --> 0:16:56.636 surfing at Malibu. We did see it in movies and 0:16:56.756 --> 0:16:59.196 later on times, but you could definitely tell it was 0:16:59.236 --> 0:17:01.836 Mickey outsurfing, you know the ways when he was out 0:17:01.836 --> 0:17:02.476 in water. 0:17:03.716 --> 0:17:05.996 Hanging out with Mickey, Kevin and Craig got to know 0:17:06.076 --> 0:17:09.836 his quirks. Mickey was convinced the world was going to hell, 0:17:10.316 --> 0:17:11.596 starting with his own body. 0:17:12.636 --> 0:17:15.516 I remember him also as being somewhat of a hyperchondriac. 0:17:16.116 --> 0:17:18.476 Remember he had a shelf of pills he would take 0:17:19.116 --> 0:17:22.036 every day, and Mickey winter, all these pills or my 0:17:22.116 --> 0:17:27.676 knees are popping, and he had pills for every conceivable ailment, 0:17:27.836 --> 0:17:30.476 and he was taking them all the time. He did 0:17:30.516 --> 0:17:35.996 complain a lot about knees popping and backs hurting, and 0:17:36.196 --> 0:17:39.076 a little prematurely, you know, because for my opinion, now, 0:17:39.076 --> 0:17:41.716 because he would have been in his forties then, and 0:17:41.836 --> 0:17:43.996 you know that seems like, wow, that's he's still in 0:17:44.036 --> 0:17:46.516 your prime now to be now, but he was already 0:17:46.556 --> 0:17:47.756 complaining quite a bit then. 0:17:50.316 --> 0:17:53.436 Kevin and Craig were broke and traveling light. They had 0:17:53.436 --> 0:17:57.996 T shirts and jeans. Micky was always dressed to the nines. 0:17:58.996 --> 0:18:01.156 Even if he was a little threadbare from his years 0:18:01.156 --> 0:18:04.876 on the run living in a van, Mickey was still dapper. 0:18:05.916 --> 0:18:08.316 I think it's a lot why the French liked him 0:18:08.356 --> 0:18:10.396 so much, because you really would, you know, make an 0:18:10.396 --> 0:18:13.676 effort to you know, look his best. You know, had 0:18:13.676 --> 0:18:17.916 that classic California rogue look to him. 0:18:18.276 --> 0:18:20.196 You know. We was coming up to New Year's at 0:18:20.276 --> 0:18:24.396 the party time and there's parties here and there. He said, hey, guys, 0:18:24.396 --> 0:18:26.316 what do you think of this one? I'm ready for anything. 0:18:26.436 --> 0:18:30.916 He broke out this jacket right and it was you know, 0:18:30.916 --> 0:18:32.716 he had some white pants on and he had the 0:18:32.756 --> 0:18:36.396 white jacket. Mickey, that's pretty spiffy, you know, white on white. 0:18:36.436 --> 0:18:38.996 You're ready for stepping out? Said yeah, but watch this 0:18:39.436 --> 0:18:41.116 just in case I go to a different party that 0:18:41.156 --> 0:18:43.556 has a kind of a different scene happening. Watched this 0:18:43.636 --> 0:18:45.676 and he think the jacket he turned it inside out 0:18:45.836 --> 0:18:52.476 and it was leopardskin. So what leverskin. It could be 0:18:52.516 --> 0:18:54.876 a leverskin jacket, or it could be a white jacket, 0:18:55.236 --> 0:18:57.396 depending on what party it was you were going to. 0:18:57.476 --> 0:18:59.836 And he loved that. He just loved the fact that 0:18:59.876 --> 0:19:03.156 he could kind of go and switch personas from party 0:19:03.156 --> 0:19:03.676 to party. 0:19:06.836 --> 0:19:09.236 During this time, Mickey was living in his van the 0:19:09.276 --> 0:19:13.276 Gittory parking lot. But Mickey's van wasn't just any van. 0:19:14.156 --> 0:19:17.916 It was a gigantic, late model, dark green Mercedes camper. 0:19:18.636 --> 0:19:21.836 It was his home, his safe place, and also his 0:19:22.036 --> 0:19:25.796 escape plan. If anyone closed in, or if the surf 0:19:25.836 --> 0:19:27.996 started sucking or the water got too cold, then he 0:19:28.076 --> 0:19:32.036 wanted to move on. One of Mickey's girlfriends told Mickey's 0:19:32.076 --> 0:19:36.476 biographer that van was Mickey. It had his heart's soul, 0:19:36.676 --> 0:19:40.516 story travels, his secrets, which were in a black briefcase. 0:19:41.236 --> 0:19:44.036 Also his scent, which was quite like a lion. 0:19:45.116 --> 0:19:47.556 Mercedes Dan was something else. It was state of the 0:19:47.676 --> 0:19:51.276 art mess of surfers that had these converted VW vans 0:19:51.276 --> 0:19:54.076 in that and this one thing was sizable. It was 0:19:54.636 --> 0:19:57.916 you know, like a motor home size kitchen there. Oh yeah, 0:19:57.996 --> 0:20:01.596 kitchen bed, the whole works. You know, it had everything 0:20:01.636 --> 0:20:04.876 you would see in a Winnebago, but with that great 0:20:05.156 --> 0:20:08.716 German engineering and style, so it was top of the 0:20:08.796 --> 0:20:12.316 lion event. You would not see any surfer drive it around. 0:20:12.876 --> 0:20:16.556 Only Mickey had this fan and he was known for it. Fancy, yeah, 0:20:16.676 --> 0:20:19.396 very fancy mess ad cost a pretty penny at that time. 0:20:20.156 --> 0:20:22.956 We would usually be sitting in the front two seats 0:20:23.116 --> 0:20:25.476 and Mickey would be you know, cooking up the stew 0:20:25.596 --> 0:20:28.956 or serving it up, and conversation would go on back 0:20:29.076 --> 0:20:32.996 that way. Usually these conversations would go on for either 0:20:33.076 --> 0:20:35.196 a half hour, depending on the surf were up to, 0:20:35.436 --> 0:20:37.996 you know, two or three hours at night. So it 0:20:38.036 --> 0:20:40.756 was you know, a lot of you know, good conversation. 0:20:40.836 --> 0:20:42.636 I remember covering all kinds of. 0:20:42.556 --> 0:20:49.036 Subjects, subjects like Mickey's apocalyptic philosophy, the surf, the price 0:20:49.076 --> 0:20:53.796 of gold, politics, the surf, and of course the surf. 0:20:55.836 --> 0:20:58.996 But Kevin and Craig noticed a wistfulness in Mickey for 0:20:59.076 --> 0:21:00.996 his youth and for his home. 0:21:02.436 --> 0:21:05.956 There was a certain kind of sadness for Mickey being 0:21:05.996 --> 0:21:08.476 around him that I remember kind of he wished he 0:21:08.476 --> 0:21:12.036 could still be in California for you know, aside from 0:21:12.076 --> 0:21:13.916 all of his other troubles that he still, you know, 0:21:14.036 --> 0:21:18.236 loved California and now he could not go back to California. Really, 0:21:18.276 --> 0:21:20.596 I mean, I think there was a certain sadness to 0:21:20.676 --> 0:21:23.836 his character when he talked about California to us. You'd 0:21:23.836 --> 0:21:25.676 want to know what's going on, you know, what's what's 0:21:25.716 --> 0:21:26.436 being developed. 0:21:26.556 --> 0:21:29.596 He was in exile because of his grifter ways, but 0:21:29.676 --> 0:21:34.836 part of him also had this sort of romanticized, idealized 0:21:34.916 --> 0:21:39.556 version of going someplace and finding more empty great waves 0:21:39.596 --> 0:21:42.636 like he'd had in Malibu in the fifties before it 0:21:42.676 --> 0:21:45.836 turned into something else. Because a lot of our conversations 0:21:45.836 --> 0:21:48.556 would kind of talk about where'd you go to to 0:21:48.556 --> 0:21:50.876 get empty ways? Was it like, you want to know 0:21:51.356 --> 0:21:53.716 all about Central America and what were the ways were 0:21:53.836 --> 0:21:57.116 like and where we found empty great spots, And he 0:21:57.196 --> 0:22:00.756 was really quisitive about the details. So I think he 0:22:00.996 --> 0:22:03.836 kind of sensed in this sort of we had this 0:22:03.996 --> 0:22:07.316 romantic idealized version, We're going to escape the crowds, the 0:22:07.316 --> 0:22:11.516 madness of southern California. That's what got started on our travels, 0:22:11.556 --> 0:22:14.556 you know, that was the driving force, the impetus to 0:22:14.596 --> 0:22:17.396 get away and find new empty waves and hopefully find 0:22:17.436 --> 0:22:21.556 our own personal Malibu, and I think Micky always held 0:22:21.556 --> 0:22:23.036 on to that kind of hope and. 0:22:23.036 --> 0:22:28.116 Ideal, but there was always the possibility lingering in the 0:22:28.156 --> 0:22:32.356 back of their minds that Mickey was playing them. They 0:22:32.436 --> 0:22:36.556 knew Mickey's reputation as a hustler. Kevin and Craig, by 0:22:36.556 --> 0:22:40.916 their own admission, were pretty naive, but they weren't fools. 0:22:41.516 --> 0:22:44.516 Even the people that got taken advantage of by Mickey 0:22:44.796 --> 0:22:47.836 he was He is so charismatic and in a lot 0:22:47.836 --> 0:22:49.716 of ways, they were kind of like, Wow, I've got 0:22:49.756 --> 0:22:52.556 a Mickey's Dora story to tell, even though I lost 0:22:52.596 --> 0:22:56.436 my camera or something else, or my girlfriend or something else, 0:22:56.476 --> 0:22:57.396 but it was Mickey Dora. 0:22:57.916 --> 0:22:58.356 We do that. 0:22:58.396 --> 0:23:01.356 So, yeah, you had to always be kind of cautious 0:23:01.356 --> 0:23:02.676 about what you were stepping into. 0:23:03.436 --> 0:23:06.076 Well, I think he did have a reputation around so 0:23:06.796 --> 0:23:09.996 just kind of people say that, just be careful around Mickey, 0:23:10.396 --> 0:23:14.196 you know, because you know, you don't know what he's 0:23:14.316 --> 0:23:16.916 kind of up to or thinking, you know. So we 0:23:16.996 --> 0:23:20.716 knew that we really enjoyed the relationship that we had 0:23:20.716 --> 0:23:22.516 with Mickey at the time while we're in France, but 0:23:23.436 --> 0:23:26.956 somewhere something was going to pop up, and of. 0:23:26.916 --> 0:23:35.356 Course, something did pop up. Eventually, Inevitably, Mickey's charm seemed 0:23:35.476 --> 0:23:40.876 less companionable and more intentional. He wanted something from them, 0:23:41.236 --> 0:23:42.676 but they couldn't figure out what. 0:23:44.116 --> 0:23:47.196 Because we got to know him, we realized the guy's 0:23:47.276 --> 0:23:49.356 always up to something, and we never quite knew what 0:23:49.396 --> 0:23:52.116 it was. Remember, you would have to take bottles of 0:23:52.156 --> 0:23:55.396 wine back and forth across the border. Yeah, can you 0:23:55.436 --> 0:23:57.236 take this wine and bring it back? And why is 0:23:57.276 --> 0:24:00.516 he having to? Why would bring this Aaron for Mickey? 0:24:00.556 --> 0:24:03.596 But we would good naturally go along with some of 0:24:03.636 --> 0:24:07.236 these things, and I think he was just kind of 0:24:07.276 --> 0:24:11.516 sensing about how he could to kind of work with us, 0:24:11.676 --> 0:24:14.596