God and Mr. Gomez

If you grew up in Los Angeles, Orange County or any of the surrounding areas between 1958 and 1995, you most likely remember Jack Smith.  He was a writer for the LA Times, producing a column 5 days a week for most of that long career. He wrote about life from his home on Mt. Washington in LA, his family and his neighbors, or just about anything that he happened to be thinking about that day.  He was one of the great voices of Los Angeles, but he was never afraid to put tongue to cheek when talking about his city. The first thing my family did when we opened the paper was check out the latest from Jack Smith.  He was an LA institution.

One of the main reasons I loved Jack's column SO much was I could catch up on his latest exploits with Mr. Gomez.  Romulo Gomez was the "owner" on the land on which Denny and Jack Smith built their vacation home in Baja, California.  I say "owner" because they never actually saw the title to the land.  Most of their transactions with Mr. Gomez over the 20 years they spent in Baja were done on blind faith.  This sounds crazy now, but you have to know Romulo Gomez.  He did things his own way, with the help of God, of course!  I think this quote from the book, a year and a half since they started the adventure of building their Baja dream home, says it all:

   I told him about the refrigerator. "It's freezing everything," I said.  "Look."  I opened the door and took out a dish of olives that had a crust of ice.
   Gomez got down on his knees to check the thermostat.  "It is on 'Least Cold,'"he said.
   "Yes.  That's the warmest setting."
   He turned the dial carefully and stood up.  "Now it will be all right," he said.  "I have put it on 'Medium'"
   "But Romulo,"  I said,  "that will make it even worse.  'Medium' is colder than 'Least Cold.'"
   "Not in Baja," said Gomez.

God and Mr. Gomez was first published in 1974 and went out of print sometime later.  The good news is you can get it again!  (I just checked Amazon and it said there were only 9 left in stock, but maybe you have it on a family book shelf somewhere.)  So, go find God and Mr. Gomez, crack open a cerveza, and enjoy! Adios amigos!!