California or bust

Steve Mumford and myself New Years 1987
Riviera in Lynnwood 

In 1987 I stopped working for Jim and Jen and went to work at the Riviera in Lynnwood. Steve Mumford owned the bar at the time. Not the building, Allen Hemmat owned it and Steve was leasing, with a suicide clause in his contract.

Steven went to school with Dan, Jennifer's brother, and I had met him at Casbah, another club that Allen owned. He had rescued me from my daughter's dad causing a public scene, and we had left and gone up the road to Jimmy Z's.

When I went to work for Steve, I was running the security team at the club, plus doing his books. Steve and I would constantly fight. He would fire me at least once a week, and then call the next day to beg me to come back. When I was doing books before we would open, Rick, the bartender would usually call back to the office to check on us because he could hear us bickering. It was a constant joke for him to ask if I needed the police or an ambulance. Steven was in love with me, but it was not reciprocated. He was a friend, and I had fun with him, but he was an alcoholic. I wanted no part in that.

We roomed together in Mukilteo and were always out in his limo when we were not working. I was driving a 73 gremlin at the time, and Francis, another friend, (who was in love with me, feelings not returned) had just bought an 85 Camaro with T-tops. My gremlin broke down one night, so Francis took it, while I took the Camaro. One night at the house, after work, Steven had a party. We had a full bar downstairs and a hot-tub. He had brought a bunch of chic's over and cranked the music. I was trying to sleep. I got pissed, and we had a huge fight about him and the girls. He threw it in my face again that I would not go out with him because he was fat (he was, but not the reason) and that he would have girls over anytime he wanted. I screamed at him that it was not because he was fat that it was because he was an alcoholic, and proceeded to grab every bottle in the bar and dump it. He was on the phone with Jennifer, crying to her about what I was doing and why would I not date him.

The next day at the bar, he, of course, fired me again. I was running with Cyrene by then, and I ended up moving in with her at Nanny's house. We decided that we were going to California, on 300.00 and a gas card.  Once we got there, we decided we were staying. A story for another time.

In the meantime, I had Steve calling me where we were staying and begging me to come back, and I was writing Jennifer on a weekly basis to tell her of our adventures.

By the end of Summer of 87 we were back, out of money and facing reality again. Back to work.