Tom Coston and I had a lovely dinner with Ben and Kelly Green on Wednesday evening at Colombo’s in Eagle Rock.

Ben had just given Tom and me a private VIP tour of the Showcase House of the Design, which this year is the Cravens Estate, also known as Red Cross headquarters. It has been magically transformed and we were grateful for the free, behind-the-scenes access.

Ben Green and I have known each other for nearly 25 years! We were the two division managers in the Department of Community Services and Promotions at the City of Palm Springs in the 1980s.

Ben headed up the Community Services Division — parks and recreation plus the library.

I headed up the Promotions Division — media relations, community relations, special events, press secretary to Mayor Sonny Bono.

Those were heady days, I’ll tell you.

At dinner Wednesday we talked awhile about Henry Weiss, who was the lead city librarian in Palm Springs and reported to Ben. Henry’s retired now, but there were a couple of times when we’d had it up to here, Henry would fire up his Corvette convertible, speed on down some back desert road and I’d stand up on the passenger seat, assume the “I’m the king of the world” position and yell at the top of my lungs.

Now I’m so old I wouldn’t even think about taking off my seatbelt to do anything so reckless.

I’m going to Palm Springs next Thursday for my annual romp with golden-ager PIO pals.

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