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Here is an Acrylic Painting I did of My wife Karen

The Ortega Family in the Christmas Spirit!!! Click on the image of me and my attractive wife Karen and our two lovely children to hear me sing a Christmas Carol!!!

When I was a young Boy in Los Angeles...(tales from my sordid past)

We were known as the “Lochmere Boys”. Johnny, Bobby, the Marquardt Brothers, and me and my brothers, we all lived on

Lochmere Ave. To find it just go east on Valley Blvd, turn left on La Seda and then a right on Rorimer. The neighborhood was, for the most part, ranch style homes with the occasional farm and field. Cows and chickens woke me in the morning as the sound of roosters and cattle lowing traveled across the dew and elm trees through the neighborhoods. The flora included roses and evergreens, eucalyptus and ivy.

We played a lot of street football. For some children of that era the national past time was baseball. For me and my friends, only football would do. Our heroes included Bart Starr and Johnny Unitas. It was only in the street, on the asphalt, that we played touch. When we played on grass, at the school or the park, we played tackle. No other physical games would take precedent. There was nothing like it. Over the years we probably played hundreds of football games.

It was the sixties and we had no electronic or computerized games to play with. Most of our “past-times” (aside from football) involved walking from one place to the other. We walked to the Azusa Landfill (The Dump) and collected precious bicycle parts and other commodities of value.

We walked to Mac’s Liquor Store on Valley Blvd. and Nogales Street. We plunked down nickels and dimes for candy and soda. I liked Big Hunk Candy Bars washed down with Royal Crown Cola. I was the only one that also picked up the occasional comic book, and that was OK. I preferred the old Marvel titles. Jack “The King” Kirby was my favorite artist. As a result of this predilection for “The King” I had a whole slew of Fantastic Four (the worlds greatest comic magazine), Captain

America (Damn that Red Skull!!!) and Thor comic books. They would be worth millions now…but my mom threw them away when I joined the Navy.

There was a place called “the ditch” that we walked to. Huge eucalyptus trees lined the ditch and murky fast flowing water ran thru it. When we were older we would go there to sit under the trees next to the water and smoke cigarettes. Sometimes boys from other neighborhoods would walk through and invade our privacy. There were times when we would welcome them and chat about the latest episode of Batman or the Time Tunnel. There were times when we would engage in war and throw dirt clods at each other. Those were the subtleties of politics and diplomacy; that's the way it was when I was a boy.

previous 9 entries >>

My beautiful wife Karen!

Sunday 04-24-2011 1:38pm AK

Karen Ortega

A newer photo of Myself!

Sunday 04-24-2011 1:31pm AK

Lost some weight but still plugging along!

Here is an oldie from the Rick Rydell Radio Program!

Tuesday 02-15-2011 5:25am AK

Song Parody! "BegichVille" LIVE! With Michael Ortega and Rick Rydell!

Click Here

Yeah! More Ortega Artwork!

Thursday 02-10-2011 6:12am AK

Just a pencil sketch harkening back to my love for comi9c books!

My latest Art

Tuesday 04-06-2010 1:10am AK

I did this with Pen and Ink on White Paper 4/5/2010

Blood on the Tundra Promo

Thursday 10-09-2008 8:11am AK

Original Artwork by Michael Ortega "Mountain Goat" an illustration from Rick Rydell's "Blood on the Tundra" available right now from this websight and at the offices of KENI Radio at the Dimond Center