PING Dean

This is an excerpt from a thread in the Philip K. Dick group
which started out as discussion about a new book on him.
The author painted a rather lurid and inaccurate picture of PKD's last
years when he lived in an apartment in Orange County that
was turned into a condoniminium.

"Blue Event Horizon" wrote in message


> Phil himself wrote a bit about it in the essay "Strange Memories of
> Death", discussed it in some interviews and makes fun of living in OC
> in many of his letters (particularly in the earlier years IIRC). I've
> heard moderately detailed descriptions of the apartment/condo building
> and unit in conversation with Tim Powers who visited Phil there
> frequently. Also an amusing story about how Phil successfully ran for
> the CC&R enforcement position after the conversion to condos so he
> could prevent what he considered unjust enforcement of CC&Rs. E.g.,
> there was an age restriction after the conversion, which I think
> "grandfathered" those already there but didn't protect from births of
> children under age 55 or whatever. Anyway,after his election there
> was a young couple who were going to have a child and someone
> complained to Phil about this violation and the need for them to move
> out. His response was roughly, "By God, that is a violation and if I
> don't efforce it nobody will." It went unenforced and the couple
> didn't have to move from their home because of having a baby.

-- Bill Cleere

"I prefer the pleasure of writing bits of nonsense to that of
wearing an embroidered coat which costs 800 francs." (Stendahl)