In the spring of '69, I met Freude Bartlett at Diner Labs. I was impressed by her vivacious good humor and tornado-like energy. She was the most striking redhead I'd ever seen, with a full-blown, flame-red Afro. Freude introduced me to her husband Scott, a well-known avantgarde filmmaker. He had a blonde Afro and the bearing of a rock star. They were living in the Reno Hotel, an abandoned building in our neighborhood once known as the place where low ranking prizefighters stayed. Scott had made an agreement with the owner, allowing him to take over the former lobby and a large part of the first floor of this old four-story hotel. He turned it into a palatial studio. The most admired feature was the sauna, built out of salvage lumber and railroad ties, next to a very large kitchen. |