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.