of the Lost and Found
Working title of a new book
by William E Burleson
About Avenue of the Lost and Found
“…So many lost souls,” says Sister Pam, one of the cast of characters who travel the Avenue of the Lost and Found. The book is eight vignettes of life on the seedy side, framed around one particularly infamous block in Minneapolis at a very particular time, 1979. While the situations and characters are fiction, the places are real, famous and notorious.
The people of Avenue are a diverse group, living their individual stories of success and heartbreak, redemption and downfall, while occasionally interacting with each other and adding to a continuing story line. We meet Bobby, the day usher at the Academy Theater, who befriends the janitor who lives under the projection booth. Next door, Bobby’s friend Sharon, a waitress at the Venice Cafe, meets the handsome nephew of a local porn king who may just be the man of her dreams. Meanwhile, Jack, living at the Rand Hotel, becomes reacquainted with his long-lost father and takes advantage of his father’s blindness to inflate his otherwise marginal situation. Dwayne, a college student and cashier at a porno theater, and Chulo, the janitor, pick the wrong afternoon to get high. Following the budding punk rock scene, Tina moves to town wanting to “make some friends and get to know some hot chicks.” Albert Finnegan’s last living sight is Sister Pam, sending her trusting, big heart on a course beyond her abilities. And as a result, Officer Penna must take action beyond his better judgment and own self-interest and “upset the natural order of things.” Woven throughout is the most important character: the block itself, with its constant back and forth of drunks, businessmen, drug addicts, cars, tourists, and hookers. Some of the people you will meet are the salt-of-the-earth, and others would sell their mothers for a dime bag. The characters have in common being part of this block, part of what makes this community tick, be it for better or worse.
While set in Minneapolis, this story could take place in most any city. Skid rows, decayed entertainment districts and run-down main drags were common sights across America in the 1970s. For example, New Yorkers would identify Avenue as a Times Square. At that time, our collective vision of New York was one of Death Wish, Taxi Driver, and The-Out-of-Towners. 1979 was a time of transition, the end of a decade, the end of the Carter years, the end of a time of long hair, the end of disco, and the end of a unique brand of decadence not seen before or since. Since then, like New York, most cities have cleaned up their Times Squares, gentrified and Disney-fied them out of our consciousness. In fact, Minneapolis tore down the block from Avenue in the late 1980s and replaced it with a shopping mall. All that remains of those times are the stories.
And, while the setting is historical and intriguing, what makes Avenue worth reading are the characters. I hope you find this slice of a uniquely American, 1970’s life compelling and enjoyable.
Visit www.williamburleson.org for more by and about the author
