Customer Reviews

Livin' at the End of Old 95

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A personal look at the birth of Lake Havasu City, "Living At the End Of Old '95" covers the time period from near the very start of the town to the re-construction of the London Bridge through the eyes of a young boy, who reaches his own maturity along with the city. As a person who lived there during the same time period, I can't judge how much interest this book would have for persons unfamiliar with the region and period; however, for past and current residents, and students of Arizona history, I think this non-traditional account of late-60's rural Arizona will be quite interesting. For those of us who lived the time and place, "Old '95" is a nostalgic blast from the past - you'll run across familiar names and events as you tag along with Mr. Kingsbury through his adolescence. Sprinkled with good humor, photos and newspaper clippings, "Old 95" is a pleasant reminder of a more innocent time of childhood shenanigans, hard work, independent spirit and the frontier attitude that carved a thriving city out of raw desert. Highly recommended for those already familiar, in some fasion, with the subject.

I am a little older than the author and grew up in a small town in California; (coincidentally, I was also in the first graduating class of our new high school, and we were also dubbed the "Knights"). Other than having those things in common, I have never been to Lake Havasau--and, from the photos provided, can't even picture where the London Bridge might be. But the author's humor and delightful memories made this an enjoyable book! I guess because of the "therapeutic" times we live in, most memoirs involve abuse and anger and other negative issues. But this author focuses mainly on the fun part of growing up, which is the way I remember my teen years. Teen angst, sure, but fun. If this book were edited for it's many grammatical errors (which is the only reason I am giving it 4 stars, rather than 5), I would hope to find it on a bookshelf anywhere in the western United States. We need more nostalgia of this sort! Thanks for writing it, Rick, and thanks to Amazon.com for making it available.

Great book. Great stories. Excellent history lesson and glimpse at life in the early days of Lake Havasu City, AZ. A very entertaining and quick read. I highly recommend it!

This book certainly captures the feeling of what it was like to live in this special place at that particular time. Only a few hundred people know what that was like, but reading this book you get the idea. The writing style reminded me of another great book, Richard Brautigan's 'Trout Fishing in America' and there is no doubt that this book will soon become a classic.

I grew up with Rick(only for the year he was at the military academy) and went to Lake Havasu in 1969 to go to some of those "cultesac parties" he wrote about in the book.He and I planned to go to a "concert" back east together that we wound up not making it to, something called Woodstock.I remember him all these years later as just the guy in the book, a crazy guy who told great stories about Havasu.We pulled some good stuff at the military school too, shaving creme fights, playing "bringing in the sheves" instead of the prescribed marches much to the consternation of the bandmaster.Great book Rick!