In August 1962, Brian Wilson moved out of the Wilson family home in Hawthorne and into a 1 bedroom apt in The Crenshaw Park Apartments, located less than two miles away at 10800 Crenshaw Blvd. Inglewood, CA 90303.
His roommate was Bob Norberg, a guy he met in the early months of 1962 while the Beach Boys were performing at a USC frat party. Bob and his girlfriend Sheri were performing at the frat party too. Within a short time Brian moved into Bob’s small apartment on the northeast corner of this building, Apt #29. In September of ‘62, Bob helped Brian with his first outside record production; the Rachel and The Revolvers “Revolution/Number One” single. The following month, a song written by Brian called “The Surfer Moon” by Bob & Sheri was recorded here at the Crenshaw Park Apts on Brian’s Wollensack tape recorder and released on Safari Records; the address for the record label being the Wilson family’s home address in Hawthorne.
(Above) Up the stairs and the first door on the right is Apt #29 where Brian Wilson lived with Bob Norberg.
Their neighbor was this guy, Dave Nowlen.
He lived next door in Apt #30. Dave Nowlen: Shortly after moving in, I didnt have a job. I wasnt going to school anymore. I was trying to break into the music business. I had the door open and there were girls down at the pool, which is now concreted in.
So anyway I started playing some Ventures tunes or something like that , trying to get the attention of the girls in the pool. Its an age old trick with young kids and girls you know… And this guy sticks his head in the door, (makes knocking sound), and I thought “Oh man, the manager, I’ve only been here a week and I’m in trouble already.” And he said, “Hey I heard you playing. Would you mind if I come in and sit down and listen?” I said no. So he came in and sat down and I played another Ventures song, or i think it was something like that, which at the time I had down. I had copied those guys to the point that you wouldn’t know if you closed your eyes that it wasnt that band.
Above: Dave in 1962. The photo was taken by Brian Wilson.
He said , “You’re pretty good, have you ever done any recording?” And I said, “Ah yeah, have you ever heard of Dave & The Shadows from Grand Rapids Michigan? He said, “no.” He said, “Have you ever heard of the Beach Boys?” I said, “Yeah.” He said, “I’m Brian, I’m your next door neighbor.” So that got it started.
Soon after their meeting, Brian put together a side-band called the Survivors, which consisted of himself, Bob Norberg, Dave Nowlen, and Richard Alarian. Their one and only single Pamela Jean/After The Game was released on Capitol Records.
Dave describes the Wilson/Norberg apt: It was actually a one bedroom apt. The living room…when you walked in the living room in the corner there; the two couches on the right hand side were like a studio, you know where the back… if you flipped the back up, you could put two pillow in there, and it was like a single bed, so you actually could sleep two more people out there in the living room but it actually had a full bedroom.
Brian and Bob had a bed in Brian’s bedroom. They had a mirror about 8 feet tall and five feet wide that was encased in white wood. They had a couch, they had a Wollensack recorder, they had bar bells. Brian had a multi-function phone, you know the ones with the push buttons for which line you want to talk to. They mighta had like a 1950’s aluminum dining room table.
(Above) The back of the Crenshaw Park Apartments. The window to Brian’s old room is where the ladder is.
In 1963 Brian and Bob moved into a house a short distance away from the Crenshaw Park Apartments on 102nd Street in Inglewood. And Dave moved nearby on 102nd. Dave went on to a career in Aviation. He’s now retired, newly remarried and living in Thailand.
This is a work in progress. Stay tuned for more updates!
