21: Warner Grand Theatre, San Pedro

21: Warner Grand Theatre, San Pedro
Designed by: Arts & Services for Disabled, Inc.
Piano type: Console (Wurlitzer)
Playability: Fair
Weather: 56°F, overcast
How I got here: Car

After finishing with the Torrance piano, since I was in the area anyway, I decided to head to San Pedro to play the southernmost street  piano, at the historic Warner Grand Theatre. My friend Irene followed me down Sepulveda and the 110. It was already past 11 p.m., but the lights were bright in the entrance of the historic theater and local landmark.

The piano was covered up with the raincover, and opening it involved the removal of two small bungee cords connecting the cover to hook rings at the bottom of the piano, and rolling up the cover to two supporting brackets at the back.

It was uniquely decorated with trinkets, both man-made, like coins and even a tape cassette, and natural like seashells. But this Wurlitzer-made piano was so far the least playable. The lower keys sounded muted and one of the middle-range keys doesn't strike. Opened up the lid, though, and everything seems to look fine.

A man walked by taking pictures; I asked if he played, but he was only there to take pictures of the piano. Then out of nowhere, a kid came up, who bore a resemblance to viral Boyle Heights cardboard arcade wiz Caine Monroy. I asked if he played, and I gave him some time before I played it.

12-year old Augustin plays the street piano while he talks to another piano fan.
My friend Irene takes pictures.

He played a minor arpeggio motif on the right hand and droning fifths on the left hand. We were kinda wowed by how the kid, named Augustin, 12 years of age, played. I told him I was his age when I started playing, but that he played better than I did at the time. I asked him how long he had been playing.

"A month," he replied. I told him that he certainly sounded better than I did after one month.

The boy's mom came up, and she explained that he has an interest in music and has taken to the piano. Later his dad arrived. But then they told him, "We're going to be at Sacred Grounds [cafe]."

That was a little odd, it's almost midnight and these parents leave their 12-year old unattended with a few strangers. My friend Irene, who came down from the previous piano, wondered the same thing.

At some point I played Guaraldi's "Linus & Lucy" (Peanuts theme). Augustin was insistent on learning it. His left hand was a little too small to comfortably cover the octave n the bassline of the song. I taught him to pivot so he can cover the octave without stretching. He also wanted to learn the right hand melody, including the refrain with the grace notes. I didn't even go into the polyrhythmic aspects of both hands' parts of the song.

As we were ready to leave, we could hear Augustin painstakingly practice the 'Peanuts' theme, both hand parts separately. Meanwhile, the cafe had closed for the night and his parents were sitting in their car, several yards away, and not within his sight.

At one point, Augustin rolled down the rain cover and even re-hooked the bungee cables at the bottom. He ran towards his parents' car, which was the only car parked that side of the street, but only after a few seconds, he ran back, and opened the piano, and started playing again.

It's midnight in San Pedro. Do you know where your children are?
12-year old Augustin plays the street piano while his parents
sit in their car, located in the far right of the photo.

Certainly no newcomer to the street pianos would know how to replace and remove the rain cover.

We theorized that his parents might be homeless, living out of their car (does anyone know of any homeless service agencies that serve San Pedro?)

He had been playing for "a month." The installation had been out for a few weeks already. Might this publicly-accessible street piano be his piano?

If my suspicions were true, I would hope the Warner Grand Theatre donates this piano to Augustin after the installation ends, and his parents get some help off the streets.

I played Herbie Hancock's "Cantaloupe Island" on this piano: