Dakota Territory (1979)

Photo by Jennie Swenten 

 

Dakota Territory

By Jude

Harrison Alliance

October 1979

A little background for those of you who are not familiar with Jude & Jeri's stories.  They were two girls who were (and still are) best friends because of their love for John and Yoko. Long story short, they would regularly hang out at the Dakota, and John and Yoko knew them by name and would often chat with them.  Jeri had a son who was around Sean's age, and Yoko would allow Sean to get together for a playdate with Jeri's son every so often. They wrote a regular column in the Harrison Alliance fanzine in the late 1970s to fill fans in on what was happening in John's life called Dakota Territory (great name!).  This is one of those articles. 

    We've been seeing John and family quite regularly, Jeri and I, and it's been great to say the least. The day before Father's Day, we delivered our best wishes with a card, a hug, and a kiss, and John and Yoko eagerly showed us the two pins on his jacket lapel, which were her gift to him: a circular diamond pin and a little American flag pin.

     Also, he went rooting through his pockets to show us the gold cigarette case he'd gotten from her too, going on like a little kid, saying, "And see, see, I got this box too, and I can put me ciggies in it in here." It was show and tell time! 

    Visiting with the family at the time had been Yoko's mother, a very lovely and poised lady, and we met her then as they were all returning from an outing together. She was lovely. During the chattering, John was really cute. When he directed something to us regarding her, he would affectionately call her "Mommy." We had to laugh afterward over that because of the way he would do it, so little boyish, yet sincere.

     He was handsomely dressed in black slacks, beige jacket, shirt, and tie, his straw "Casablanca" hat, sandals, and no socks. We happened to have our cameras with us, and although we have very seldom asked him for pictures, we asked him this time. Well, knowing our policy of not often asking, he eagerly obliged with "Sure" and assured us we had to take some now and again to be able to tell what date it was. He was really cute and funny.

     He was very concerned about whether they would come out well or at all, because there is no sunlight in the driveway as it is enclosed. He kept moving around for a better spot, saying, "Do you think they'll come out?" and "I hope they come out okay." It was already after 7pm and really lacking of light in there. So all at once he said, "Do you want to go in there? We can take some by the fountain." And buzzing to unlock the gate,  he led us into the courtyard, telling Yoko and her mom to go ahead, and he'll meet them upstairs. 

    He bounced over to the fountain and posed with his newspapers, started mugging for our cameras. As it turned out, the light in the courtyard was barely enough without flash, either. It wasn't pitch dark, but very shadowy. So out photos were too dark for the lab to print correctly. A shame, as if they would have been gorgeous. 

    We saw them again the week afterward, however, and he obligingly gave us a "rain check". Yoko told us later that he was as disappointed as we were about those first ones not coming out, since he had hoped he could send some copies to Mimi.

     But this time our luck and the sunshine were with us. When with Yoko some days later, she actually anxiously asked to see these shots, and told us they were beautiful. We let her keep our original prints, and she said she knew John would be thrilled with how nice they are. We were happy to hear, too, that they would be occupying a special space on their kitchen bulletin board. 

    We had some sad news recently, too. One of John's cats had squeezed through a window, small opening, lost her footing on the outside ledge, and fell to her death in the courtyard. Naturally unhappy after Sean had left for an outing with Grandma, John and Yoko went out immediately and returned with two brand-new Persian kittens as a surprise for him. John anxiously brought us over the kennel box, holding it open for us to see and pet them. They were later named Sasha and Charo. The other remaining kitty is Misha. Sean was just thrilled with his new playmates.

     The following Saturday, having plans on Wednesday with Yoko, Jeri, her little guy Chris, myself, our friend, who is the nanny for the Lennons, and Sean, we had ourselves a really wonderful days outing. We spent some hours in the park's playground, hiking up and down the hills, riding the carousel, having a nice lunch out, took in the Muppet Movie, and wound up the day with a lovely horse and buggy ride back home through Central Park.

Many thanks to Mom and Dad for permission for Sean to join us. We all had a great time together. Aside from the Muppets, one of Shawn's big favorites of late is Yellow Submarine, which he likes to watch at home on Dad's video set. In fact, Sean's homemade Father's Day card to John consisted of none other than a drawing of his version of the famous sub and four faces. When asked if the faces belong to anyone in particular, Sean identified them as "Mommy, Daddy, Sean, and Ringo."

     John has recently gotten the go-ahead to install a jacuzzi in the apartment, and the construction is underway. John, Yoko, and Sean left New York for their summer Japan holiday on July 23 and are expected home shortly, perhaps by the time you are even reading this. Shortly beforehand, Ringo was in town and visited with the family at the apartment,