This is Harry Boy

That’s what he calls himself, Harry Boy.

He is a homeless guy, from here, I have known for the 15 years I have been hanging around Santa Barbara. He has become a bit of a local landmark in the 25 years he has been here. He is one of the nicest, most selfless people you will ever meet.

When I met him he was sitting on the beach, just like this, creating sailboats, cabins, lighthouses and the like from scraps of stuff he would find on the beach and in garbage cans. His motto is “Homeless, but not helpless.” That is what he always writes on his little signs. Here’s some of his work and his sign.

The next sailboat is one of the first he ever built. A man who had just bought a local hotel asked Harry Boy to build him a fully strung sailboat he could display in his hotel window. Harry Boy obliged. It's over 3 feet long.

It’s 25 years old now. We only recently learned that it is still displayed in that hotel! That is how I came by this picture. Harry Boy's work is literally all over the world. We live in what’s known as the “American Riviera” and people from around the world have been buying his artwork for about 25 years.

Someone just gave him a bicycle.

He’s going on 70 years old, has been homeless for about 30 years and hasn’t ridden a bike since childhood. Add to that, the fact that he is about 90% blind and you have a real recipe for disaster on a bicycle.

But he gladly accepted it and has been bopping around on the bicycle path along the ocean front for a few days now. He’s getting more comfortable on it. He still won’t ride on the streets 'cause he don’t see so good no more. Maybe that's a good thing.

Though Harry Boy has been building models for 25 years, the real love of his life is doing Elvis impersonations.

He is good at it. He has all the moves down pat. He has been doing Elvis since he was a teenager. He had several bands, each was an “Elvis” band. For a while he even had two separate bands going simultaneously.

These days he plays Elvis CDs and lip syncs the words through a pretend microphone. He has crowds gather every time he picks up the mic. The truly amazing thing is that young and old alike gather around to listen. Even young children stopping their parents so they can dance to Elvis!

Truly ELVIS LIVES on!!!!!

...in the American Riviera of Santa Barbara California!

He is known around Santa Barbara, these days, as Elvis. He always seems amazed when someone he doesn’t know hollers to him “Hey, Elvis!” as he’s walking along the street.

I saw a short clip of him once on You Tube. Not the best video, but I like the guy. And so does everybody else. It's Elvis and the Radio Free Neptune Air Band.

Watch it here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys0p75tnrDU

And that's my story of "Elvis, Harry Boy, Presley." And I'm stickin' to it!

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