California Dreamin' - Hardcover

by Tonyo Meléndez (Author)

Memo arrives in Washington, D.C. hoping to fulfill the hopes he has held in his heart all his life. Will he succeed?

In the years here his cousins, Violeta, and Marcelo, have found success. He hopes he will too. But, much too soon, he finds out that Violeta is a practical young woman who expects him to be a practical young man, not a dreamer. If he does not find a job, he will run out of money and return to Central America.

Unfortunately, Memo does not speak English, and this makes him soon see his dreams will not happen. This reality overwhelms the 19-year-old. And so, the chase for work starts while at the same time he studies English.

A successful Radio, TV and theater actor in El Salvador for more than four years he now must lower his expectations and grab any job in order to subsist. Like it or not his first job is as a busboy. This is not the dream he had had. This is a nightmare. Marcelo takes him to a party where he dances and impresses a girl. She tells him to go to a dance studio. She thinks they would give him a job.

Surprisingly he gets offered a dance teacher and his job as a dancer starts. And so does his traveling until he receives a letter from The President of the United States! As he promised when he became a resident of this country, he must serve in the U. S. ARMY.

The Army job leads to a part in the famous American Music West Side Story, and his success in the show leads to a scholarship at George Mason College of the University of Virginia where he earns a Bachelor of Arts degree, and his success here leads him to a Master of Fine Arts at the Catholic University of America.

While studying at Catholic University he is sent on touring trips to Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Germany, and Puerto Rico. At the end of this novel Memo is flying to California to perform in San Francisco. Hollywood is where he will begin his movie professional career!