It was a swift and beautiful ride from the Dead to the Doors, or from San Francisco’s hippie streets to the deafening din of West Hollywood. I won’t bother you with too many pictures, you just have to experience Haight-Ashbury and Amoeba Music, Monterey Pop, the Beach Boys’ burgers and Truetone Music yourself. Go there! It’s worth it. Once in Los Angeles I got immediately tangled up in buzz of the SCBWI Conference, the annual summer conference of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. While I was trying to master the do’s and don’ts in writing, editing and publishing, the nearby mall had some good advice as well. Safety first, is what they must have thought and sometimes that can be quite…