As he prepared to catch a flight to Chicago on Monday, Eric Monte savored a moment of anticipation: What would it feel like to be back at home and not living in a homeless shelter?
"I'm excited about the possibilities," said Monte, 62, a couple of hours before boarding his flight at LAX. "I want to see my old neighborhood, my old street. I want to start rejuvenating my life."
Nearly 40 years ago, Monte abandoned Chicago's Cabrini-Green housing project and hitchhiked to Los Angeles, chasing a childhood dream to create black heroes for the small screen. He became one of a handful of young African American writers and directors who sparked an explosion in black culture in Hollywood in the early 1970s.
Monte wrote an episode of the groundbreaking TV show "All in the Family," moved on to co-create "Good Times" and wrote the 1975 film "Cooley High," which inspired the hit 1976 TV series "What's Happening!!"
Then came the downward spiral when life stopped going according to script.
There were disputes with entertainment executives and bad investments, a series of strokes and the loss of some memory. A year of crack cocaine abuse robbed him of money and Hollywood friends. Attempts to sell a self-published book drained the last of his savings.
Last year, Monte landed in a Salvation Army shelter in Bell, one of nearly 300 people who were sleeping in the former military depot every night. His cubicle was large enough to hold two cots, two lockers and a shared desk; he paid $300 a month for housing, three meals a day and counseling.
The food was edible, the lights were paid for and the doors were locked. He felt secure, surviving on money that trickled in from residuals. Surrounded by a wealth of characters, Monte wrote new material on his laptop, confident that he was "never that far away from a blockbuster hit."
After an article about his life appeared earlier this year in the Los Angeles Times, there were a few nibbles from producers looking to launch a remake of "Good Times." But negotiations faltered over issues of creative control.
"I've been hurt before, but I won't be hurt again," Monte said.
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Illinois state Rep. Ken Dunkin, who also grew up in the Cabrini-Green projects, read about the writer's plight in the Chicago Tribune and decided to coordinate a small fundraising effort to bring him home. "We want him here in Chicago," said Dunkin, 40. "This man should not be going out like this. I grew up on 'Good Times.' That's me. I grew up in the '70s looking at that show. Our family gathering, bonding moments were around that show. That was our building."
