Davis resident Gabriel Lewin, who was chosen as this month’s random phone book interview, has been in Davis since 1980, and his roots stretch across the globe: “We’ll start in South Africa. 1965, drafted into the South African army. Jump forward to 1976, still in the army reserves,” he explains. He left South Africa because “the South African army is a bunch of clowns, and I was not prepared to get into any war with them.” So what did Gabriel decide to do next? “I did the frying pan fire thing and went to Israel.” While in Israel, he studied dairy farming and lived in a Kibbutz, which is “like a middle-class commune, not like a hippy commune.”

It was while in Israel that Gabriel met the woman who would become the reason for moving to Davis: “She liked me for some reason, and then when she went back to the US she wanted me to come and join her because she missed me.” One spousal visa later and Gabriel was an American citizen living in Davis, California. While his wife left a mere two years later, Gabriel remained in Davis, because " why would you want to move unless something makes you move?” He also had two sons from a previous marriage, Jake and Adam, who are now grown and out of the home with their own families.

During his early years in Davis, Gabriel dreamed of becoming a rock star, playing in various small bands