Michael Tennesen: I first heard of Rahim passing from an email by Ed Miner, former owner of Mom's in Westwood Village, to his friends.
I called Amy and John Galbraith, who'd lived the closet to Rahim, and John announced sadly in the early morning, News travels fast
.
I then talked to Joey Rosenberg and Don Garrard and they both attested to the fact that Rahim was not with us anymore.
Rahim had a short funeral amongst his close family. There was then talk of a larger ceremony in Topanga in August, but that was before Covid-19 put everybody on hold. The problem is: we didn't get enough time to properly mourn him.
I first met Rahim at a Friday night wrestling match where he, then an NCAA champion wrestler, 167 pounds, liked to take on the whole freshman class of Phi Gama Delta (The Fiji House) at UCLA. I had wrestled on the team at my High School, and although I was no match for the master, he still commented not bad
when I finished my turn getting beaten.
When he moved out of the house, I got to know him better, and we took a few camping trips together. We took one trip in my old VW van, down the Baja Peninsula, during a rainstorm. We came to a spot where the road had been washed out by the flood. We turned around quickly, realizing that we'd crossed another raging river behind us, and needed to get back and over it before it washed out, too. We ended up pushing our floating car across the river just in time.
Despite it getting dark and late, Rahim took the wheel and drove all night. I woke up the next morning and found myself in Mazatlan. For more than a week, we visited Guadalajara, San Blas, and Puerto Vallarta, before Rahim decided to go and pulled another all-nighter to get us home.
I went fishing in the Sierras with Rahim. I met him once in Paris and followed him to Germany. For a while, Rahim rented a trailer with me in Ensenada, but that was before he met Rhonda McMahan, bought a much better VW bus, and started taking trips with her all the way down the Baja to its end.
Rahim stayed a good friend through the years. I moved out to the desert, near Joshua Tree, and when I came into town, I'd visit him regularly at the Sports Harbor in Marina del Rey, as he was always welcoming. I love you brother,
he'd say to me and other friends.
We had gatherings at Sports Harbor there for Mike Grey and Duke Everette when they passed, but we didn't get to do that for Rahim. There was talk that there might be a big gathering in Topanga, but that faded away with Corvid-19.
But we thought it might be healing if some folks could write about our good brother Rahim Javan, and maybe we could spread that around. Rahim was a big force in my life, and if you knew him at all, he was probably a big force in yours.
Dick Everett: Thought provoking-- both joy from the times shared with Rahim and sadness from the friends he left behind.
Amy Galbraith: The phone rang, I answered. It was Rahim. He said, please come and get John. He is too drunk to drive.
He sure was.