This last weekend, I was in Pensacola, Florida. When I told my friend that, he said “what are you doing in Florida?” I said, “Trying to get out.” But I was actually there for Pensacon. It’s a convention that has invited me year after year, but hasn’t ever fit into my schedule until this year, so it was my first time.
Florida deserves the jokes we make about it, but my experience when I was there was quite lovely. Every person I interacted with was kind, friendly, helpful. I had an incredible piece of blackened gulf red snapper for dinner one night, my bed was comfy, and I did not have a single awkward or uncomfortable encounter with anyone at the show.
None of that is why this will be one of the most memorable conventions of my life, and I will now tell you why.
Holy. Shit.
I turned to my friend, Leah, who works with me at conventions to keep things running smoothly. “Dude, I have to come do this tomorrow.”
“Okay, we’ll take care of it,” she said.
So Saturday comes around, and I’m signing autographs at my table. Leah taps me on the shoulder and says, “it’s time to go downstairs.”
The excitement that surged inside of me threatened to explode out of my chest like Alien. I told the people who were in the line that I would be right back, I was going to fulfill a childhood dream.
We went downstairs to the photo-op area, and I apologized to the line I was cutting. They seemed to understand, my fellow fans of CHiPs, who also could not believe this was actually happening.
I bounced on the balls of my feet while I waited, and oh shit here comes Larry Wilcox. And he’s wearing a CHP uniform shirt with a name tag that says JOHN! I tried so hard to control my bouncing, but I’m pretty sure I failed.
We made eye contact and I said, “Hi, I’m Wil. I’m a huge fan and I am so excited to take a picture with you.”
“It’s so nice to meet you, I’m Larry.” We shook hands, and I didn’t keep shaking it like I did when I met Henry Rollins thank god.
There was a commotion around the corner, which could only mean one thing. Here comes Erik Estrada, much taller than I expected, and he is wearing a uniform shirt with a name tag that says PONCH.
Dude, it’s totally Ponch. Like, right there, right in front of me, are Ponch and John and I’m so excited I can’t tell if I’m going to burst into tears or throw up or what.
They take their positions on their marks, which are the same marks I had been using just a little bit earlier, and the photographer tells me that they are ready.
This is my chance. This is the one time I get to say this. I take a deep breath, and I say, “I don’t want to take up a ton of your time, so I’ll say this quickly. I grew up in Sunland-Tujunga, and you guys used to film in my neighborhood all the time.”
They looked at each other. “Sunland-Tujunga!” Larry Wilcox said. “We love Sunland-Tujunga!”
“Yeah, it was a great place to grow up. So I loved watching CHiPs, and I loved that I could see streets I recognized when I watched it.
“One day when you were filming, in like 1979, I think, my babysitter went to the set and came back with your autographs for me. I cherished them, until they were lost in a move probably 40 years ago.”
Erik Estrada’s eyes lit up and he flashed me that classic Ponch smile. I took a steadying breath.
“But this is really what I wanted to tell you: I had a rough childhood, with a lot of abuse an exploitation. I was sad and scared most of the time. But whenever you were on my TV, I was happy and I was safe. I loved CHiPs so much. You were the adults I wished I’d had in my life. You guys protected people, you stood up to bullies, and the whole cast felt like a group of people who were always there for each other. I desperately wanted that in my life, and watching CHiPs got me as close to it as I could get. So I really just want to say thank you for your work and for the joyful memories you gave me.”
“Oh, buddy,” Erick Estrada said, “thank you. Come here,” and he pulled me into a warm and loving hug.
“Thank you,” I said, “you have no idea.”
“I think maybe we do,” Larry Wilcox said, very kindly, with a warm smile. Maybe I’m not the first person to share a story like mine with them.
“Let’s take a great picture,” Erik Estrada said.
“Thank you. I’d love that,” I said.
I stood between them, they put their arms around me, and a dream came true for 9 year-old Wil.
They were such kind men. I felt seen and I felt special. All these years later, Ponch and John can still make this weird, sad, scared, little kid feel safe.
I will cherish this memory for the rest of my life.
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I’m not crying over here! I love this story and your vulnerability and the fact that they were so open and caring with you.❤️❤️
As someone who went through early childhood trauma and CSA, I always appreciate your authenticity and kindness.
Thanks, Wil!❤️❤️
Really lovely and sweet. Glad you were able to meet them and relate how much their work meant to you.
Especially nice that all these years later these gentlemen could be all the things they represented to you.
Absolutely legendary! CHiPS was a firm favourite of mine growing up too! I’m glad you got to meet Larry and Erik, and it was everything you could have wished it to be. Warms the heart!
What a lovely story, and memory. When I was growing up, I wanted so badly to crawl into the TVand live with the Brady Bunch … and later I had the biggest crush on Larry Wilcox.Thank you for sharing this.
I love your photo with Larry and Erik! It’s always amazing when you get moments like this and it brings you back to the good memories of your childhood. Cherish them Wil!
If you only knew at the time..you gave my gravely ill daughter that same intense joy when you met her and I at the Concord N H stand by me tour. She sees it as the most happy thing she s ever experienced. Words cant thank you enough
Aww, and now I’m teary with a full heart at work. Thank you for being open to such wonderful experiences, and for sharing them with us.
Aww! <3
CHiPs was a childhood favourite of mine, too! It was proper “hero hour” TV – Saturday evening, after the sports, before the adults’ shows kicked in. Teatime viewing. I can still taste the sausage, egg and home made chips (as in ‘French fries’ but called chips in Ireland, made from real potatoes, not frozen!), just thinking about it!
Delighted for you!
I was afraid to go to California because of all the 20 car pile-ups I saw on ChiPs. But I was glad to know that Ponch and John would be there to rescue me if I was in one. Great picture!
This made me smile. 🩵
Hooray for this wonderful opportunity and experience ❤️
I love this for you, what a great experience!
AHHH I LOVE THIS SO MUCH!!!!
That is awesome. I loved that show and at 10 had the biggest crush on Erik Estrada. I think I would melt if I got that hug.
CHiPS and Adam-12. Every episode when they aired. #GetOffMyLawn Not perfect people as characters, but still role models to me as a kid.
Don’t mind me. I’m just over here crying happy tears for 9 year old You. That is so awesome and I am thrilled. Especially that they were warm and kind. Great photo btw.
Who’s cutting onions in here!?! 😭
That’s so wonderful!! I’m so happy for you, and that’s a fantastic photo!!!
That’s so awesome. You look SO HAPPY. It’s great to see SO HAPPY Wil here.
Did they nerd out with you over TNG? Or were they cluefree?
This is absolutely lovely. Thank you for sharing. Isn’t it also mind-blowing that there are people who feel that way about you. :’)
What a wonderful thing you got to experience! And it was so lovely that they were such kind men and validated your feelings!
I’m so happy for you!
I absolutely love the great joy that I can feel when you write about something like this. And to know that that sad little boy got to make one of his dreams come true. Just makes me so happy. Thank you, Wil.
Count me among the teary-eyed folks. Thank you for sharing this, Wil.
This is so beautiful. I’m happy for you.
“Florida deserves the jokes we make about it, but my experience when I was there was quite lovely.” As a reasonable person who happens to live in Florida and would prefer not to be tarred with that prejudicial brush, I’m glad Pensacolans happened to step up and you happened to have had a good experience this time. Many of us individuals are no more deserving of your prejudice than any of the targets of the prejudices you routinely rail against. Cheers!
Your Seven Mary Three reference has become Cumbersome…..
What a sweet story!
For the record my two earliest celebrity crushes were Erik Estrada on CHiPs and Mr. Spock. I love this experience for you, and I love this photo for my own reasons! 🙂
That’s awesome! Those guys were a huge influence on me, too, at a young impressionable age. I pretended to play CHiPs as soon as I could ride a bicycle. My bike became my escape, my safe haven, from an unhappy childhood. It was one of the only things I could control. Later I upgraded to motorcycles, in large part because of the show. I’ve ridden for over 20 years and still get the same feeling of freedom I did as a kid, even though I control my own happy life now. Occasionally, while I ride, and I get into a particularly fun, twisty section of road (or occasionally lane splitting LA traffic when I visit the area), that cheesy disco soundtrack creeps into my head and takes me back.
I’m glad Larry and Erik are so cool in person. I know they had their differences over the years, but it’s good they put all that behind them, especially for the fans, like us.
I totally teared up in the best way! What an amazing memory for you and the photo is top notch! I’m so happy you got to have that experience.
What a wonderful moment! Thanks for bringing us with you for it! You’re such a vivid storyteller!
This show was just a bit before my time, so, two things:
1. I thought this was going to be about the band, Seven Mary Three, and was ready to heartily agree; and
2. When I was a kid I thought there were famous people named Erica Strada and Liai Akoka… then I found out as a teen [by doing the crossword puzzles in the back of the TV Guide] that they’re really named Erik Estrada and Lee Iacocca… but in my defense, people ALWAYS call them Erikestrada & Leeiacocca, so it’s understandable that my young mind would confuse the syllables. [And if that seems familiar at all, I first tweeted that story 16 years ago. 😳]
I’m glad that you got to have an experience and will now have such a precious memory to carry with you.
When I was a kid, my mom had a copy of “I’m OK, You’re OK.” The book by Thomas Anthony Harris (which I just looked up). Due to the font, I read this as Imok, You’re OK. And I always wondered who Imok was. I assumed he was an alien due to this odd name. And I was happy to know that he apparently was a cool dude. So, yeah. These things happen, even in written form.
😆
Now I’m crying again. Thanks.
Long time reader, first time commenter: I never watched CHIPs but seeing your joy at meeting them is infectious to the heart. Echoing a few others on here by saying you do the same for others. Thank you for being you.
This is a memory for you to hold old onto forever! It’s wonderful that you had the opportunity for this very emotional experience. You deserved it, Wil!
I felt like this recently when I got to meet the owner of the Chicago Cubs at Cubs Convention 2026. I didn’t experience the kind of painful childhood you did, but my adulthood was filled with (largely self-inflicted) pain until I turned my life around nearly a decade ago, and the Cubs’ 2016 championship gets at least partial credit for helping me make that change. I took some flack from a progressive friend because of said owner’s political beliefs (though he and his sister, the two most visible members of the family that owns the team, have largely separated themselves from the rest of the family’s politics), but the positive impact on the team, the Wrigleyville neighborhood and the entire city of Chicago, and me personally are undeniable, and worth the criticism I took.
I’m really glad you were able to have this wonderful experience!
This was the sweetest thing that I have seen and read in a very long time. And yes, it brought a tear to my eye and a huge smile to my face.
This is wonderfully magical. I love that you got to meet people who made you feel safe in the same way that you made me as a kid not feel ashamed for being so much better at book learning stuff than any of my peers. Before I saw your character in Star Trek, I let the people in my trailer park make fun of me for being the kid who aced every test in school without studying. (Note that I didn’t think I was better than them, I sucked at art, couldn’t talk to girls, didn’t play a musical instrument and was too uncoordinated for sports, I just happened to be better at STEM stuff than the rest.) …but seeing a kid use intelligence to save the day on Star Trek, and seeing Richard Dean Anderson use intelligence to save the day as a grown up on MacGyver, made me realize that I wasn’t just some “book nerd.”
P.S.: I was lucky in that I didn’t get physically bullied, I was the biggest kid in my grade every year. I was also bigger than anyone in the grade ahead of me, too.
So happy for you! I’m a little teary.
omg my brother and I would watch CHiPs after school!!!!! Love those guys, I cannot believe you met them. I’m so glad it was a positive experience and that you got the photo! (also great shirt!!!)
Wonderful!
Holy crap I am so jealous. I loved that show when I was a kid as well. Would love to have a picture with those two.
I have to admit, I also teared up by the end of your story especially when Erik hugged you. I’m glad you had the opportunity to tell them how much they meant to you and that they were so receptive. I don’t know how a day like that could get any better.
Love this! 💙💙💙
This is the most wholesome and beautiful thing I’ve read in a while. I’m so happy you got to do this!
I love this! What a wonderful moment to have had and especially great that you were able to capture a snapshot of it on film. A treasure!
Oh wow! I’m so glad that you got to do that, Wil!’
I loved CHiPS when I was growing up and whenever I saw an episode on the TV, I immediately felt safer and calmer.
What a wonderful memory, Wil! ❤️
Thank you for sharing such a beautiful experience!
What an amazing experience! I am so happy for you! (Big crocodile tears shedding over here). Thank you for sharing. This right here gives me faith in humanity.
I know a part of me has healed from reading your story.