Happy Birthday, Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr.!

[Dave Monroe]

Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr was born to Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Sr. and
Katherine Frances Bennett Pynchon on May 8, 1937 in Glen Cove, Long
Island, New York. They moved to East Norwich when Thomas, Jr was just
a child. His father became town supervisor of Oyster Bay and later an
industrial surveyor. He has two siblings, sister, Judith and brother,
John.

http://www.pynchon.pomona.edu/bio/facts.html

 Page 364

. . . the Lakers would lose Game 7 of the finals to the Knicks

Friday, May 8, 1970. The final score was Knicks 113, Lakers 99. This
means that the novel ends on Pynchon's 33rd birthday, a nice way to
underscore the semi-autobiographical nature of Inherent Vice.
Furthermore, this situates the ending of the novel just four days
after the Kent State Massacre on May 4, 1970 - yet another way of
telling us that the beach is being paved over and that the sixties
have come to an end.

http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_21#Page_364