Watch CBS News

Wallet Containing $5 Grateful Dead Ticket, Photos Of Late Mother Returned To Owner After Being Lost In Ventura Majestic Theater For 46 Years

VENTURA (CBSLA) — The discovery of a wallet at a Ventura theater undergoing renovation turned out to be a precious gift for its long-lost owner.

Tom Stevens, an employee at the Majestic Ventura Theater, says he found a red wallet in the attic while changing the lightbulbs on a chandelier last month. When he cracked it open, he found a $5 Grateful Dead concert ticket and California driver's license that expired in 1976, along with several photographs.

The license had been issued to a Colleen Distin, so the theater's management posted a photo of the license on Facebook to see if they could find the wallet's owner.

Colleen Distin quickly responded, and she soon went to the theater to reclaim what has turned out to be a priceless treasure.

"Oh, I am shaking," Distin said, looking over the wallet's contents.

colleen distin lost wallet
(credit: CBS)

The wallet had been lost 46 years ago. Distin easily recalled why she was at the historic theater, which has been an iconic venue since the 1920s.

"We were watching a movie," she said. "It was a movie theater back then."

She may not have needed the license since she lost it, but Distin got emotional as she looked through the various items she had kept in the wallet – poetry, photos of high school friends, a Grateful Dead ticket for a concert at UC Santa Barbara that cost just $5. But most importantly, she found photos of her mother, who had passed away just a couple of years ago.

"Holy crap," Distin said with a laugh. "It is hard to explain the feeling that I had, because it is kind of an emotional one, an excitement one."

But Distin wasn't the only who felt good about seeing the wallet returned to its rightful owner.

"That's amazing," Stevens said. "I am so glad she found it, to see all those memories from that long ago."

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.