After retirement from UCLA, Jay worked in historical archaeology in and around Los Angeles and was for many years archaeologist for El Pueblo de Los Angeles State Historic Park. He conducted many excavations on historic sites endangered by the expanded building developments of the 1970s and 1980s. He is particularly well known for his work and publication on the Ontiveros Adobe at Santa Fe Springs, which opened up some important new approaches to early rancho life with its detailed analyses of both faunal and pollen remains. Historical Archaeology of Nineteenth–Century California (1992), by Jay D. Frierman and Roberta S. Greenwood, is still one of the few syntheses of the historical archaeology of the Los Angeles area available for teaching at the university level. He had an extraordinary ability to identify pottery from virtually any corner of the globe, and his knowledge of the technology involved in ceramic production was prodigious and was generously shared with his colleagues.

His wide–ranging knowledge and enthusiasm for history, archaeology, and ethnography in both the New and Old World led to his organization of some of the most creative and influential University Extension courses of that time. Two of these were “Land and Life in Baja California,” with a one–week field trip centered in Baja’s capital, La Paz, and “Ancient World Before the Greeks,” with a memorable three–week trip that he led—along with the late Marija Gimbutas—to Israel, Turkey, Greece, and Crete. Jay had a wonderfully educated and natural appreciation for excellence: in lecturing, scholarship, art, wine, food, touring, and travelling. Thus his weekly guest lecturers included memorable archaeologists, ethnographers, geographers, classicists, Near Eastern specialists, historians, and art historians. I (Ernestine) was lucky enough to enroll in the Baja class and then in the Ancient World class. Both truly influenced my decision to return to UCLA to study archaeology! As leaders of the Ancient World field trip, he and Marija introduced the students to a selection of tells, mounds, magoulas, and museums, and to the excavation storerooms (off-limits to “ordinary” tourists), filled with pots, pottery, figurines, stone and bone tools, and bronzes. His energy and his humor were unfailing, even when greatly challenged. One rainy day in Turkey, the bus slowly tipped over into the mud while the group was in the Tomb of Midas at Gordion. Never at a loss, and with no Turkish at his command, Jay got the driver to round up the patrons in a little bar and, with the participation of some of the trip members, literally pushed the bus upright! He then herded the group into the coffeehouse and ordered a round of drinks for all!

On the last night of the trip, December 31, 1965, at the Hotel Xenia, Heracleum, Crete, a beaming Jay ordered champagne for his flock. The day had included Knossos and Phaestos, the storerooms, and even some shopping. As the group toasted the New Year and archaeology in general, someone asked, “Let’s have more archaeology; how do we get UCLA to do it?” Within the hour, the Friends of Archaeology was born, with Jay its first faculty sponsor. Then Jay saw to it that Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy heard of our newly formed group, and thus the Friends became official. He shepherded the Friends through the first early years and continued participation even after his retirement.