Well, I remember when a long stretch of West Valencia between South Nicholas (Euclid) and Brookhurst had a loose sand shoulder. That was before about 1960, Remember that, Dave Meier, ’62?
Anyone remember the Police Impound Lot right next to Ray's Pets on Williamson Way? Dave? Frenchy? It was great temptation for us boys to scale the cyclone fence and rummage around in the impounded cars.
Speaking of fences, the barranca behind West Valencia was not fenced until about 1960, and they paved it all with cement, too, Most of you guys in the neighborhood will remember the brackish water, slime and crawfish that lived down there, with old car tires, random junk, sometimes a torn-apart stuffed chair -- and it was a place we almost all walked through. Stank!
Vern Fotheringham, ’67 mentioned SOUR GRASS the other day. The weed so many of us boys chewed, and it had a sour taste, Why did we do that? I guess because other boys did it, There was sour grass growing in so many places, like the corner of West Hill and South Euclid, or he corner of Warburton Way and Bastanchury, Who remembers eating sour grass? We did’;t swallow it, We just chewed it for a while like chewing tobacco, (No, it did not have a narcotic effect, like some if the plants they chew in South America.)
Did anyone else collect ball bearings, and go from service station to service station, asking if they had any they could give away? (About half did.) We called them :Steelies: and added them to our marble collections, I played marbles with Jeff Nix, ’67; Jerry Cook, ’67; Lonnie Breymen, ’67; Brad Haymond, ’67. Chris Haymond, ’66; Billy Pittman, ’67; Vinny Tulumello, ’66; Ronnie Apgar, ’62; Sandy Einstein, ’62 and others. I was the worst marble shooter in West Fullerton, The only game I remember was “Lag”, which we played in Jeff’s backyard where the clothesline was, directly over the fence from Jeannie Skinner’s pool. I just played to be sociable, I may have won 2 or 3 games out of 500, probably by mistake, Did you play marbles much in Basque Tract, Golden Hill and Sunny Hills? I don't think any of us ever purchased a marble, or an “aggie” even. Did you? The kid in the picture could have been Jeff, except Jeff didn’t war a baseball cap or make faces: he was a COOL, calm, collected marbles shooter.
So far this is all PRE-1960. 60 YEARS AGO!
Did any of you collect coins, and go to the banks for bags of pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters and even half dollars? WHAT A NUISANCE WE MUST HAVE BEENB! HA HA! We would sort through he bags one coin at a time, and often found rare ones, Some guys would go right back the bank at the corner of Harbor & Commonwealth for more bags! We’d fit our coins into little dark blue books, Still got some?
What did girls do in those days? Well, did you collect barrettes? Do you remember special occasions when you went to a beauty salon? When you actually began using lipstick,m foundation, eye liner, mascara, smoother? Conditioner? Ha ha, I bet a lot of Sunny Hills girls did By 5th or 6th grade,
Women, who was your first girlish crush on? Elvis? Tommy Sands? Bobby Darin? Bobby Vee? Kookie? Fabian? Tony Dow? Frankie Avalon? Troy Donahue? Vince Edwards? Gardner McKay? SPILL THE BEANS, PLEASE!
Gals, did you ever try to bleach your hair, and not get the ingredients right, so it turned PURPLE?! That was known to happen ..
