Name: Keith D Jones ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Oct 21, 2008, 7:25 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1976
City & State: Las Vegas
E-mail
Message: Mr Richard Allen one of our teachers was a great piano teacher and in fact taught Dick Clark piano.

Name: Tobey Wheeler ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Oct 21, 2008, 7:24 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1976
City & State: Los ANgeles, CA
E-mail
Message: Dear Cougar Supreme Baker, Congratulations! You have an answer to your question back in 2002! "Does anyone remember the movie Reefer Madness?" Folks SHOWTIME issued a parity of Reefer Madness which is hilarious! The DVD also contains the original film as a bonus. Always Love Visiting The Cougar Site!

Name: Debbie Kilroy ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Oct 21, 2008, 12:53 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Kilroy
Class: 1971
City & State: The O.C.
E-mail
Message: Hi John, Cougar siting, sort of, maybe? On the Vanpool to work a lady was relating her summer vacation in New Mexico where she and her daughter went to see a band at an Indian Casino. I was trying to snooze a little bit, so did not pay too much attention to the details but she related that she knew the lead singer and had, in fact, gone to high school in Los Angeles with him. She also knew his ex-wife and ran around with many in that crowd. She approached him after the concert and they had a great time talking about 'back in the day', his ex-wife, etc. They took pictures together and she said he is the nicest guy and they talked for quite sometime. Imagine my surprise when she passed around a 8 x 10 framed photo of her and Mike Love!! It's a small Cougar world!!

Name: Jim Peppers ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Oct 21, 2008, 11:47 am - HHS Time
Class: 1961
City & State: Athens, Greece
E-mail
Message: Danny Litton, I don't think I've ever encountered another person on the planet who took piano lessons from Mr. Keyes at the Plaza. I wouldn't have remembered his name if you hadn't written it on the feedback. Did he really die of lung cancer? He was a chain smoker, which I remember well. The ashes from his cigarettes used to fall all over the key board of his grand piano. At the same time, the whole situation was surreal; I mean the setting where we had our lessons was like it came from an old film noir movie. I didn?t learn to play the piano very well, but I can still remember some of the then popular songs that he taught me how to play. He usually played much more than I did, which was okay by me as I never practiced. Thank you, Danny, for the memory. Jim Peppers

Name: sharon leach ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Oct 21, 2008, 8:46 am - HHS Time
Maiden: moore
Class: 1966
City & State: long beach
E-mail
Message: I just voted the for the Lap Dog and will vote again tomorrow. How could I not. He's the cutest in the pack. By the way, thanks John.

Name: Jill Jaynes ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Oct 21, 2008, 8:41 am - HHS Time
Maiden: McFarlane
Class: 1977
City & State: Mission Viejo, CA
E-mail
Message: I just got a blast from the past, thanks to Cougartown. An old buddy of mine from my Cal Stereo days googled Cal Stereo and came across one of my feedbacks on Cougartown. He saw my photo and recognized me and as a result sent me an email. It was a pleasant surprise to hear from him after 20 plus years. Cougartown is like 6 degrees of separation to almost everything and everyone.

Name: sharon leach ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Oct 21, 2008, 8:28 am - HHS Time
Maiden: moore
Class: 1966
City & State: long beach
E-mail
Message: Okay, John, in the defense of Danny Litton, there was a dentist here in Long Beach named Dr. Payne. I never went to him in the off chance he was sadistic and changed his name to Payne. LOL I am enjoying all the stories about the plaza. I used to go to the beauty shop that was in the plaza. If you look at my junior year picture, you can see her handy-work. Please don't look. I am sure it was great for the time. What was I thinking. They called the style an artichoke. OMG Lovely! John, as Bob Hope would say, "Thanks for The Memories."
Just went through all of my year books and all of my hairstyles were hideous. Too funny. I needed a good laugh this morning.

Name: Wade Greasby ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Oct 21, 2008, 7:13 am - HHS Time
Class: 1973
City & State: Surf City, Ca
E-mail
Message: Morning Cougs. The old Hawthorne Fire Station was right across the street from the Plaza. Could be where the pic was taken from. Many many great and fun filled days at the firehouse. Plenty of Cougar alumni's fathers worked there. High school crushes, I think I had one or two every year. Most noted, Sue Garza, class of '71 and April Hansen, class of 70'. In my class were Dori Gestone, not really a crush, I've known her since the 5th grade. And my wife Penny Stiffler. She used to bring me oranges in our history class. The only class we had together. I go out to the cemetary and eat an orange with her now. Memories. JB, Sorry I won't make the Homecoming Game I'll be up north on business this week.

Name: Patti Barry ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Oct 21, 2008, 5:55 am - HHS Time
Maiden: Treckman
Class: 1979
City & State: Austin, TX
E-mail
Message: Fellow Cougs... this isn't Hawthorne related, but a plea for votes...Could you help out an old Cougar? My dog and daughter are in the final 100 for a Milk Bone contest. Grand prize is $100K. If you have some spare 'surfing' time, your vote would be hugely appreciated! Vote at www.milk-bone.com. The pic shows a big golden doodle sitting on a blue sweatshirt-clad girl. It's titled "Lap Dog". Many thanks!

Name: Myrna Wood ~~~~~~~~~~ Mon-Oct 20, 2008, 9:36 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Bell
Class: 1966
City & State: Nevada City, CA
E-mail
Message: Hi John - I had a Cougar sighting this evening. I've met some people through Knights of Columbus here at church, and tonight we were in a more social setting and in conversation I heard they moved up here from Hawthorne. They are Paul and Pat Kidwell - he worked for Hughes and in about 1980ish, she was the attendance clerk at Hawthorne High. She also worked as the District Superintendent's Secretary. They have three children who graduated from Hawthorne - the oldest is Jim and he graduated in 1979. I believe she said that he is a school superintendent in Ontario. Two younger kids, Kathy and another son. I asked her to pass on the info about Cougartown. After all these years, this is my first semi-real Cougar sighting!!! Hope all is well with you, come visit me!! Myrna

Name: Danny Litton ~~~~~~~~~~ Mon-Oct 20, 2008, 3:27 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1968
City & State: Marietta GA
E-mail
Message: OK, OK. Now that we are on the Plaza Theater and the 25-cent Saturday afternoon double-features PLUS cartoons, does anyone remember the piano teacher Rexford Keyes? His studio was located on the south Plaza grounds. You must remember the lazy palm trees and all the pidgeon s*** left behind. I took piano lessons there for many, desperate years. Hated every minute. I remember his yellowed-mustache, stained from non-filter cigarettes. He, of course, eventually died from lung cancer. I always found his name to be full of irony: Mr. Keyes ... the piano teacher.

Name: Gary Miller ~~~~~~~~~~ Sun-Oct 19, 2008, 9:19 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1964
City & State: Concord, Cal
E-mail
Message: Is it the Plaza?

Name: Ron Dickson ~~~~~~~~~~ Sun-Oct 19, 2008, 9:09 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1967
City & State: Norco,Ca
E-mail
Message: Plaza Theater?

Name: Sharon Branigan ~~~~~~~~~~ Sun-Oct 19, 2008, 2:49 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Bierman
Class: 1976
City & State: San Clemente, CA
E-mail
Message: Mike Backus, that was the sweetest story. I knew immediately that you were talking about Sue and it brought tears to my eyes. As always, it's such pleasure to read your stories; your artistry expresses itself in many ways, and I am so grateful that you share it with us. Now, we're on our way to celebrate Sweet Sue's 52nd birthday at a winery in Temecula, where Sue's darling daughter Lori has found an opportunity for all of us to stomp the grapes a la Lucy! Sounds crazy? Yeah, it did to me, too; but with those two kooks it will be a blast! Happy Birthday dear Sister!!!

Name: Jerry Miles ~~~~~~~~~~ Sun-Oct 19, 2008, 1:54 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1966
City & State: Fair Oaks, CA
E-mail
Message: I first heard this while I was at HHS and thought I would share it with all of you.

The freshman girl,
oh so shy,
sits and watches the sophomore guy.
The sophomore guy,
with his head in a whirl,
sits and watches the junior girl.
The junior girl,
in her red sedan,
sits and watches the senior man.
But the senior man,
all hot and wild,
secretly loves the freshman child.

Name: Michael M Kratz ~~~~~~~~~~ Sun-Oct 19, 2008, 11:40 am - HHS Time
Class: 1971
City & State: Vegas Baby
E-mail
Message: My first and only High School crush and love was Denise T. class of 73. Believe it or not I was thinking of her last month. I emailed one of her friends that I knew she use to hang-out with in High School. She emailed me back and said, "Denise is happily married and still living in Hawthorne." I guess I still haven't lost my love for her 37 years later.

Name: Keith D. Jones ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Oct 18, 2008, 11:52 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1976
City & State: Las Vegas
E-mail
Message: I was in love with only two girls in HS. Kathy Lynch and Diane Plinck.

Name: sharon leach ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Oct 18, 2008, 4:46 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Moore
Class: 1966
City & State: long beach
E-mail
Message: Dale, if I listed all of my high school crushes on CT, John would have no bandwith left. So John, I'll spare you.

Name: Michael Backus ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Oct 18, 2008, 1:37 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1974
City & State: Eugene, OR
E-mail
Message: I guess everyone has a Best Year in their life. Mine was 1965, age 9. It seemed that everything went right for me that year. Not that the times were perfect. Every child of the '60s was at least vaguely aware of events in the larger adult world that were worrying their parents. It's just that when you're 9, things like the Watts Riots and the Viet Nam War are like the weather. They're there, you're somewhat aware that they're there, but as a kid you're more concerned about whether you have a friend to hang out with. My neighborhood was packed with kids my age to hang out with. We ran in a big continuous loud stink from one of our houses to another or just hanging out in on our playground, Cedar Street. I even enjoyed school that year. My teacher at York Elementary was a pretty young woman named Mrs. Castro. She was young enough that even as a 9 year old I thought she was young. My parents were in their mid 40s and I thought that they were ancient. Mrs. Castro was very nice and very patient, which was a good thing. Especially considering that the classroom was loaded with my friends from the neighborhood. We were practiced at creating chaos. Expert you might say. I spent a goodly amount of time outside the classroom door 'calming down'. I actually enjoyed being outside and I think my teacher realized it. I preferred being outside, she preferred having me outside. We had the basis for the perfect student/teacher relationship. The crown jewel in my 9th year was my first girlfriend. She wasn't my girlfriend in any grown up sense of course. She 'liked me' and I liked her. When she smiled at me my nine year old heart raced. There was no jealousy, no game playing (other than tetherball and hopscotch), no moodiness, none of the misery that I would later come to associate with relationships with females. I looked forward to seeing her. She made me feel good about myself. And I was happier because she was part of my world. Nothing lasts forever of course. The end of that year my girlfriend moved out of state with her family. The next year the school apparently took note of my exuberance in class and separated me from all of my friends. Life was a drag. I was even in a class that was a mix of 5th and 4th graders which I felt was humiliating. I was in the 4th and 1/2 grade. Already nostalgia for the Good Old Days began to creep into my consciousness. I've spent the last year going through my parents effects and mulling over our lives together, good and bad. I lost my dad to Altzheimer's on December 27th of last year, my mom to stomach cancer on December 30th. Of the five decades that my parents and I spent together my memories still go back to Hawthorne in the '60s. There is so much to remember about those years but my best year always seems to stand out. In that one year there was a moment when a cute blonde girl smiled at me a certain way. Quite possibly the best moment of my best year. My first girlfriend turns 52 today. Happy Birthday Sue.