Name: Rick Salisbury ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Apr 8, 2009, 5:53 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1975
City & State: North Bend, Wa
E-mail
Message: Hi John, I couldn't help myself from posting since Jack did. And you mentioned the Bell's family that my mother used to make Pomegranate jelly from. My brother went steady with Myrna Bell. She wore his penal-ton a few months back in the day. But the subject of trees made me call my oldest friend (Jeff Fautt) today, Friends since we were 4 (1961). He had an avocado tree that we climbed, and were lucky enough to eat the left overs, bags of them. As a kid of 5, I remember planting 500 tree's with my family on a cleared lot that my Dad bought in Northern Cal. Lately I've been buying chainsaws and cutting down Alder tree's, but for every tree I take down, I plant two, but where I want them and not Alders. I've been planting Cedars and Pine's since I live in the Evergreen State. It's funny I lived in Hawthorne on 116th, in-between the A B C streets, Acacia, Birch and Cedar. On another note, it's been a couple of weeks since I've seen the herd of Elk that hang out in the my area. Joe, if you have a tent, I'll pay 20 an hour four cutting tree's into cords, but it's hard work and then planting new ones is too. Oh, did I mention the Black Bear's are back out of Hibernation. Go Cougars and not the real ones!

Name: Bobby Jensen ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Apr 8, 2009, 3:49 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1971
City & State: Greater Los Angeles 64
No E-mail
Message: Looking back I can see that our parents were hipsters of the 60?s. Our house was Modern Mid Century. The front and back yards were landscaped in a Polynesian style (Including Tiki Torches). The only trees we had were Palm Trees. I do remember two magnificent properties in Hawthorne that were very close to our house and those were the Blassingame family that had a triple lot behind our house that was like a jungle and the Bailer Family that had been there since the early 20?s and had a very overgrown property with many trees. Two great places to hide and seek.

Name: Camille Hawkes ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Apr 8, 2009, 3:05 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Hill
Class: 1959
City & State: Manhattan Beach, CA
E-mail
Message: The trees that stood out in Hawthorne to me were the Eucalyptus - being so tall. Now, in M.B. in the tree section, if you decide to chop down a tree, you're looking at a $20 k fine minimum I hear. Only in your front yard though (Take note Paco)

Name: Jack Dicus ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Apr 8, 2009, 2:46 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1968
City & State: Miramar Beach, FL
E-mail
Message: Hey Paco! Pretty strong negative emotion for a tree. BTW, I had to clean the table and wash dishes as a child, but that does not mean I now want to eat off the floor. :) I'll go with Petey and Mr. Muir. God loves 'em. So do I. I planted 160+ trees in my neighborhood after hurricane Opal, and about 120 still survive. They hold my island together. And the tangerines aren't bad either.

Name: Lillian Parra ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Apr 8, 2009, 2:41 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: McDonald
Class: 1963
City & State: Havasu Lake, CA
E-mail
Message: Oh I like you Petey Girl:-)

Name: Cheri Longanecker ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Apr 8, 2009, 2:31 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Longanecker
Class: 1965
City & State: Yuma, AZ
E-mail
Message: Terry - I agree with you that Loquat fruit is very sweet. We had 2 trees on E 105th in LA. When we moved, my mom planted one at our home on W 117th in Inglewood. Big leaves, easy to rake.

Name: Kathy Downer ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Apr 8, 2009, 2:09 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Peterson
Class: 1970
City & State: Marietta, Ohio
E-mail
Message: Yes, we had a loquat tree in our front yard. Because we were so close to the school (in between Shoup and Oceangate on 129th St), Students parked in front of our house and picked the loquats to eat while they walked to school. The Ancient eucalyptus in the back yard that could be seen from the freeway is gone now I think. John- Keep up the good work.

Name: Vicki Hare ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Apr 8, 2009, 11:58 am - HHS Time
City & State: Bella Vista, Ar
E-mail
Message: I have been searching for anyone who may have pics of John Sciortino and have already had contact with his family members... but thought someone else may have some from school, hang outs whatever ?? I have come up with a couple names of people that knew him well, but don't know if they are members here, they are Jerry Pino, and Molly Fagan ?? If anyone knows how to contact them, or can tell them, it is very much appreciated. Thanks

Name: Janet Humphreys ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Apr 8, 2009, 11:42 am - HHS Time
Class: 1962
City & State: Calif
No E-mail
Message: I heard there was a topic on feedback I might be interested in....trees! I swear we had a banana tree in our yard over off of 119th and Prairie Ave in the 60s. It had small bunches of little bananas on it every year. I know there are hundreds of species of bananas, so don't know what kind they were. We never tried to eat any that I recall. (I guess I shouldn't speak for my brothers as they'll try anything!)

Name: Terry Allen ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Apr 8, 2009, 11:41 am - HHS Time
Maiden: Smith
Class: 1974
City & State: Salem,Or
E-mail
Message: Anyone have a Loquat Tree?(spelling?) Yum so good, I ate a lot of them. I could spot one a mile away.

Name: George Johnson ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Apr 8, 2009, 11:36 am - HHS Time
Class: 1962
City & State: Spinnaker Cove, Ca
E-mail
Message: Hey, John Boy; LOL, I had a dog when I was growing up that really liked trees too. Didn't matter to him what kind, Maple, Oak, Spruce, Pine or just plain old fruit trees, that dog just loved trees.

Name: Howard Paco Duran ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Apr 8, 2009, 11:02 am - HHS Time
Class: 1961
City & State: Lake Forest
E-mail
Message: I hate trees! The first thing I did when I moved to LF was chop them down!!! My job as a boy was to rake leaves from a huge weeping willow and to remove caterpillars..

Name: Petey Smith ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Apr 8, 2009, 10:51 am - HHS Time
Maiden: Smith
Class: 1972
City & State: Salem, Oregon
E-mail
Message: God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from FOOLS. ~John Muir~

Name: Fred Rinaldi ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Apr 8, 2009, 10:32 am - HHS Time
City & State: Manhattan Beach,CA
E-mail
Message: Summer School Alum: If my memory is correct I believe Dickie Dixon had a great pomegranate tree near holy Joe's, stained a lot of Penneys Towncraft Tshirts there.

Name: Jessie Koehn ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Apr 8, 2009, 9:27 am - HHS Time
Maiden: Corral
Class: 1974
City & State: Los Angeles, CA
E-mail
Message: on the subjects of trees...we had a hugh christmas tree in our front yard...the bottom limbs were so long they covered the sidewalk. I remember everyone having to walk in the street to get around it. I'm surprised no one ever got hit by a car! I remember when it had to be cut down...my mother cried. When we moved, she planted one at our home. Oddly enough, it died the year she passed away.

Name: Bonnie Lou Cozby ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Apr 8, 2009, 8:37 am - HHS Time
Maiden: Simmons
Class: 1971
City & State: Ocean Park, WA
E-mail
Message: Wendy Ulve had a wonderful tree in her backyard with a great treehouse (142nd, the last street in Holly Glen before Rosecrans). That was the first and only treehouse I have ever managed to climb in to, I have height issues, but I remember how very cool it was. Our house on 141st had a huge bottle-brush tree in the back and although it was messy, it was beautiful. Down the street, at Vickie Murdoch's house, there was a fruitful fig tree. We would wait for the figs to pass the ripe stage, then have a huge fig fight...gooey but very satisfying...the figs were a little like paint balls...good splats.

Name: Terry Allen ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Apr 8, 2009, 8:37 am - HHS Time
Maiden: Smith
Class: 1974
City & State: Salem,Or
E-mail
Message: To many trees John, not enough time..

Name: Denny Unfried ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Apr 8, 2009, 8:24 am - HHS Time
Class: 1955
City & State: Del Aire
E-mail
Message: In the 1980's I started a Genealogy tree which requires no water or fertilizer. It has become very large and developed many branches from Alaska to Europe with little maintenance. It must be strong to support over 800 people. Over time it has grown a few nuts.

Name: Joe Lamonica ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Apr 8, 2009, 8:16 am - HHS Time
Class: 1971
City & State: placienta
E-mail
Message: Not one single response as of yet. Keeping my hopes high.

Name: Keith D. Jones ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Apr 8, 2009, 8:16 am - HHS Time
Class: 1976
City & State: LAs Vegas
E-mail
Message: Mike Dragoo, my brother Les went to Humboldt State on a football scholarship back in the mid 70's. Amazing how much we can talk about trees. Have you ever seen a huge Banyan tree. On Maui there is one of the biggest in the world. Also, when I was in Ft. Meyers, FL I went to Thomas Edison's summer (or winter not sure now) home and I think that is the world's largest Banyan tree. Those are weird trees.

Name: Terry Allen ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Apr 8, 2009, 7:54 am - HHS Time
Maiden: Smith
Class: 1974
City & State: Salem, Or
E-mail
Message: I live in Oregon, I don't hug trees. I haven't seen anyone hugging trees. If I did, I would think that person is really strange! Please, people don't go around hugging trees in Oregon..

Name: Michael Dragoo ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Apr 8, 2009, 7:16 am - HHS Time
Class: 1959
City & State: Colusa, CA
E-mail
Message: My mother had a thing about trees in her Hawthorne home. When I was a student at Humboldt State in the early 60's she came for a visit and asked me to dig up a small redwood tree for her to plant in the yard. Little did I know that the tree would eventually grow to dominate most of the backyard. To this day whenever I drive south on the 405 through the Hawthorne area I can glance over near 132nd street and see that tree, taller than most of the other trees, dominating the skyline.

Name: Jim Dally ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Apr 8, 2009, 2:53 am - HHS Time
Class: 1963
City & State: Carson, CA
E-mail
Message: Just after graduation from HHS my oldest sister suggested I go get a job in Sequoia National Park (since they were hiring). I did and had the experience of working among those "Largest Living Things" which are awesome! I recall though on a return trip up there a few years later, stopping in Giant Forest Village where cabins could be rented right there under those huge trees. As I walked thru the cut-out of the fallen tree behind the office I looked to the right & was sorely surprised to see a cabin that had been smashed by the Sequoia trees 5' diameter branch that had come from 200' above. A scary sight! Nowadays, THAT area has been completely cleared of cabins and now you must drive quite a ways further up the road to find shelter but, at least these new buildings are safe from falling Sequoia branches/limbs. Many of the Sequoias are more than 1,000 years old so, they too get old and weak and break now and again.

Name: Dan Johnson ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Apr 8, 2009, 12:22 am - HHS Time
Class: 1977
City & State: Sherman Oaks, CA
E-mail
Message: Speaking of trees, when we first moved to Hawthorne in 1969 we lived on Gale just south of Imperial Highway in an old red house with a huge backyard (that included a bamboo stand!). In that backyard was an avocado tree that had an incredibly cool treehouse. I remember spending a lot of time in that treehouse with a transistor radio listening to Vin Scully and Jerry Doggett call the Dodgers and Dick Endberg (later with Don Drysdale) calling the Angels (by the way, did anyone catch Clyde "Skeeter" Wright on AM 830 with Dave Smith the other day? What a riot he is!). If you climbed to the roof of the treehouse, you could scale some fairly thin branches and make a scary 8 inch "jump" to the roof of the apartment building next door (where, among others, Omar Azze and Kathy Atkins lived). I drove by there a few years back and that house is long gone, the whole huge lot now hosting a large apartment complex. But my memories of that old red house will live on forever.

Name: Edward Schatz ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Apr 7, 2009, 7:28 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1970
City & State: lakewood, calif
E-mail
Message: what an odd topic, trees? I live in lakewood which is nicknamed the "city of trees". but, every time I turn around, someone is cutting one down. I went to city hall and asked them about that, and noted that it should be the "city of tree removers". a natural resource for many reasons, yet most of the time they're hacked down to nothing, denuded of their foliage. shade, fruit, oxygen air purifiers, and chop chop chop. what do we make of this John, asking the sage advice!

Name: Betty Rodriguez ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Apr 7, 2009, 7:07 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Kean
Class: 1969
City & State: Kingman, AZ
E-mail
Message: Trees - we had a few of 'em on Sundale! Back yard had a peach tree, an evergreen elm, a carob and a caltapa. Front yard had something called a hummingbird tree up against the chimney and two ash trees on the parkway. These trees were my father's pride and joy - he paid about $10 a piece back in 1948 or 1949. They are both still there - only ones left on Sundale. I'm sure the City bugs the current owner to cut them down just like they bugged my dad. Didn't there used to be Ficus trees down Hawthorne Blvd.? Betty

Name: Jim Dally ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Apr 7, 2009, 3:33 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1963
City & State: Carson, CA
E-mail
Message: My Mom loved trees. She went to El Camino and took botany classes and related subjects; did very well. In our back yard, way in the back was/is a maple tree. In front of that about 25' was a peach tree which we enjoyed eating from very much! Across to the South side was a "Tree of Heaven" that was a leaf dropper! (Grows fast, has brittle branches, large leaves). Outside the kitchen window was an avacodo tree that shaded the space between the garage and the gate (25') and in some years produced MANY avocado's. In the late '80's it had run its course and was cut down. In the late '50's "We" planted an English Elm out front near the sidewalk which grew to about 35' tall however, one Sunday (day before trash pick-up) my Dad was out raking the front yard under that tree and he walked around to the driveway for something and the Elm dropped a huge branch where my Dad had been working. This was the second time it had done so. Shortly after that the tree was cut to a stump. The Orchid Tree is still out front of the Freeman Ave house producing beautiful flowers.