Name: Sharon Macdonald ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Dec 17, 2010, 6:52 am - HHS Time
Maiden: Badger
Class: 1963
City & State: Bruceville, TX

Message: Wow - Enza, I worked at the ice cream/gift wrap counter at Clark Drugs in 1962/1963. Dip a few cones, wipe your hands, and wrap a few gifts! All that fun with a free ice cream cone at break.

Name: Jan Hyatt ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Dec 17, 2010, 6:21 am - HHS Time
Maiden: Brown
Class: 1963
City & State: Sparta, Mo.

Message: My favorite Christmas memory, going to our favorite Christmas tree lot on Hawthorne, blvd. It was always so foggy you could not see your hand in front of your face. We always made it home safely and so excited to decorate our REAL beautiful Christmas tree. A Merry Christmas to all! Jan

Name: Clark Millan ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Dec 16, 2010, 8:37 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1976
City & State: manhattan Beach,CA

Message: Hey Bobby Jensen: you send me a ticket and I'll join you in a flash! Give me two weeks. if I can't find a Cougar in Antarctica I guarantee I'll be able to tell you what school all those funny little fellows in black & white suits went to, HHS or penguin polytechnic! Come to think of it there were a few students at HHS who reminded me of penguins!

Name: George Johnson ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Dec 16, 2010, 8:22 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1962
City & State: Spinnaker Coves, Ca

Message: Darlin Sharon; No, didn't move, just use the location wherever I happen to be at when I post, LOL, when the sun falls, I fall. I have a place in Palm Desert and during the season, I'm there most of the time trying to play golf. I have found that golf is a very easy game, it's just very difficult to play and I am terrible at it. Dennis Campbell & his lovely wife Eilene came to visit Arlene & I a few months ago and ended up buying a place just a few blocks and a couple of fareways away from us. I just got back to Long Beach and saw your post, note the location change, hope this clears things up.Jorge

Name: Cindy Pablico ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Dec 16, 2010, 7:51 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Christon
Class: 1971
City & State: Hawthorne, Ca.

Message: Just a message: Hello to all Cougars. Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas, and a peaceful Holiday, and the Happiest of the New Year too! May all your dreams come true. God Bless you all.

Name: Enza Nicocia ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Dec 16, 2010, 2:44 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1972
City & State: Earth
No E-mail
Message: I had a random thought regarding gift wrapping at Clarks Drugs during the Xmas season. Does anyone remember the ice cream counter, & the gift wrapping that was complimentary at the end of that counter? I was the 'gift wrapper' for several years (sis Jackie & Maria worked there, & I had 'Juice', Mr Putman was the store manager & was a tough boss!..lol). I cannot tell you how this 16 year old wrapped hundreds of gifts, & didn't know what the heck I was doing. One night,(I will NEVER forget this), this sweet lady saw that I was swamped, and said: "Oh honey, let me show you how to do this." I went into 5th gear after that, & ever since have been wrapping gifts for everyone, I enjoy it so much..it lets my creative side shine. There is a 'trick' to doing it fast & efficient, & this lady was kind enough to show me. I not only worked for Clarks during the Xmas season..I was a boxgirl at Boys Market, & would walk over & do another shift at Clarks. OH, if I had half the energy that I had then :) Btw, The Boston Store also had free gift wrapping too. My sister Lena did this as a teenager. A service that is long gone..but gave the teens of the 60-70's a job..kept kids off the streets & money in their pockets. Yes, get your teens to work ASAP in this modern society..it builds a good 'work' ethic, self worth & self esteem, something that is missing w/our youth today.

Name: Sharon Branigan ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Dec 16, 2010, 12:06 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Bierman
Class: 1976
City & State: San Clemente, CA

Message: Leo Valencia, please email me. George Johnson and Paul Weiber, did you move? Sharon Leach, prayers for the safe return of your granddaughter and my thanks to her for her courage and service. Bobby Jensen, it's gonna be a blue Christmas without you! Clark Millman, welcome back to sunny SoCal! Jim Frederick those are valuable life skills you learned! I worked for the Daily Breeze for a few years, supervised paper boys and had to throw a few paper routes myself on Christmas morning. I drove my little Pinto with both windows down and got pretty good at winging those papers onto driveways. Got pulled over by HPD for some reason but they didn't ticket me, seeing as it was Christmas morning and all and I was probably still wearing my pajamas. Geez at 18 I was such a dummy. Hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season, Merry Christmas!

Name: Sharon Leach ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Dec 16, 2010, 11:37 am - HHS Time
Maiden: Moore
Class: 1966
City & State: Long Beach, CA

Message: My sincere condolences to Judy and her family. Judy, I must say your father was a very handsome man and your mother very beautiful. That is a wonderful picture of the two of them.

Name: John Baker ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Dec 16, 2010, 7:33 am - HHS Time
Class: 1962
City & State: Lomita

Message: For all who knew Frank DeGrazia, Judy DeGrazia Blomsterberg's father. Frank passed away on December 9th at the ripe old age of 97 years. There will be a memorial this Sunday at Rice Mortuary in Torrance. If you'd like to sign Frank's memorial guestbook, please go here. To Judy, and Jan, our sincere condolences to you and the rest of the Degrazia family.

Name: John Baker ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Dec 16, 2010, 7:33 am - HHS Time
Class: 1962
City & State: Lomita

Message: To Martha Amour: I tried your email address but got this back
RCPT To: mamour@portsocalldining.com <<< 550 No such user here
Please fix it on the Cougartown Info System. Thanks and to all, please check yours too. It seems we just forget to update our email addresses and address info.

Name: Jim Frederick ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Dec 16, 2010, 6:55 am - HHS Time
Class: 1969
City & State: West Hills Ca,

Message: Hey Ron! I worked out of that office also. Mannnnnnn i still tell stories of those days! ... I remember Ted and getting up early on Sunday mornings ...Their was an "old" Drunk that lived in a tiny apt, behind the office and he would always come in from the bars just when we would be showing up ... Well one of the older carriers showed us (passing the torch) that the drunk always put his keys under the floor mat of the car .... So we would load up our papers and make rapid deliveries! OH! and we would always buy gasoline and fill it up for him! And Ted never knew it! And then we all would go to Winchells Doughnuts on the Blvd, and drink coffee and buy cigs for $.25 CENTS! And listen to the stories of WW2 told from the old baker who really looked after us .... Great Guy!... So lets see ..... What did i learn from being a newspapper delivary boy? How to steal a car (and get away with it) buy cigs, under age , and drink coffee .... BTW I don't smoke anymore or steal cars but i still love my Java! Against Dr. orders of course LOL!

Name: Ron Dickson ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Dec 15, 2010, 6:03 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1967
City & State: Norco,Ca.

Message: The topic of the Herald Examiner brought back many memories.I was a carrier out of the office on Inglewood Ave. We had a lot of older Alumni that would stuff the ad sections and put them together for the Sunday papers. I believe the owner of the office was named Ted?. Who out there was also a carrier from that office? I know John Norman was one.

Name: Bob Jensen ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Dec 15, 2010, 12:44 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1971
City & State: South Pole
No E-mail
Message: Here’s wishing you a very Blue Christmas and a Happy New Year. Well, the Blue is because I am in Antarctica for 3 weeks and everything looks blue. Its summer here and the temperatures are higher than in some parts of the US. I hope everyone’s holidays are great ones. Hey John, I wish we had Clark Millman with us, if we did we would be guaranteed to have a Cougar Sighting down here. Hope to see everyone in February.

Name: Edward Schatz ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Dec 15, 2010, 11:23 am - HHS Time
Class: 1970
City & State: lakewood

Message: Hello to all. I have been absent from Cougartown for some time, life just takes over, and goes as it does. For all of you here and not here, for those present and those whose memory burns in our minds and hearts. For those we remember and those long since forgotten and congealed with cobwebs. A very safe, healthy, happy and prosperous holiday season. May you all lead the lives you wish to have. To the coming new year.

Name: Michael M Kratz ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Dec 15, 2010, 9:40 am - HHS Time
Class: 1971
City & State: Vegas

Message: In the photo of "Hawthorne City Hall honoring Chris Montez and the HHS Class of 1960." Who is the person we can"t see?

Name: Clark Millman ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Dec 14, 2010, 7:47 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1976
City & State: Manhattan Beach,CA

Message: Cougar sighting: Sunday night I walked to the Manhattan pier to join a crowd of 50,000 gathered to watch the annual Chamber of Commerce fireworks display on the pier. Suddenly heard someone call my name and turned around to find Tony Palombo ('75) and his wife. Ran track with Tony at HHS and always a pleasure to run into old teammates! Hope everyone had fun at Hawthorne City Hall tonight!

Name: George Johnson ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Dec 14, 2010, 7:03 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1962
City & State: Palm Desert, Ca

Message: He, Peter;That Skippy's later became a McDonalds or Burger King, I think ?, wasn't it on Hawthorne Blvd., just around the corner from Hawthorne Intermediate ?. I'm sure John knows, he has all the goods on Hawthorne, he must have a secret, special web site he goes to. Jorge

Name: Tom Shelley ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Dec 14, 2010, 6:30 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1962
City & State: beaumont, CA

Message: Thanks Jon for corekting my spelin. Your rite. Its Harald not Horald. Butt than you no that I cud nevar spel wurth a chit anyways. HA, just yanking your lariat pal.

Name: Ray Shelley ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Dec 14, 2010, 3:34 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1958
City & State: Mena, AR

Message: John, Harold Examiner & Harold Express, were cousins, they lived on Birch Ave. Both of them delivered the Herald newspaper. I think that's where Tom got confused. Merry Christmas to all.... Ray

Name: Tom Shelley ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Dec 14, 2010, 11:46 am - HHS Time
Class: 1962
City & State: Beaumont, CA

Message: Wow, Peter Nelson, you packed a whole lot of brain joggers into one paragraph. Thanks. George, I got my SS card in 1956. I still remember going to the SS office in Inglewood. Don't remember the street it was on. Maybe Manchester? I don't remember having to get a work permit to work at 14 yrs. old. I guess it depended who you worked for. I shouldn't post at mid-night. I was a little off on my newspaper summary. The L.A. Times was owned by the Times Mirror Corp. in our day. But I don't think it was ever called "The Times Mirror". My father worked for the Times Mirror Corp. (That's where I got the name!) The Harold was called the Harold Express but by the time we began sucking air it was the Harold Examiner, as you said John. Merry Christmas to all. Tom

Name: George Johnson ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Dec 14, 2010, 10:31 am - HHS Time
Class: 1962
City & State: Palm Desert, Ca

Message: Tom, I forgot to add the best part, I also had to get a SSI card, along with the work permit. Thanks to starting working early in life, I obtained all my required quarters for SSI eligibility before joining the L.A. Sheriff's Dept. I did not even know I was eligible for any SSI $$$, until I went down to their offices to check on Medicare eligibility and they told me. Granted it's not much, because they pro rate it down due to me working for a so called government agency and receiving a pension, but it's frosting on the cake.Jorge

Name: George Johnson ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Dec 14, 2010, 10:20 am - HHS Time
Class: 1962
City & State: Palm Desert, Ca

Message: Tom; Great subject. My first real job that I had & required a work permit, because I was only 14 or 15 years old, was at Konnie's Korner Liquor located on Inglewood Ave. & I think 140th St.. I made a wopping $0.50 cents an hour, you beat me by .40 cents, but your probably smarter than I am LOL. As I look back now, I made more money mowing lawns back in the day. Oh well, life goes on and it was a great life experience, I found out who the alcoholics were in the neighborhood and what they drank. Jorge

Name: Peter Nelson ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Dec 14, 2010, 10:14 am - HHS Time
Class: 1957
City & State: corona ca

Message: I worked at the hawthorne post office from september 1957 to october 1964, corona post office from october 1964 to 1998, 41 years as a mailman 31 years on the same route I loved my job as a mailman. from 1957 to 1964 two deliveries the week before christmas, most of the mailmen got back to the post office between 530 and 600.pm I got to carry the mail route where the beach boys lived at 3704 west 119 street, which is a freeway now, I got to talk with one beach boy dennis wilson people called him dennis the menace. Back in the 50s there was a drive in called skippys, 5 hamburgers for a doller, it was on hawthorne boulevard near 130 street, also mastin rexall drugs at 100 east broadway, the pharmacist was grant mastin grant was a wonderful person. in the 1950s 1960s, the hawthorne parade was called hawthorne kiwanis parade, Jane Mansfield was the grand marshall in 1963-1964 jane rode a horse down hawthorne bouleward, another grand marshall was george putnam. my dad was a milkman for 21 years, my dad had to get up every morning at 400 am. My favorite 3 christmas songs: 3 snoopys christmas by the royal guardsmen 2. the man with all the toys by the beach boys 1. blue christmas by elvis presley. I wish everyone a happy christmas and a happy new year pete nelson class of 1957