Name: George Key ~~~~~~~~~~ Mon-Jan 17, 2011, 8:29 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1980
City & State: PVE 80
No E-mail
Message: Attended Narbonne High in Lomita. One of our coaches was a grad and player at USC. He got a job for some of us to usher at USC games. I would walk over to Harbour City and ride the red car to Santa Barbara St. for 10 cents and walk over to the Coliseum to usher. We got a box lunch and $2. In 1941 I started College at Occidental in Eagle Rock. My girl friend would drive me to Hawthorne in her Model A Ford. From there I took the #5 yellow car. If I got off in downtown LA it was 7 cents. All the way to Eagle Rock was 10 cents. Slow travel but the price was great for a starving student.

Name: George Johnson ~~~~~~~~~~ Mon-Jan 17, 2011, 3:34 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1962
City & State: Palm Desert, Ca

Message: Hey, John;Looking at that parking lot next to Thrifty's Dept. Store gave me a flashback in time. I went shopping there for school clothes and had spent quite a bit of money. I was 16 years old and very proud of myself, because that was the first time I had told my parents not to worry spending their money on me. Because, I was buying my own clothes for school from my earnings at Konnies Korner Liquor store on Inglewood Ave.. Well, I came out of the store and my car was parked in the side parking area and I had all the windows down because it was still summer & vey hot. I threw 3 or 4 bags of clothes in the back seat and then remembered something else I needed (sox I think) in the store, well I was only gone maybe 3 to 4 minutes, and when I came back out, you guessed it, all the bags with my school clothes were gone. I was very upset to say the least, just another hard lesson in life LOL. I guess that's when I really started not liking thieves and not trusting anybody, and it was due to my own stupidity of leaving my car windows down. I did get my school clothes, however, I had to buy them twice. Jorge

Name: Max Roelen ~~~~~~~~~~ Mon-Jan 17, 2011, 11:31 am - HHS Time
Class: 1974
City & State: Citrus Heights, CA

Message: I was checking out the streetcar videos from the link Neil Larson posted. Car #3165 looked like a late 50's VW bus. Interesting to say the least. Thanks Neil.

Name: Jim Frederick ~~~~~~~~~~ Mon-Jan 17, 2011, 8:51 am - HHS Time
Class: 1969
City & State: West Hills Ca,/ Hanalei HI,

Message: One thing i remember , Was watching the trolly cars being dumped in the ocean near Redondo beach. They made a reef out of them. Anyone remember that?

Name: Kyle Jokela ~~~~~~~~~~ Mon-Jan 17, 2011, 2:57 am - HHS Time
Class: 1971
City & State: Port Orchard, Wa

Message: Hi Cougars. I haven't posted here in quite a while. I'm not a graduate of Hawthorne High. My eldest sister Sharon is though, class of 1962. She's doing great, and living in Mendocino County. My two other sisters Suzy and Valerie, and my brother Ken didn't graduate from HHS. But much of their childhood was in Hawthorne. I did attend Eucalyptus Elementary School, up until the middle of 5th grade. I see a lot of familiar faces here, and it's great seeing you all. After Hawthorne, we moved to Ohio for 4 years. Then we moved back to Hawthorne for 9 months. Most of my Freshman year I went to HHS. But that following Summer we moved to the Seattle area, where I graduated from high school there. After that I went to Bellevue Community College (Washington), where I had former HHS coach Ernie Woods as my college basketball coach. It's funny, I was so young when Ernie was the coach at HHS, I didn't even know he coached at HHS, until I read it here on Cougartown a few years ago! I was also on the college track team there. A year and a half ago, I retired from a career with the US Postal Service. And just over a month ago, I bought a home up in Port Orchard, Washington. Though I enjoy California, I really love Washington. But I do miss So Cal, and I will make visits there to visit my dad, brother and sister. I moved around a lot while growing up, and I feel like I have more than just one hometown. Scattered roots and memories. But Cougartown helps to bring all my great Hawthorne memories back into focus. With those images, I've written a poem for Cougartown, it's titled "Hawthorne Time: "It's Hawthorne time now and the weather is fair .... Sunny tomorrow after the fog dissolves in the air .... The sounds of big jets, flying off to who knows where .... Taking people to places, maybe O'Hare .... I remember Hawthorne, our little house is still there .... Tucked between apartments now as I drive by and stare .... Thanks to Cougartown all our memories we can share .... Because it's Hawthorne time now, in our hearts everywhere.

Name: Marilyn Ross ~~~~~~~~~~ Sun-Jan 16, 2011, 11:11 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Wisham
Class: 1956
No E-mail
Message: I found and interesting video on a website called Freeman Pad a pictorial history. If you google that with Danny Giles you should find it. He apparently grew up in the Hawthorne area. He talks about the Streetcars of Los Angeles. He said the last of the street cars in Los Angeles lines stopped in 1963. Probably the line in Hawthorne stopped before that. The video takes place at the Orange Empire Railway Museum.

Name: Lee Ann Nixon ~~~~~~~~~~ Sun-Jan 16, 2011, 4:35 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Nixon
Class: 1964
City & State: Vancouver, WA

Message: All of these photos of old Hawthorne make me realize how far back it went and that our parents and their parents must have been pioneers to arrive and settle there. I know that my English great-grandmother, who had three daughters, came here because one of her girls had asthma and she was told to move to the West Coast because the ocean air would be good for her. It helped her tremendously. By the way, that was my Aunt Mayme, mother to Kelly Newell, who owned the Shell station on 118th and Hawthorne Blvd for as long as I can remember.

Name: Michael Marion Kratz ~~~~~~~~~~ Sun-Jan 16, 2011, 12:29 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1971
City & State: Sunrise Manor Vegas

Message: Hope their's more of these Hawthorne photo's of past, I love the colored one's. I myself have a collection of old Vegas photo's, dating back to 1905.

Name: Jerry Miles ~~~~~~~~~~ Sun-Jan 16, 2011, 12:19 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1966
City & State: Fair Oaks CA
No E-mail
Message: Denny, I remember that question on the driving test. They were actually called “safety zones” and the answer was 10 MPH or under. That one and the railroad crossing without a gate always were tough for me to remember. The speed limit is 15 mph within 100 feet of a railroad crossing where you cannot see the tracks for 400 feet in both directions. With a gate, normal legal speed. We had a couple of places in Hawthorne that met that 100/400 foot without a gate rule and the DMV tester almost always used them during a teenagers driving test. I know they did to me.

Name: Denny Unfried ~~~~~~~~~~ Sun-Jan 16, 2011, 8:32 am - HHS Time
Class: 1955
City & State: Del Aire, CA
No E-mail
Message: The b/w photo of car #1275 was the early and my favorite model of trolley with the cow catcher. The first few rows at the end of the cars usually had the windows open but the center section had a door at each end to get out of the weather. On Market street in Inglewood there were passenger loading zones in the middle of the street where you could stand at your own risk. I remember my first driver license test had a question about the speed limit when passing a streetcar loading zone.

Name: George Johnson ~~~~~~~~~~ Sun-Jan 16, 2011, 7:30 am - HHS Time
Class: 1962
City & State: Palm Desert, Ca

Message: Hey, Neal; LOL, I never professed to be a street car, electric car, Ford/Chevy motor car or anything other kinda car expert. However, you sound very knowlegible and should write a book or something. I have ridden Angels Gate, the trollys in San Francisco and the street cars in olden Hawthorne and didn't know anything about them, except that they got you from point "A" to point "B" most of the time without a hitch and didn't much care about what they were. All I said was that I thought I remembered that the red car was the Long Beach trolly, potato / patoto LOL. I remember my parents & Grandparents referring to them as trolly's or street cars, didn't much matter back tnen what they called them, I knew what they meant. My grandfather took the red car to work in Long Beach at the ship yard, that's how I remembered about the red car & Long Beach, I'm probrbly wrong, but the red car had to go somewhere, why not Long Beach LOL. I'm shure you know what caused the demise of the street car in Hawthorne and surrounding LA areas. When fossil fuel engine powered busses became a cheap way of transportation, long before the EPA existed, The money powers behind the Rapid Transit District bought all the then street car company ownership rights and disbanded their use as mass transportation, they tore up most of the tracks and sold it as scrap. This was done in hopes that it would increasing the RTD ridership, which it did, bacause they were the only game in town, so to speak, creating more money profit for them. This worked fine for a while, then everbody started driving their own car and look at the RTD today, still a good mode of transportation, except nobody uses it and it costs a fortune to operate, it's been losing money for decades. Jorge

Name: Neil Larson ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Jan 15, 2011, 3:50 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1971
City & State: CRESTVIEW

Message: Pictured type “H” L.A. Railway Car with “Fruit Salad” paint scheme. 1265 of 250 “H” Cars built in 1921. MTA electric service ended in 1963. First of the California Style, with Steel sub-frame Chassis & wooden upper furniture. The 5 Line ran from Hawthorne to the 6 Line into Eagle Rock on Colorado Blvd. The “Red Cars” were all Pacific Electric Inter-Urban transport. Larger, higher platform & faster the Red Cars connected between Southern California cities. Red Cars could zip along at 60 MPH or more. While LARy ran basic street routes, the Red Cars made Huntington a wealthy man. George , all Street Cars are electric motor powered, Trolleys are cable driven by underground moving cable. Angels Flight was a “trolley” / do not confuse proper term Street Car when an overhead power line is used. **Catherine, LARy ran various more modern designs like the famous PCC on different routes, the newer car designs were “lower” easier to climb aboard so they worked well on busy city street & sidewalk traffic areas while these “H” type sat high off the divided center median of Hawthorne Blvd. so it may have been in service on the 5 line well into 1958. P.S. Cougs when you get out to the OERM to ride these “Cars” please look for Lennox High class of 69’ Danny Giles, tell him Neil sent you. Danny is Museum Staff, he will take time to give you a “cook’s” tour and show you behind the scenes. See my video of OERM.

Name: Bob Brophy ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Jan 15, 2011, 2:13 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1963
City & State: Phoenix

Message: John, My sisters took the Red car to St. Agnes High School in L.A. They rode the Red car. They always would get on it at Broadway and Hawthorne Blvd. Hope this helps. Bob brophy Serra High 1963.

Name: George Johnson ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Jan 15, 2011, 1:51 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1962
City & State: Palm Desert, Ca.

Message: Hey, John; If memory serves me correctly, I think the Red car was the Long Beach trolly, all the trollys connected and you needed transfers from one to the other. Jorge

Name: Tom Shelley ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Jan 15, 2011, 11:42 am - HHS Time
Class: 1962
City & State: Beaumont, CA

Message: Catherine, we moved to California (Hawthorne) in 1951 and I seem to remember the old open air cars around that time. Jake mentioned the "5" car. Was there not also a "Red" car? I may be off on that...! That picture is such a great memory jogger! I worked for the Hawthorne Advertiser Press which was right across the boulevard from Dexters and Chaneys. I vaguely remember them both, (Mr. Dexter and Mr. Chaney) coming into the office at different times to "discuss" their ads with the Whitebrooks, owners of the HAP. Mr. C was always very nice and, I thought, sophisticated. Mr. D. seemed a bit rough around the edges. The one thing that strikes me when looking at that picture is that all of those stores and businesses offered job opportunities for us young folks. We started throwing papers at 10 or 11 years old and moved up to Dexters or Chaneys or Safeway or what ever. I think every kid I knew had a job after school or on the week-end. Wow, what a time!

Name: Catherine Robuck ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Jan 15, 2011, 9:23 am - HHS Time
Class: 1971
City & State: San pedro CA

Message: Good Morning Cougars It's so neat to see pictures of our past. Did they have another kind of street car run those tracks later? Not looking like a bus but more open air form? Have a Great Saturday Cathie

Name: Mary Ann Martin ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Jan 15, 2011, 9:03 am - HHS Time
Maiden: Walton
Class: 1961
City & State: n

Message: Condolences to the Jones family - Keith was one-in-a-million and touched so many lives. FYI: The SEC has won five straight BCS titles. The trolley cars were a childhood experience everyone should have had. Hawthorne missed out when the city didn't buy one and maintain it for future generation's enjoyment. JB, that's the best picture I've ever seen of "downtown" Hawthorne! Dad and I took a round trip ride the last day the trolley ran and I've never forgotten how unigue that day was!

Name: Jan Chauncey Norton ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Jan 15, 2011, 8:20 am - HHS Time
Maiden: Chauncey
Class: 1971
City & State: Hawthorne, CA

Message: Hey it is REUNION TIME for the HHS Classes of 1970 - 1971 – 1972 – 1973 on AUG 27, 2011. For reunion details on Cougartown, please click on HAPPENINGS on the header line, then click on CLASS REUNIONS in the dropdown, scroll down to the 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973 Multi-class Reunion box for details, to order tickets, and complete the information form. If you would like to go directly to our Multi Class Reunion site for details to order tickets and complete the information form, please go to multiclassreunion.net. Our committee hopes you will spread-the-40 year Reunion-word to your classmates. Holy Moly, 40 years! Please be sure to update your email address changes on the Cougartown Alumni list, that is our contact to you! Hope to see you there!

Name: Noreen Culley ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Jan 15, 2011, 7:42 am - HHS Time
Maiden: Crotty
Class: 1972
City & State: Westchester, CA

Message: Anita, John, Eric and Susan THANK YOU so much for the birthday wishes. We took a drive up to Cambria and Paso Robles for a few days of wine tasting. With this beautiful So Cal weather, the trip was perfect. Since Eric mentioned the 70 thru 73 reunion meeting, I want to remind everyone to update your Cougartown contact info. The reunion is only 7 months away and your reunion committee members are looking for you.

Name: El Rojo ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Jan 15, 2011, 6:39 am - HHS Time
Maiden: Jacobsen
Class: 1960
City & State: Hawthorne, CA
No E-mail
Message: Boy does that picture bring back memories. I recall going Christmas shopping with my Mom and G-Ma back in the early 50's, uptown, in Inglewood. Whoa!! That was cool. Couldn't stand to not see what was in all those shopping bags. Also taking that 5 Car, which I believe it was called at that time, to Centinela Pool in the summer. Howard, am I right that there used to be a station right across from the park? Can't remember. But I know we would give our folks fits by walking into Inglewood, instead of taking the car into Hawthorne, walking into Thriftys in Inglewood, long walk, for ice cream and then taking the bus home instead of the trolley. .07 cents for the bus ride back then if you were under 12. Who would think of giving your kids that kind of freedom today. Keith, R.I.P. MAY THE COUGAR BE WITH YOU! Jake N Jude

Name: Tesa Riggs ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Jan 15, 2011, 12:25 am - HHS Time
Maiden: Dallons
Class: 1977
City & State: Los Angeles, CA

Message: It is with a heavy heart that I am passing the news that Don Brokaw passed away tonight at around 10:30 p.m. He had waged a pretty fierce war on cancer. He was only 51. If you have any questions about where to send condolences, etc. send me an email. By the way, he really truly enjoyed all the earlier cards and letters from his HHS friends....