Name: Jjm Frederick ~~~~~~~~~~ Sun-Dec 4, 2011, 7:21 am - HHS Time
Class: 1969
City & State: West Hills / Hanalei Kauai HI,

Message: Aloha! .... I,ve been hard down for a couple of months .... I was being tested for cancer. Mannnnn! What a trip that was! Turns out i don't have cancer!! But have what is called neuropathy.. Anyway im still kicking!! and i plan to stick around for a bit more!! LOL! ... Any way , We lived on 120 th, st.. 120 th, was a busy street. So some of you may remember our house. My dad went and got tumble weeds and put them on a pole stuck into the ground. Placing the larger tumble weed on the bottom and smaller ones above the larger one. Then he would paint them white and turn them into "Tumble weed snow men" . One year he had a flood light a little to close and YEP .. It caught on fire! What a sight that was LOL!! After that he went to those plywood cut outs of snow people , oh and a santa claus also.. Wish i could find those plywood cutout figures! You wood clue the image on the plywood and then cut it out with a saber saw. SIMPLE!.. Were going to be spending the holidays at our Hanalei! My wife is retiring and were having all the family over for christmas! I also want to thank Judy and Linda Dawson for staying in touch with me thru all my cancer test! Your information was helpful Judy! May you all have a wonderful holiday season! And thank you J.B.!! Merry Christmas!!

Name: Maureen Trott ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Dec 3, 2011, 8:34 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1964
City & State: Hawthorne, CA

Message: Happy Birthday Denny! Next breakfast is on me, if you get there after me...LOL. Love ya!

Name: Denny Unfried ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Dec 3, 2011, 6:24 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1955
City & State: Del Aire

Message: One old prehistoric dude appreciates the birthday wishes from my Cougar(ette) friends whom I would have never met if not for Cougartown. Thanks again JB1. See ya'll next breakfast.

Name: Bob Fraser ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Dec 3, 2011, 3:27 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1960
City & State: Hawthorne, Ca.
No E-mail
Message: I just received word that Pat Skaff (c/o 60), sister of Jerry (67) and Tom (64) passed away Dec. 1st. Viewing will be on Wednesday, Dec.7th at the McKay's South Bay Mortuary, 3918 Marine, Lawndale, from 4pm-8pm. Her funeral (see Bob Fraser, above). So sorry to hear of her passing. On a happier note, Happy Birthday , Denny Unfried. How do you keep getting younger looking!

Name: Jean Macernie ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Dec 3, 2011, 1:41 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Caldwell
Class: 1968
City & State: Albq NM
No E-mail
Message: My Christmas Memories include....Santas Village (pulling Santas beard to see if it was real....it was) Seeing Mrs Santa in a Bakery shop or something like that. Riding in the sleigh with Rudolph pulling it! I also remember The beautiful decorations on Kornblum St where my Aunt Mary lived. I also remember the parades in Inglewood...My dad insisted on a real tree every year....with those lights that looked like pointsettas (?)...Showing off our new toys with all our friends on 122nd St, and of course the Christmas dinner at home with my family!

Name: Janet Burkett ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Dec 3, 2011, 10:26 am - HHS Time
Maiden: Humphreys
Class: 1962
City & State: Ca
No E-mail
Message: Happy Birthday Denny. What great Christmas memories! I also loved Lake Arrowhead but we went to the lower end of town, Crestline mostly. There was a great bakery there and also a cafe with the world's best chili. That was way before I went to the mountains to ski! I also remember the wonderful Christmas decorations and a whole evening of entertainment just driving around and looking at them. Dad used to put this white stuff (sheets of fiber glass?) all over our lawn to make it look like snow. Probably not legal now.

Name: Doris Donaldson ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Dec 3, 2011, 8:27 am - HHS Time
Maiden: donaldson
Class: 1957
City & State: Brrrr, Idaho Brrrr!
No E-mail
Message: Happy Birthday to "oldtimer" Denny Unfried! Isn't he our eldest Cougar, besides teachers of course? ha! Don't fret; there's a couple of us not too far behind. Think probably Marilyn is barely in line before me. Have you noticed, John, how as we grow older, we post less and less. Why is that? I've heard about some pretty big winds out that way ... is everyone still in one piece?

Name: Tom Shelley ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Dec 2, 2011, 9:14 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1962
City & State: Beaumont, CA

Message: Wow, all these great posts lately of early day memories... Kathy Downer mentioned Lake Arrowhead. That was our favorite place to go. We always rented a cabin in Blue Jay but would spend most of our time in Arrowhead Village (before it became so "upscale"). There was a "penny arcade" there where we would spend most of our time. And it really was a "penny" arcade. I think for about $3 we could play all of the games. And we usually ended the day with a pocket full of cheap prizes. (Remember the little wicker cylinders that you could put one finger in each end and pull and you couldn't get your fingers out!!??) Real high tech stuff. And Santa's Village. Really something we kids looked forward to during the holiday season. What fun and it didn't require a $75 book of tickets...and gas at, what, .29/gal? Good old days for sure!

Name: Kathy Downer ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Dec 2, 2011, 2:53 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Peterson
Class: 1970
City & State: Marietta, Ohio

Message: I also remember Santas Village. You could ride the "bee" monorail. It was the first time I had ever tasted fritos with spices on them. Now most of the chips are flavored. I remember Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear well. Was in Big Bear when the Charles Manson news broke and later honeymooned in Lake Arrowhead. John- keep up the good work!

Name: Jill McFarlane-Jaynes ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Dec 2, 2011, 1:06 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: McFarlane
Class: 1977
City & State: Mission Viejo, CA

Message: Hey Class of 77, your 35th reunion is in the works! We have a date, we have a place! Save the date for Saturday, August 4th, and join us at the Skylinks Golf Course in Long Beach for food, drinks and seeing classmates again. (Notice I didn't say OLD classmates?) John has posted the details on the Reunions page. Other classes are invited. I need a committee, so if you are interested in helping me out, please email me privately. Thanks! Hope to see you in August.

Name: Eugene Obillo ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Dec 2, 2011, 4:04 am - HHS Time
Class: 1962
City & State: Harbor City,Calif
No E-mail
Message: I remember playing the part of Santa at the fire station in 1973 for Hawthorne Jaycees , the only kids that cried were my two sons. Seems like yesterday when I was young and could do things like that. Now our oldest son often plays the part of Santa where he teaches and our younger dresses in Disney costumes for students at his school. I seldom write in so in advance Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Name: Patty Saville ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Dec 1, 2011, 6:37 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Valencia
Class: 1974
City & State: Laguna Beach, ca

Message: Awe - great Santa article. And, Danny Bliss or Danny Blitz. I'm thinking poor little Danny was the victim of a typo! Very cool, thanks John. Nice way to kick off Christmas. :)

Name: Cindy Pablico ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Dec 1, 2011, 6:12 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Christon
Class: 1971
City & State: Hawthorne, Ca.

Message: Thanks for the info. I'm going for Green Bay. I would have liked my team to be in Superbowl 49ers. So did everyone survive the wind last night? I did scary though I work at Dana Middle school and we had a power outage of course I still had to prepare lunches. Almost in the dark. I've been working at Dana for 13 yrs. and only had 3 power outages. Be safe all.

Name: Sharon Leach ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Nov 30, 2011, 9:27 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1966
City & State: Long beach ca

Message: Wow, great memories. I remember all these things. Christmas in Hawthorne was extra special. Judy I'm cracking up that you thought you were irish. That's okay my sis thought she was full blooded italian and didn't speak a word of english till she was 5. Then our irish father came home from the war and started to teach her english so he could communicate with her. Darn that man. By the time I came along she was fluent and bossy. Glenn, good to see you on CT. Where have you been? As for Santa's Village. We never stopped, dad called it a tourist trap. Honestly, I think he didn't want to spend the money. I loved going to Sears & talking to Santa. Loved the Christmas parade too. Thanks for the memories.

Name: Jerry Miles ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Nov 30, 2011, 9:00 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1966
City & State: Fair Oaks. CA
No E-mail
Message: Glenn, it is always so nice when I hear someone enjoys my little videos. Thank you. That particular one has two rather nice stories regarding it. When I first made it I had a background tune of a wonderful Christmas medley. About this time YouTube went copyright crazy and made me change it to a terrible generic tune or remove it completely. I actually was so upset I wrote a note apologizing to anyone that watched the video after the change. A very nice lady songwriter, not a Cougar but from the LA area, saw my complaint and offered one of her original tunes. That is why it is now called Santa’s Village II and includes her wonderful song. Not long after the change was made I received an email from another young lady that had spotted her own mother among the pictures portraying an elf. She had many very fond memories of Santa’s Village when her mother worked there when she was a small girl but few pictures. Of course I was happy to email her a copy of the picture. As to where I find all these wonderful memories the sources are diverse. In the case of the Santa’s Village video many were from old postcards. Now I have to go. I'm on my way to Sears to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what I want for Christmas 'cause I've been very good all year (most of the time).

Name: Glenn Crist ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Nov 30, 2011, 8:14 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1964
City & State: Sonoma, CA

Message: One of Jerry's classics on the CT Video Net is Santa's Village in Sky Forest (on the way to Big Bear). Jer, where did you get these pics? I don't think I ever got to visit 'cause Dad was always in such a big hurry to get to the snow; I guess he thought it was going to melt or something. Snow in SoCal... who'd believe?

Name: Judy Blomsterberg ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Nov 30, 2011, 7:35 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: DeGrazia
Class: 1964
City & State: Torrance
No E-mail
Message: Ahh... Christmas.. Regent Circle --I can remember telling my mom that the reason I was so late coming home was that my boyfriend took me to RC to see the lights & we couldn't get out. (Mom was easy) How about Christmas time at Sears & Roebuck when the little man in the tower on the roof used to direct cars to empty parking spots from a microphone. Sears even had a Santa so we could tell him what we wanted & I still have that picture. Market St, the decorations were very ahead of their time back then, but I enjoyed the sparkles in the sidewalk even more. I thought that someone put gold or silver in it.. but then again, I thought I was Irish until I was about 11. Thanks for the memories. Malls are great, but the small town feeling isn't there.. after all, this isn't a small town anymore. If you want, Sidney, I can still sing the Mission Pack song.

Name: Cindy Pablico ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Nov 30, 2011, 4:20 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Christon
Class: 1971
City & State: Hawthorne, Ca.

Message: For all you USC fans what a game. I felt bad for UCLA and the Coach. But I'm a USC fan myself. I was hoping UCLA could have scored at least two touchdowns. I'm a football fan. Yes, four years I went to ours. Anyone, who knows who will be in the Superbowl yet? or think who will be there?

Name: Jerry Miles ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Nov 30, 2011, 4:17 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1966
City & State: Fair Oaks, CA
No E-mail
Message: If I remember right, which becomes more debatable as the years go by, I was always a little jealous of Inglewood’s Christmas lights as they completely crossed Market Street and seemed so bright and festive. Hawthorne’s were OK and were upgraded every few years but confined to the light poles. I seem to remember this was decided because the Boulevard was so wide through Hawthorne that the cost and the chance of the wind blowing them down with such a long free standing run made it prohibitive. My favorite neighborhood for Christmas decorations was always Regent Circle too. I have been looking for pictures of the street at Christmastime for over ten years. I’m still looking. I do have several Hawthorne Christmas videos among the CT Videos. One does include some pictures of the Inglewood Christmas parade in the 1950’s.

Name: Sherry Ward ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Nov 30, 2011, 2:54 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Rout
Class: 1965
City & State: Somewhere in Tennessee

Message: Happy Birthday to my friend Dean Karels. Hope you are having a really wonderful day.

Name: Clark Millman ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Nov 30, 2011, 2:26 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1976
City & State: Manhattan Beach, CA

Message: Could somebody please refresh my memory..On Monday night I was driving home through Hawthorne down Hawthorne Blvd. and the only city Christmas decorations were cheap small lights on the street lights, Didn't we have nice Christmas decorations in the 60s and 70s that hung all the way across the street? I'm sure budget cuts are the culprit (bummer!)

Name: Rosa Rojas ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Nov 30, 2011, 11:56 am - HHS Time
Maiden: Campos
Class: 1988
City & State: Sacramento CA

Message: Hi does anybody have a number for Teacher Joan Kennely she was a math teacher back on the 80's any information would be appreciated. She is been retired for about four years now. Thank you.

Name: Enza Nicocia ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Nov 29, 2011, 8:53 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Nicocia
Class: 1972
City & State: San Pedro, Ca

Message: Regarding the Xmas decorations on Hawthorne Blvd: I really enjoyed the 'back in the day' decorations that were strung 'across' the blvd..remember them? The new ones are just not as festive, in my opinion. Inglewood had some great decorated neighborhoods that our dad would take us to. I especially remember the full size nativity scenes. And, anyone in the Palos Verdes, SoBay areas needing a mature Sicilian/American caregiver, I have room for another senior in my schedule in need of some TLC. OH, btw, the fire station that was across the street from Washington Elementary school used to have a Santa, have they ever had that at the new location? I think it was Bob Klein that played Santa..Teri, Rick & Faelin's pappa. What a great thing that was..so many fond memories of getting candy from Santa during the 60's!