FEEDBACK
Name: Judy Blomsterberg ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Aug 18, 2015, 8:32 am - HHS Time
Maiden: DeGrazia
Class: 1964
City & State: Harbor City
Message: Tommy, I never knew about the boys marshmallows/flag pole stunt, but I do remember that on my first year at HHS I was told to stay out of the girl's restrooms (called heads then) because the tuff gals (I think called Pachucos or Hodad girls) would wait in there to initiate freshmen. The story goes that some of them had razor blades or knives hidden in their hair, or could smear your face with their red lipstick. I do remember going in one of the restrooms at lunch time and it was filled with cigarette smoke and the Pachuco girls and I made it a point to never enter again until I was a Sophomore. To this day my bladder has never let me down. Also, in my first year I never went into the cafeteria knowing that someone might be in there looking for a sissy to fix..so I had the same thing every day--tamale with beans from the side window of the cafeteria... Ez in and out. Wish I could be that scared about something that didn't exist again. Good times.
That is true that those girls had razor blades in their hair. Paco told me and he wouldn't lie
Name: Ernie Nixon ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Aug 18, 2015, 2:32 am - HHS Time
Class: 1963
City & State: Atlantic Beach, Fl.
Message: As a Freshman, nobody bothered me. Pretty sure it was because I hung around with Bob Elger. 6Ft 8inches tall, 310 lbs.
That always helped, thanks Ern'.
Name: John Rout ~~~~~~~~~~ Mon-Aug 17, 2015, 10:50 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1963
City & State: Cerritos, CA
Message: Talk of freshman hell week reminded me of my week. I was on the B football team. I never got hassled at all during the week by any seniors. Then on Friday, just before the end of the day, a bunch of us on the team were talking and I mentioned that I was a freshman and Roy Carpenter and a couple of other seniors on the team shouted at me, "You're a freshman? I thought you were older!" looking older (cause I was) than most freshman, I got away without being humiliated which was my biggest fear that week. I got lucky!
Thanks John, you were lucky
Name: John Saffron ~~~~~~~~~~ Mon-Aug 17, 2015, 3:09 pm - HHS Time
City & State: Worcester Ma
Message: I was thinking of years gone by and turned to the net to find the place where I grew up. I lived in Lakewood California in the 50s and as I came across this site I found Tin Can Beach. As a kid my family would go and build a bon fire and hunt for grunions. It was a little fish that would come on shore I think to lay its eggs and head back to the sea. It was one of the highlights in my childhood. I am just overwhelmed with all these memories. Thank you for bringing me back to Tin Can Beach.I cannot take the smile off my face. jsaffron@rotmans.com John
Hi John, thanks for the Tin Can Beach update as I can remember when it was full of same. Not sure but don't believe bon fires are allowed now but we do have our remembrances, Thanks again.
Name: Tom Shelley ~~~~~~~~~~ Mon-Aug 17, 2015, 3:08 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1962
City & State: Beaumont, CA
Message: My youngest grandson started high school last week. (Not HHS). I haven't had a chance to talk to him yet, but I talked to his mom the other day. She said (as to be expected) he was nervous about his new adventure. It got me to thinking about my 1st days at HHS. I think I spent the last few weeks of that summer terrified that some senior was going to put a marshmallow where I didn't want one and make me climb the flag pole without losing it!! Unbelievable, all the things we heard that were going to happen to us as freshmen. None of them did happen of course. But I wonder how many other guys started that 1st day with those terrifying images in their head. I never asked and never knew if the girls were told similar stories about what was going to happen to them in that 1st week.
My first day was walking to classes with head down (don't make eye contact, don't make eye contact). My one and only nemesis was a guy named Tom Battoe. He saw my sheepish ways and glommed right onto me. He made me carry his books, his cigarettes, etc. I was his b**ch for about a week. Then, mysteriously, he was gone, never to be seen by me again.
Name: Gary Bickers ~~~~~~~~~~ Mon-Aug 17, 2015, 11:21 am - HHS Time
Class: 1963
City & State: pve cal
Message: Almost changed Redondo Beach High history today. Came very close to running over John Fowler while he was crossing Catalina. Just missed him. John was the Redondo Gary Mykkanen and played four sports during the '60s. I think John went back to RHS and some of you younger Cougars played against his teams.
Thanks Gary, I thought we'd never get another feedback
Name: John Baker ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Aug 14, 2015, 9:01am - HHS Time
Class: 1962
City & State: Lomita CA
Message: Attention all Beach Boys fans. There's a new book out called Becoming the Beach Boys 1961-1963 written by Jim Murphy. Jim has been writing this book for several years and over that span, has contacted me and a few other early Cougars for their insights on the early years of Brian Wilson, Al Jardine, etal. I will let Jim tell the story of this outstanding read, here.
Thanks Cougs.
Name: Robert Fitzgerald ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Aug 13, 2015, 9:41 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1960
City & State: Del Valle, Texas
Message: Hi all been a long time and have not been in ctown since my retirement and move to Texas, my best to all and thanks John for keeping this sight alive.
Hey Fitz, Great to hear from you, man. Stay cool down there in TX and check in again real soon.
Name: Gary Bickers ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Aug 12, 2015, 3:00 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1963
City & State: pve cal
Message: Jan, saw your post. remember the football games in the lot next to your house. My brother was 6'3' as a 12 year old. I was 6'2" as a 12 year old, the Peterson brothers were over 6' as 12 year olds and there were more. You were a little guy, who ended up as a big guy and a friend.
Name: Jan Blomsterberg ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Aug 12, 2015, 2:26 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1963
City & State: Harbor City, CA
Message: Just finished watching a Little League semi-final game on TV and saw that some players - ages 12-13 - were 5'9", 5'10", 5'11" and even one thirteen year old at six foot even! My memories of Little League play - Wiseburn district - in the 50's had no players that tall. Does anyone remember 12-13 year olds who played Little League taller than 5'6"? I'm not remembering Sam Davis ever playing Little League but he may have played in another league. I was happy to see one player at 4'11" as that was my height when I entered high school - age 13!
No I don't remember any super big ones on the Hawthorne American side of town. 5'8" was about it.
Name: Wayne Dickey ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Aug 12, 2015, 12:01 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1969
City & State: La Palma Ca.
Message: What! No cruise night? John Baker. Light the candles and man the ship!
Hey Wayne, Cruise Night will be September 12th. Bring the accordion, dude.
Name: Cheri Longanecker ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Aug 12, 2015, 11:36 am - HHS Time
Maiden: Longanecker
Class: 1965
City & State: Yuma, AZ
Message: This past Sunday, the Saints Car Club of Port Orchard, WA held a show in downtown. The main hwy was closed so that over 150 cars, trucks and motorcycles could be displayed. They also had several vendors. The show was well done. This Helms Bakery truck was beautifully restored, complete with whistle. All it needed was the aroma of the fresh baked goods that were stored in the drawers. I lived on W 105th St. in LA at that time. I'm sure many of you have memories of the Helms Bakery truck.
Very nice Cheri, and yes I can still smell the donuts Thanks very much.
Name: Marilyn Ross ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Aug 11, 2015, 4:34 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Wisham
Class: 1956
Message: Love the facebook page, especially todays photo of the streetcars with Chaneys and Dexters in the background. That really gets the memory juices going.
That one takes me back too, Marilyn, thanks for sharing.
Name: John Pritchard ~~~~~~~~~~ Mon-Aug 10, 2015, 5:04 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1969
City & State: Clayton, CA
Message: The campus photo on the new Cougartown Community Page is indeed from page 16 of the '69 El Molino. It may have been taken by Dennis Henry. Any real surfers may enjoy reading "Barbarian Days: a Surfing Life" by William Finnegan. I was just a fair swimmer and bodysurfer, but it's an interesting book anyway.
Yes that picture was one from Jerry's 69 El Mo alright. We will be swapping those cover photos once in a while. Thanks John.
Name: John Baker ~~~~~~~~~~ Sun-Aug 9, 2015, 10:08am - HHS Time
Class: 1962
City & State: Lomita CA
Message: Greetings Cougars, We have a new Cougartown Community on Facebook called, you guessed it, Cougartown. The page does nothing much presently as it was just added yesterday but it will be an intermediary between our Facebook Cougars and our regular Cougartown family. Lots of our Ctowners have drifted to facebook and this is a way to let them know what's happening with reunions, get togethers, happenings, etc. I haven't quite figured out how to run that page as am not at all familiar with facebook, but with the help of Jerry Miles HHS66, who authored the page, we'll get it done. Yesterday was my first time back on facebook in about a year and things have changed. Must have 500 friend requests that have stacked up. I am not ignoring your requests, just haven't been there.
Anyway, please take a look at our Cougartown Community page if you're a facebooker and be sure to like us there, that way you'll get our Cougartown updates.
Thanks all and looking forward to adding to our new facebook addition and re-connecting with our facebook Cougartown friends.
Name: Ken Green ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Aug 7, 2015, 3:10 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1969
City & State: La Habra Heights, CA
Message: Just a heads up regarding classmates.com charges. I signed up at a discount rate a couple years ago so I could re-connect with friends who foolishly are not part of Cougartown.com. Classmates.com offered a discount at that time, and it was worth $29 to find an old friend. Just got my credit card statement and it had a $59 renewal charge. That's just too much for what classmates.com provides. I got the charge reversed, but if you signed up with them, you can change the renewal to manual, not automatic, and at least decide if you want to keep it. Personally, I don't like the way they structure the communication to temp you to sign up. John deserves a lot of credit for everything he provides here asking only for donations.
Thanks for the heads up Ken, I was going to order some Hee Haw CDs from Time Life, about 8 or 9 in the set for 5 easy payments of 19.99. Well it turns out that the price is for each CD, probably about a $1000 bucks. Gotta read in between the lines
Name: Gordon Martin ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Aug 7, 2015, 10:45 am - HHS Time
Class: 1959
City & State: Phoenix, AZ
Message: Update- Kevin took the Silver medal this AM in the 200M breaststroke.Really exciting race. Races will be on NBC this weekend on Sat. and Sunday afternoon. OK, last post about the grandson. Great hearing from you Robin. Lots of good times back in the day.
We'll be watching Gordon and thanks for the update.
Name: Robin Hood ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Aug 6, 2015, 5:12 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1960
City & State: Eugene O
Message: Gordo! Congrats to Kevin and the entire Martin-Cordes family. We will be looking for more to come. I do not know how much I believe in coincidences or fate for that matter. But there is certainly a touch of irony in Kevin's record setting victory and the loss of "Rudo the mad Russian" (John Rudometkin) on the same day and in Russia no less. Great memories both...
Name: Newell Endicott ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Aug 6, 2015, 4:48 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1963
City & State: Hacienda Hts,CA
Message: First Cougar sighting, went to a BBQ on Monday and met two alumni of HHS, brother and sister. Names are Pablo Mera class of 1987 and Ivonne Mera class of 1988. Neither had heard of Cougartown.com
Way To Go Newell, Good sighting and thanks for passing Cougartown along.
Name: Barney McArdle ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Aug 6, 2015, 9:13 am - HHS Time
Class: 1958
City & State: San Antonio, Texass
Message: Hey Gords, as I told you last night--congrats and let Kevin know that we are all watching. Talk to you soon.
Name: Jim Schroeder ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Aug 5, 2015, 8:20 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1966
City & State: Oregon
Message: Always good to see Gordon Martin on Cougartown. He set the bar pretty high -- only hope his grandson can do as well as he did. Went to a game at the LA Sports Arena in 1962 -- especially to see Gordon play. Being a YORK guy -- he was from the hood.
Thanks Jim, Gordon Martin HHS59 was great in his years at HHS too.
Name: Gordon Martin ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Aug 4, 2015, 1:54 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1959
City & State: Phoenix, AZ
Message: For anyone interested our Grandson Kevin Cordes set the American record this AM for the 50 meter breaststroke at the World Championships in Kazan, Russia.Will swim the 200 later this week. Kevin holds all the American and NCAA short course records (yards)and is the top breaststroker in the country. Looking forward to the Olympic trials and hopefully Olympics in Rio next year.
Hi Gordon, Well congratulations to your grandson on setting yet another record. I'll be watching for Kevin in the Olympic trials and hopefully the 2016 Rio Olympic medal stand.
Name: Bill Shultz ~~~~~~~~~~ Mon-Aug 3, 2015, 11:04 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1963
City & State: Hawthorne, Ca
Message: You have a "HAPPY" Craig!!
Happy Birthday Craig.
Name: Steve Hutchins ~~~~~~~~~~ Sun-Aug 2, 2015, 5:26 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1959
City & State: St. George, Utah
Message: Are you talking about Fermin George Valentini?
Name: Judy Blomsterberg ~~~~~~~~~~ Sun-Aug 2, 2015, 1:37 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: DeGrazia
Class: 1964
Message: No, this is not me with a hormonal beard... So here's the message. When I was growing up I never asked for dolls because I dragged my baby brother and Phil 'Wow' Christiana all over the place with me. Where I was, they were. Happy Birthday Tom!
Happy Birthday Tom

Name: Carl Rilling ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Aug 1, 2015, 12:24 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1959
City & State: Oregon City, oregon
Message: Happy Birthday George Valentini class of 1959. George is not real first name. Guys like Skip " H.M. Kelly, and F. George, you would never call them by their first names. Saved an arm punch that way.
Happy Birthday whoever you are.
Name: Sherry Wingo ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Jul 31, 2015, 11:11 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Peppers
Class: 1964
City & State: Haw. Ca.
Message: Happy Birthday John Rout. You're a really nice man.
Happy Birthday John.
Name: Ernie Nixon ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Jul 31, 2015, 11:25 am - HHS Time
Class: 1963
City & State: Atlantic Beach, Fl.
Message: Happy Birthday, Dennis Carden. Now a fellow east coaster.
Happy Birthday Dennis.
Name: Bill Shultz ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Jul 31, 2015, 11:01 am - HHS Time
Class: 1963
City & State: Hawthorne
Message: Dennis Carden!! The Ramona Rams are calling! You have one great day!!
Name: Bill Shultz ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Jul 30, 2015, 10:47 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1963
City & State: Hawthorne
Message: John Rout you're a good man!! Congrats!! Great job Ernie!!
Happy Birthday John
Name: Linda Huthmaker ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Jul 30, 2015, 5:08 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Huthmaker
Class: 1963
City & State: Torrance, California
Message: Hi All, Today I had the pleasure of attending the "Track & Field" competition, at USC. Those kids are amazing! So happy and excited, about everything. It will be 'bitter-sweet' to say Au Revoir, on Monday, to all the many countries, who participated in the World Special Olympics. So glad to be part of their farewell. Bon Voyage-safe travels to everyone who came to our Los Angeles. We so enjoyed having you with us! Regards, Linda Huthmaker
Name: Bob And Karen Fraser ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Jul 30, 2015, 7:20 am - HHS Time
Class: 1960
City & State: Hawthorne, Ca.
Message: Happy Birthday to dear friend and fellow doo-wopper , John Rout. We love you, John. Have a wonderful day.
Happy Birthday Do Wop John, WE LOVE YOU MAAAANN!!
Name: Ernie Nixon ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Jul 30, 2015, 2:11 am - HHS Time
Class: 1963
City & State: Atlantic Beach, Fl.
Message: Today is our 49th wedding anniversary. She hasn't run me off yet.
Happy Anniversary Ernie. "She?", did you forget her name?
Name: Jim Schroeder ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Jul 28, 2015, 12:46 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1966
City & State: Oregon
Message: Ran across this player profile on Coach Bravo in a 1958 Rams Yearbook. He was quite the man. Hope it's large enough to read the write up?
Thanks Jimbo!! Nice addition
Name: Stephanie Brito ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Jul 28, 2015, 6:11 am - HHS Time
Maiden: Hall
Class: 1961
City & State: rpv, CA
Message: Birthday Greetings to my first friend and good neighbor Billye Ann Renn.
Happy Birthday Billye, have a great day.
Name: Maureen "mo" Trott ~~~~~~~~~~ Mon-Jul 27, 2015, 6:36 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1964
City & State: Hawthorne, CA
Message: Well today my friend Marsha Russell became unemployed...SHE RETIRED! Marsha CONGRATULATIONS, and enjoy your kick back life and enjoy your trip to Italy!!
You made it, Marsh'
Name: Rilling, Carl ~~~~~~~~~~ Mon-Jul 27, 2015, 3:59 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1959
City & State: oregon city, oregon
Message: Los Angeles and ESPN did a great job of putting on the opening of the Special Olympics World Games. What a tribute to the thousands of Special Olympians in the world. Many of our Cougar family have children or grandchildren that are special needs people. I hope everyone enjoyed that opening as much as my family and I.
Name: Ernie Nixon ~~~~~~~~~~ Mon-Jul 27, 2015, 2:15 am - HHS Time
Class: 1963
City & State: Atlantic Beach, Fl.
Message: Present, John. Happy Birthday, Bob Anderson. How are brother's Tom and Dennis?
Happy Birthday Bob.
Name: Richard Hanson ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Jul 24, 2015, 10:05 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1956
City & State: Simi Valley, Ca
Message: Happy Birthday to Bob Hawkins,HHS55, My old Centinela Valley Model Railroad buddy.
Happy Birthday Bob.
Name: Mary Ann Walton-Martin ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Jul 24, 2015, 11:40 am - HHS Time
Maiden: Walton
Class: 1961
City & State: Sierra Vista AZ
Message: Had a wonderful California weekend while attending the Hawthorne Historical Society Hall of Fame dinner on the 17th. Stayed with my BFF from 7th grade at Hawthorne Intermediate - Stephanie Hall Brito '61 and her husband Francisco. Great couple! Jerry Miles' videos were beyond wonderful!!! HHS was well represented - needed a week to chat with friends and former city hall co-workers. The museum's outstanding and enjoyed the bands on Saturday. Also had a bus tour of points of interest in Hawthorne, including the Beach Boys Monument. Saw a lot of the South Bay area and it's all bigger and better. Most of all, I was sincerely appreciative of the honor bestowed on my dad, Reese Walton. And, I didn't cry.
No you didn't, Mary Ann. Great meeting you in person after years on Cougartown. Glad you had a great week and again, congratulations on your father's induction into the Hawthorne Hall Of Fame.

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