Name: Janet Burkett () on Thursday, August 9, 2001 at 00:36:24
E-Mail: jmburkett@att.net
Maiden: Humphreys
Class: 62
City and State: Hawthorne, Ca
Message: Well, I'm happy to say us 62ers would never crash our own party! (At least not since we all turned 50!) But, John, I thought you said I could order that special chocolate ex-l....chip dessert for all those without a ticket that we find!
See ya all on the 18th. Be there....John's gonna be in a tie!! And, lookin mighty good I might add! (I have great taste in men's clothes!)
JB2
Yeah, I'm wearin' a tie.... OK!! Now you all know. Course I could wear my Cougartown Tshirt under it all and..........NAH!!!
Yes she does have good taste in clothes. I can't wait to see her in that sexy A-line she picked out for herself. Va Va Va VOOM!!!

Name: Walter Holt () on Thursday, August 9, 2001 at 00:25:37
Class: 66
City and State: Orange, CA
Message: Know that JB...Was just making a statement as to how redundant that someone, especially a fellow Cougar, would think of , let alone post, crashing the Prom. Sorry for venting fellow Cougs, in my opinion that statement was uncalled for. So Mr./MS. 67/68 put your money where your mouth is, Cough up your dough like the rest of us & come an have a good time.

Name: Not so Curious Cougar--anymore () on Thursday, August 9, 2001 at 00:14:25
Class: 77
Message: Louise, thanks for sharing which student married which teacher!!!!!!

Name: Lisa () on Thursday, August 9, 2001 at 00:09:05
E-Mail: ledsea123@aol.com
Maiden: Graham
Class: 67
City and State: Ramona, CA
Message: John and Judy: It sounds as if prom night has you both a little too serious and on an uptight trip. I apologize if you thought I was trying to get something for nothing - that is not my style today. I sincerely apologize to everyone who has purchased a ticket. I honestly did not see any harm in just stopping by since I had no intention of staying longer than l0 minutes. I really figured that by l:00AM most of you would be three sheets to the wind and wouldn't care or know who was in attendance. I did not understand that we were having a security patrol (will they carry weapons), I do not wish to be put in handcuffs and carted off to police station for a lst strike for crashing "Judy's" prom or imagine 25-life for fake prom ID or for impersonating a Marriott employee. I believe some of you will remember what happened to me at our 20y prom. I hope you all have a great time and I thank you for allowing me this opportunity to see that I really do have a life that is happening. Lisa
Thanks for understanding Lisa.

Name: Judy DeGrazia-Blomsterberg () on Wednesday, August 8, 2001 at 23:58:13
E-Mail: judywudy@socal.rr.com
Maiden: Another 66er
Class: 64
City and State: Torrance, CA
Message: PROM NIGHT UPDATE: Just got my money from LEE LEONARD '66... and he still lives right here in Hawthorne.. We have alumni coming from miles away and some just around the corner.. all coming together for this great event. Just 9 more days...and we're there! I'm gonna start ratting my hair with a tooth brush on Friday night..should be done by noon on Saturday.. Top it off with a little Aqua Net..and some gish..and I'm there. (no John, it's not quiche, it's gish..and the 60's gals know what that is)
JWCB

Name: Walter Holt () on Wednesday, August 8, 2001 at 22:31:46
Class: 66
City and State: Orange, CA
Message: Lots of us 67/68....Dont need no stinking tickets?... Why that smacks of one "Norman" whose name we dont mention. Got to be a "Norman" no self respecting grown up "Cougar" would even think such a thing. We only crashed others parties not our own.
Walter, It wasn't Norman.......

Name: Betty Rodriguez () on Wednesday, August 8, 2001 at 22:14:26
E-Mail: tombetty@kelp.net
Maiden: Kean
Class: 69
City and State: Lake Elsinore, CA
Message: Elizabeth, you bring back such great memories. You guys on 133rd had a vacant field. We kids on Sundale Avenue had the 405 Freeway! We'd run thru those huge cement circular things, hold club meetings down there, ride our bikes down the hills, play hide & seek - it was such a blast! We'd also catch the older kids making out or smoking. Not many kids remember being told by their parents to 'go play on the freeway'! Betty

Name: Judy DeGrazia-Blomsterberg () on Wednesday, August 8, 2001 at 20:55:44
E-Mail: judywudy@socal.rr.com
Maiden: OverMyDeadBody
Class: 64
City and State: Torrance, CA
Message: PROM NITE ANNOUNCEMENT: In feedback today I noticed that one of our own Cougar alumni doesn't plan on buying a ticket, but instead prefers to "crash the party" by showing up towards the end to see his/her old friends. Only people who've signed up for the Prom will be allowed into the foyer beyond the reception tables. There will be hotel security to make sure no one enters without wearing proper ID. To do less would be unfair to those courteous enough to pitch in (their money) to make this great dance happen. However, as John mentioned, you can arrange to meet your buds in the lobby out by the reservation desk and visit there..and please pre-arrange it to make it simple for ya..
Sorry, I'm real tough when it comes to fairness to our Prom guests, and it's my party.. There, I feel better.
Judy Wudy
It really isn't fair for the majority to foot the bill for the Prom so others can come and join in for nothing, I don't care how late you come. Do you agree Coos Bay? Thanks Cougs.....

Name: Sharon () on Wednesday, August 8, 2001 at 20:10:17
E-Mail: hawthornehigh66
Maiden: Moore
Class: 1966
City and State: Long Beach, CA
Message: I was driving down a street in Torrance today when I saw a woman in a sun-faded evening gown wearing streaked chocolate brown nylons and a heavily sprayed bee hive standing next to a mail box. With a half crazed look in her eyes. She was yelling something about, "If you don't have a ticket, you can't get in," while intermittently singing a familiar do-wop song. Judy, was that you?

Name: Cheryl () on Wednesday, August 8, 2001 at 20:05:27
E-Mail: chernico@cvc.net
Class: 62
Message: Way to go Alan..let em have it. By the way, are you coming to "Prom"? We would love to meet all the "voices" of cougartown. Even the "Grappa Man" is getting excited ..... Hows the weather there? It was 101 here today :o(
It was pushing 80 here in Lomita today.

Name: Bill () on Wednesday, August 8, 2001 at 19:52:46
E-Mail: Barmore
Class: 74
City and State: Atlanta ga
Message: Consider yourself thrashed, little sister...

Name: Maurine White () on Wednesday, August 8, 2001 at 19:26:21
E-Mail: maurinekwhite@hotmail.com
Maiden: Endicott
Class: 59
City and State: Huntington Beach
Message: All the talk of vacant lots and the fun we had because of them reminded me of the vacant lot adventures on 137th Street. The area behind the kindergarten building at Ramona school was a giant vacant lot before it was a school ground. The grass grew high, as in everybody else's lot, and Jaye Lyn Stonbraker and I would make trails with our wagons filled with dolls and all the paraphernalia to play "pioneer." We would each flatten our own area and pretend we were on the prairie. After a while we would be invaded by the "indians"--our brothers and the other boys on the street. We would pack our stuff up and run around screaming to get away from the "indians." What fun we had. Several years later when it was a school ground with a playing field and a basketball court, Jaye Lyn and I would endlessly go from her house on one side of the street to mine on the other side of the street to check out the boys playing there. That was fun too! I recently was on my street and some of it is recognizable but not much. A handball court now stands where my house was and Jaye Lyn's house is also gone having been replaced by a gigantic apartment building. The same can be said for several other houses on the street. About all that is left of the old memories is Rocco's Submarine Sandwich shop on the corner of Inglewood Avenue where we would buy pizza and meatball sandwiches on Saturday. Great memories!
Too bad it's not still Rocca's. The best Sub sandwich in the city. Thanks Maurine.

Name: Lyle Tucker () on Wednesday, August 8, 2001 at 19:21:44
E-Mail: LyleTucker@zianet.com
Class: 77
City and State: Roswell, NM
Message: JILL: I waited every year for probably five years for Sheriff John to name my name on my birthday and sing The Birthday Song with me included - how was I to know your parents had to submit your name? I figured he simply knew when it was everyone's birthday! ;-) I was all set to "have some cake and sandwichs and laugh the day away" but it never happened - waaaah! How about Hobo Kelly? I sure loved here as a kid.

Name: Susie Klink Russelle () on Wednesday, August 8, 2001 at 19:15:48
Maiden: Klingenhagen
Class: 1971
City and State: I'm in town...
Message: Just got in to town today, and after a well deserved beer, I decided to say that the loooong drought is over, Susie's back in So. Cal. I've got a room at the Marriott in Manhattan Beach for Friday and Saturday. Give me a call....

Name: Dan Johnson () on Wednesday, August 8, 2001 at 18:51:14
E-Mail: wch1ispink@aol.com
Class: 77
City and State: Sure Man Oaks
Message: Stucker may have been "cute" but I have real issues with him as a "moulder of men." Once we were playing Lawndale in basketball. A 6'3" forward by the name of Tracy Jones faked me and went baseline for a layup. Stucker pulled me out of the game and berated me for being "lackadaisical" Of course, Tracy Jones went on to play Major League baseball for the Tigers and Reds where he was among the league leaders in stolen bases. Why? Because the freaking dude was a great athlete who was quick and fast as hell. I never gave less than 100% on the basketball floor. Tracy Jones was just better than me. The berating was uncalled for. This kind of BS happened 100s of times because I was unfortunate to have the man as Sophomore and Varsity basketball coach. On the other hand, because he was such an unreasonable and abrasive human being, he dissuaded most of the good players from coming out for the team (speaking of Dennis D) which, in turn, gave me a chance to play that I would not have had if these people had been on the team! Life, you take the good with the bad!!

Name: lots of us () on Wednesday, August 8, 2001 at 18:34:35
Class: 67/68
Message: Class of 67 and 68 is coming on the 18th! Tickets we don't need no stinking tickets.
No, but you WILL need 75 dollars AND BADGES, and you old Geezers had better bring your "Hemorrhoid Donuts" because all seats will be filled.

Name: Alan Hauge () on Wednesday, August 8, 2001 at 17:50:29
E-Mail: GMT333
Class: 1961
City and State: Playa del Rey, CA
Message: Yo Robin and John, Thanks for wondering where I was hiding. Been busy here in town and trying to do a film finance deal in Canada, plus the Hollywood strikes that were set for this summer thrashed a months worth of sleep. And for the TNT James Dean project, in simple terms, "a cheap Hollywood rip off" at best. It was this project back in 1995 that I went head to head with when Marvin Worth was alive, (Malcom X producer). De Caprio was set for the lead role of Dean with Michael Mann directing. I placed a full page ad in the Calendar section of the LA Times regarding my screenpley that was authorized by the Dean family and blew up their feature film set for production that summer. Once Marvin Worth died the writer went for a cheap TV version based on a book written in the 70's, mostly rumors and lies. The current Dean flick scheduled again for this Friday at 8pm on TNT shows Dean as a spoiled egotistical brat who was impossible to deal with. A homosexual, which he was not, who hated his father, and his father hating him, also not true. They never mentioned him being an accomplished "Method" actor, the basis for his incredible talent learned in New york. (Like DeNiro, Pacino and Hoffman to name a few). It left out his dream and promise he made to his Mother to someday be the greatest actor in the world, a promise he made at nine with his Mother dying on their living room couch in Santa Monica and how the rest of his life was built on that promise. The real Dean I met while reading his lost diary a few years back. (I am the only one outside of the Dean family to read his diary). He was a great artist, poet, photographer and loved his craft of acting. He had many athletic achievements along the way and studied people each and every day of his life. The TNT film ends with Jimmy's Father telling him his mother confessed she was sleeping around when they got married meaning he most likely wasn't his real father. That's the film's big pay off...what garbage. Sorry I got on a roll but I hate it when Hollywood twists the truth so bad again and again about James Dean and any other subject they get their hands on. When the truth is told..it's purely an accident. Hollywood still thinks the audience is stupid and will believe anything you tell them when the truth in life is always a better choice. No...the only choice. Whew...got that off my chest.
Alan
So Alan, What time is it?.......WAIT, Never Mind!!!
Thanks dude. Glad to see you're still fighting for the good guys.
We need you AND the PT at Prom Night yahno...

Name: John Baker () on Wednesday, August 8, 2001 at 17:42:14
E-Mail: john@cougartown.com
Class: 62
Message:It has happened again, so let's straighten this out. The Class of 70-71-72-73 Reunion is coming Saturday, August 11. Cougartown has NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS REUNION other than publicizing it. Please go to the Reunions Page and check there for tickets to this event. I have in my possession, a check from MARILYN SULLIVAN for either Prom Night or the 70-73 reunion, I don't know which, but she better answer my email soon, because if she shows up at the reunion this weekend, and she's coming all the way from Texas, they won't have her money.
Also, Cougartown has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE CLASS OF 66 REUNION other than publicizing the event, which will be held on Friday night, August 17th, the night BEFORE Cougartown's PROM NIGHT. Please contact Sharon Moore Leach with any questions you may have on that event; again, on the Reunions Page.
Cougartown is ONLY HANDLING PROM NIGHT. If you have any questions, please email Judy Blomsterberg, as she's handling this event (like you didn't know that).
I know these events are all very close together and are ALL being held at the Marriott Manhattan Beach, so it can get confusing to some who don't hang out on this feedback page. Whichever event you're planning to attend, have a wonderful time, but make sure you're signed up for the proper event BEFORE you show up.
PS. Please do NOT forget your Memory Book. If you want a Prom Night Memory Book, the price is 16 dollars before the 18th. ON the 18th of August the price is 20 dollars. Just because you filled out the form doesn't mean you get the Memory Book for 16 dollars. WE NEED YOUR CHECK BEFORE AUGUST 18.
Thanks Cougs......

Name: Mike Backus () on Wednesday, August 8, 2001 at 17:39:22
E-Mail: michael@backusstudio.com
Class: '74
City and State: Eugene, OR.
Message: ***Dan Wilson and the Laser Guided Cruise Cookie***
This is a story well worn around the Backus and Wilson households. It has been told many, many times. The 'kids' (some of whom are now in their mid 20s) say they still like hearing it as it changes slightly with each telling.
I don't know how well you remember the vending machines at HHS, but during the time that Dan and I were there (early '70s), putting your money into one of the vending machines was roughly like house odds at 'Vegas; you might get nothing, you might get five for the price of one. I'm certain that our attempts at 'persuading' stuck machines with flying karate kicks did nothing for their reliability.
If you did lose your snack change in a vending machine your only recourse was to throw yourself on the mercy of the strange little dude that ran herd on the machines. He was one of those odd guys that wore a blue quilted thermal coat 365 days a year. He would never make eye contact with you and had the strange 'there but not there' affect practiced by many adults that deal with teenagers every day. He was widely reviled and ridiculed by our group, both for his terminal nerdiness and for his attitude that we must be lying every time we complained about losing money in his machines.
On the morning that this story takes place Dan and I were standing around with our motorcycling buddies; Steve Stonebraker, Mike Raphael, Rory Miskimen and perhaps a stray Trimarchi or two. Dan had purchased two enormous oatmeal cookies from the machines. He was commenting that they had probably been in the machines since the Beachboys were freshmen. They were stale.
About this time along comes Vending Nerd to do his morning service on the machines. Dan looked at Vending Nerd and then at the frisbee sized cookie. He seemed to be thinking about asking for a refund, which would be the reasonable thing to do. Suddenly Dan takes the cookie and chucks it at Vending Nerd, kind of like one of those martial arts stars in the Bruce Lee movies.
Usually when one throws something like a cookie it will bank one way or the other and go well wide of it's intended target. But not THIS cookie. As soon as it left Dan's hand we all knew that something was different about this throw. It didn't bank. It didn't curve. It didn't gain or lose altitude. It went into flat, level flight. Aimed right at the back of Vending Nerd's head.
Since we were 20 to 30 yards away we couldn't believe that the cookie would actually continue this flight path. We all stood, mouths gaping, watching the Cruise Cookie close on it's target. It seemed like there should have been one of those little red laser dots on the back of Vending Nerd's melon. Right at the moment that the cookie impacted his skull, sending a shower of stale, hard oatmeal in every direction, we realized that we were the obvious launch site. In one quick motion we all spun and dropped, forming a seated semi-circle facing in the opposite direction. Someone, I think Stonebraker, asked "Do you think he's okay?" I snuck a quick peek over my shoulder and saw the poor guy wobbling around like a drunk on rubber legs. Dan felt bad, but obviously there were forces at work here beyond Dan's ability to throw a cookie. It must have been, despite being stale, the one true Perfect Throwing Cookie. ***** SEE YOU AT THE PROM, COUGS!
Sooooo Mike.......hmmmmm.......I thought maybe this story was going to have an ending, yahno like Vending Nerd turned into Vending Samurai WARRIOR and laid waste to the Vending Neer Do Wells.
Yes we'll see you on Prom Night. I can't wait....

Name: Dave Butner () on Wednesday, August 8, 2001 at 17:37:37
E-Mail: dbutner@earthlink.net
Class: 74
City and State: Kirkland, WA
Message: Need Help Locating an Old Friend! - I would appreciate anyone letting me know if they have any information on the whereabouts of Dan Hodson, class of '71.
Thanks much, Dave Butner

Name: Robin () on Wednesday, August 8, 2001 at 15:25:59
E-Mail: LovedtheWarSurplusstore.com
Maiden: Montana..Joe Montana
Class: 60
City and State: Condo Beach,CA
Message: John, the 11th hour is a little late for great solutions, but what we needed was a "Which Ones Prom" t-shirt, with all the info on the back.(Hi Dan:o).........And those too young to remember the term "empty lots" missed a lot. I remember more land than homes as a kid ,and our favorite place was 132nd just east of Inglewood Ave. 6 or 7 back to back lots filled with that same rye grass that made for the best grass bomb fights in Hawthorne. Nothing made a better story at Ramona School than how you threw a 50 yrd (spiral no less) perfect strike to the enemys fort and hit that rotten Billy Riggs in the head...Ok , so I missed by 40 yds...The dream lived for decades:o)..The irony of this is we wore helmets..LOL....Hey where has Alan Hauge been? Saw a James Dean special the other night and wondered if he was involved in it? And get well soon Jake! Later Cougs...:o)
Yes, but grass bomb fights were reserved for spring when the ground was damp and just the right amount of soft earth attached itself to the roots......yep, Grass Bombs, the original Lawn Dart.
Alan Hauge, please check in......

Name: LOUISE () on Wednesday, August 8, 2001 at 14:59:08
E-Mail: louise@cmaintl.com
Maiden: St.George
Class: 77
City and State: Lancaster, CA
Message: Sharon Branigan, I would of been a T.A. for Noel Smith, but my best friend Carol Stellino got to him first and I got stuck with Stucker. She ending up getting married to him! :} Are you the same Sharon that used to go out with cutie pie Dennis D.???

Name: Elizabeth Estrada () on Wednesday, August 8, 2001 at 12:38:48
E-Mail: dzlizzy219@aol.com
Class: 69
Message: This morning I taught a meditation class and while everyone was gathering I overheard a conversation about all the new construction going on in the South Bay. Manhattan Beach is beginning to look like Beverly Hills with all the multi-million dollar homes or mansions that are replacing the small beach cottages. Few people have yards anymore. Redondo Beach has turned into Condo Beach with million dollar condos on the Esplanade. Every spare lot has been consumed. No more vacant lots to play in. Even our dear old Hawthorne is going through a building transition. Rosecrans Ave is going to be full of hotels and shopping malls and business offices. It's actually a good investment if you can get a home in the Holly Glen or Ramona Tracts. After class I was thinking about the days when we had space to play. One such place sprang to mind. There was a huge empty lot behind Foster's on 133rd Street. It was a stage for our imaginations. One day we would build a raft and pretend we were floating down the Mississippi River and the next day it was a fort out on the open prairie. My favorite was when it was a club house. We read stories and acted out plays. In the summer we were barefoot and brown and sticky with the overflow of the Fosters Slushes. When my older sisters, Sharon, Vicky and Linda were old enough to work, they each got jobs at Fosters, just the other side of the vacant lot and just the other side of childhood games. One summer the sisters were playing cowboys and indians and the next they were whispering about the cutie pie boys hanging out down the street. I guess it happens that way. The vacant lot became an apartment complex and parking lot. No room to play. But I still remember the 133rd Street kids on the open prairie. Kelly? Do you remember?
We had a vacant lot on Birch Av. next to the phone company. I remember that lot like yesterday. It was filled with rye grass that had grown up tall in the spring, only to have turned a tannish brown by mid summer. We, the kids, owned that lot. It was ours to do with what we wanted. We dug foxholes and trenches in it, then we'd reinact scenes from the "Sands of Iwo Jima" there, with items we'd accumulated from the local war surplus store.
When we finally abandoned it for "other interests" like girls and cars, it looked like it had seen the Battle of the Bulge. It's funny how kids walk away from a piece of their life, not realizing what it meant to them until 4 or 5 decades later.
Thanks Liz, Great story; I know it took me back.....