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It's Doo Wop Time Johnnie and Joe

Name: Joe Loser () on Saturday, February 1, 2003 at 20:41:50
E-Mail: jl@excite.com
City and State: Bev.Hills
Class: 77
Message: Hey is this the same Gregg Staffon that we all called Mr. Bitchin. I think you got off on the wrong exite here mr. cool you wanted some attention I am sorry it was me that gave it to you, but oh well!!!

Name: Chris Prewitt () on Saturday, February 1, 2003 at 20:07:06
E-Mail: cjprewitt
City and State: Fullerton, CA
Class: 1967
Message: Hi all, My wife looked at the photo and said, "That's the Valencias!" We have not met them all but back row left is Patty and back row center is Ricki. It is hard to tell from the picture.
Hey Chris, I'll give you Patty, but no Ricki. Thanks....

Name: Greg Staffon () on Saturday, February 1, 2003 at 18:23:00
E-Mail: staffon@excite.com
City and State: burbank,ca
Class: 77
Message: Hi there, how are all you losers doing out there? How in heck is all my fans of 77 doing.
Yours truly Greg Staffon

Name: Alan Nelson () on Saturday, February 1, 2003 at 15:39:59
E-Mail: boatcop@boatcop.com
City and State: Parker, Az
Class: '73
Message: Tim, The KKK story is just that. A story. My wife and her family had been in Manhattan Beach since the '40s. (Well, maybe not my wife since then) Anyway, the park and parking lot at 26th street was owned by one of MBs original settling families. The area at 26th was undeveloped, privately owned land. The last member of the family, (an old spinster lady) deeded the property to the City with the stipulation that it NEVER be developed or sold, and remained for the use of the public. That's the main reason that the area, with the highest land values in the United States, is still a park, and always will. There may be a little bit of truth to the City resident's racist tendencies in the '50s, '60s and '70s. The Manhattan Beach Property Owner's Association (Remember the parties at the Association Hall on Rosecrans?) had to approve every property sale that took place in the City. The only sales to blacks that took place, were to extremely successful Doctors, Lawyers, etc. They strived to keep the community segregated, and were successful, until threatened with major lawsuits in the mid-late '70s. I think the Association still exists, but as a community service group, without anywhere near the power that they had back then.

Name: Kostiszak () on Saturday, February 1, 2003 at 12:11:15
E-Mail: kostiszak
City and State: Las Vegas, NV
Maiden: kostiszak
Class: 83
Message: I love all The Kettle Stories. Keith Jones, HELLO, Thanks for all the advice on Las Vegas, I love it here. My Favorite Pet was a snake that my friend Laurie Rice had, well it was her brothers snake (Mike Rice of HHS) I think it was a Python, it was huge. Mike used to keep rats in the garage and Laurie and I used feed the snake and watch it kill the rat and eat it. Mike would get upset because we would over feed the snake. Then we would rap the snake around our body and take it for a walk outside and freak people out. Mike would take the snake to the beach and freak people out there.

Name: Walter Holt () on Saturday, February 1, 2003 at 11:47:01
E-Mail: walterholthhs66@socal.rr.com
City and State: Orange, Ca
Class: 66
Message: George what a great story..You brought to memory a place I had forgotten about, North American Salvage. My dad worked for North American Aviation as a tool and die maker. He was one of those people that loved to build things and work with his hands. We used to spend hours going through the salvage over there. My dad used to love working with electronics so he would get his spare parts for radio controled model airplanes, radios & such from there. I always had so much fun going through and playing with all of the aircraft parts there while he would search for what he needed. He and I worked in our garage making many different things from electronics to furniture and even building boats occasionally for his friends. we too used to get the fiberglass & resin from there because it was always cheaper then the boat shops. My dad was amazing with fiberglass from working with it all the time at work. He could mix resin and tell you within seconds of when it would set up, mixing it one way for glassing and another for gloss coating. I used to love listening to him explain how they built the different projects such as the Gemini And Appolo Capsules, the X-15, the XB-70, the Saturn & Atlas rockets & such. We truely grew up in an era that awakened wonderful technological advancements, though there are great ones today we saw the start.

Name: Walter Holt () on Saturday, February 1, 2003 at 10:09:20
E-Mail: walterholthhs66@socal.rr.com
City and State: Orange, Ca
Class: 66
Message: My heart felt sympathaties go out to the families of the crew of The lost Columbia Space Shuttle. May they rest in peace & forever be remembered not for their loss but for the good they did with their lives.

Name: George KEY () on Saturday, February 1, 2003 at 02:04:16
E-Mail: mathesh@aol.com
City and State: PVE CA
Class: 80
Message: One more 26St memory. 1936 my Boys Life magazine had a plan to build a paddleboard so my buddie and I built one in ninth grade woodshop at Narbonne High in Lomita. We took our prized creation to the PV cove and found it leaked like a sieve. Also it was the season for the blue sharks to be in the cove so we lost interest in a hurry.
1942 joined the Marine Corps and had some duty patrolling San Onofre. The surfers thought we were after them but we were watching for enemy troops we thought would land there to capture Camp Pendelton.
Soon found myself on a troop ship out of San Diego heading for the South Pacific. The ship developed engine trouble and we had to put into Pearl Harbor for repairs. The Royal Hawaiian Hotel had been turned into a rec center for servicemen and we checked out a surfboard--a 10 foot redwood log so heavy we were pooped by the time we got to the brek and about all we caught was a bad sunburn.
1948 started teaching woodshop at Leuzinger. The biology teacher was an avid surfer and heard about making a board out of foam. We found a war surplus navy life raft for eight dollars. It was foam inside but covered with heavy canvas, rope and tar on the outside. We worked endless hours but finally had a nice blank. We were then told to fiberglass it but had never heard of such a thing but we found resin and cloth at North American Salvage yard in El Segundo. We wanted the board to be strong so put on a nice heavy coat of resin. Within an hour it had dissolved into a sticky mess like mollasses. Then someone told us we were supposed to wall paper the foam first.
1960 my young son and neighborhood buddies wanted to learn to surf so every Saturday morning I loaded them into my 1957 Ford station wagon and took them to 26St for lessons with Toby Erlinger. One of the kids was little Jeff Hackman who became a world champ and made enough money to start the Quicksilver company.
Have you ever stopped to think how lucky we are to live in the South Bay and to make it even better was my 32 years with all of you in Centinela Valley Schools. Thanks for the wonderful memories. I love you guys.
Now THAT'S a surfin' story.

Can I borrow that Boys Life?

Name: betsy () on Friday, January 31, 2003 at 19:33:06
E-Mail: bettsann@aol.com
City and State: scottsdale, arizona
Maiden: watts
Class: 76

Message: howdy, happy friday. took my son to LA a couple weeks ago, had to show him where he was born in santa monica, so much has changed. went to manhattan and looked for joe's candy, but no luck. went to the kettle, talked his ear off, he's 22 and talks about "back in the day" and I just crack up....went to seal beach to see my old pals from leuzinger munti roth and diane fallaha, had'nt seen them in about 15 years! I remember many days at 26, losin my top playing frisbee, and sweethearts of the rodeo in redondo with my brother's numerous bands: bullets, etc. arizona is fab right now, sunsets in the spa. Get it while u can, life is short!!

Name: Dave Krikac () on Friday, January 31, 2003 at 18:47:38
E-Mail: dadkrikac@aol.com
City and State: Franklin, TN
Class: 1976

Message: Hey Jessie Corral, Hey Cougs,,,,yep yep yep, My Brother is Paul Krikac, not too many of us Krikac's...He is a Private I living in Westchester...He and my Sister Karen still live in California....I will tell him you said hey. Shout out to the BABES of the original 133rd St Gang. Liz and Kelley....
All is well in Nashville.....
Dave

Name: Keith D. Jones () on Friday, January 31, 2003 at 17:54:27
E-Mail: cmi50@yahoo.com
City and State: Honolulu, HI
Class: 76

Message: Here is one we haven't talked about. What was your favorite pet while at HHS. Mine was easily Bundy our dog. He was the best. I remember when he got so old we had to put him asleep. I let him sleep with me in my bed the last night. My dad tried to act all tough but we all cried because our favorite pet was gone. We bought a Visla to keep him company the last several months. I miss Bundy.
Good topic Keith: Mine was Jingo, a Samoyed. We'd take him cruising so girls would talk to us. We'd NEVER let him out of the car though, because if he got ahold of your leg, he wouldn't let go. Mike Shay used to say, not around adults of course, "If you know Baker's dog, you've been screwed".

Thanks Keith....

Name: susie () on Friday, January 31, 2003 at 16:18:20
E-Mail: Mustangsusie21@msn.com
City and State: GOTSNOW?,NM
Maiden: klingenhagen
Class: 1971

Message: Back about '75, I was teaching guitar at Gene Leis guitar studio in Manhattan Beach. This chick came in to buy strings and told me I should come by the Pizza Palace(in Manhattan) and check out her band...after being completely blown away by not only the way she played guitar (a little bit country to my rocknroll!) but I was asked to join this band for a time. She and I used to hang out at the Kettle working on song lists for the weekends...Any idea who this band is or what became of this awesome chick/guitarpicker??? The band was THE SWEETHEARTS OF THE RODEO(and THEIR HANDSOME BAND) and Janis Oliver(MCHS) was the guitar player who married(& divorced) Vince Gill...
....and the OTHER "Sweetheart" is Kristine Arnold. My favorite song by SOR was the Beatles, "I Feel Fine".

Name: Kell () on Friday, January 31, 2003 at 13:26:03
E-Mail: whatwouldandodo.org
City and State: the beautiful oregon coast
Message: Tim, i've heard that story too.. makes you wonder...I think the houses were where the park is ..it must have been a very long time ago, i started going to two six when i was in 7th grade..hell that was long ago...

Name: Terrie () on Friday, January 31, 2003 at 13:08:23
E-Mail: kostiszak@yahoo.com
City and State: Las Vegas, NV
Maiden: kostiszak
Class: 83
Message: Hi Bud Rhoades!! Yes I have spent many nites at The Kettle after hanging out at beach clubs (back in the day) I remember the Kettle being PACKED with people at 1 and 2 AM it was incredible, people waiting outside to get a seat to eat there, I loved their french onion soup!! Now I live in Las Vegas, a 24 hour town, no lines to wait in. But The Kettle was special because I would see alot of people I knew waiting in line at The Kettle at 1 AM since it stayed opened so late. That was cool

Name: Mary Ann Avila () on Friday, January 31, 2003 at 12:37:28
E-Mail: mavila7428@aol.com
City and State: Del Aire
Maiden: Stanley
Class: 77

Message: http://www.surfacademy.org With all the talk about surfing I thought some of you might be interested in this site. They offer surf lessons to adults! I did this last year with a group of teachers (all of us were over 40) and we had a blast. The class is right off of Imperial and the instructors were very patient with us. I think the classes start up again in March...so for all those who always wanted to learn how to surf...here's your chance. On a side-note: After my lesson I told my 16 year old son that we can now surf together...he just gave me a strange look...I wonder why?

Name: Tim Helble () on Friday, January 31, 2003 at 11:39:27
E-Mail: TKHelble@netscape.net
City and State: Columbia, MD
Class: 73

Message: Great stories about grunion hunting. One thing I liked about going to the beach at night was that if you dug in the wet sand real fast with your hands, it would glow green. Probably was related to the red tide plankton. Also, does anybody remember the story Mr Atkins (Am Lit) used to tell about why there was a parking lot at 26th street instead of houses? It might be a myth, but the story was that way back in time there were homes there, but that their owners were mostly if not entirely black. One night some KKK'ers (or people who think like the KKK) burned them all down, and after that the city decided to build a parking lot there rather than letting the people rebuild. Truth or fiction?
Very interesting......

Name: Bud () on Friday, January 31, 2003 at 11:25:53
E-Mail: bud.rhoades@fullmerinc.com
City and State: Seal Beach,Ca
Class: 74
Message: Terry, as John noted, Seal Beach is just south of Long Beach. Its actually sandwiched between Huntington Beach to the south and Long Beach to the north. Its the last of the real small town beach communities. My wife and I moved here from Newport Beach a couple of years ago and we wouldn't trade it for anything. A great small town atmosphere right at the beach. The Kettle, we spent an awful lot of late night/early mornings fortifying our bodies there during the good ol' crazy days. I bet a lot of C-towners have a good Kettle story or two.......Have a great weekend everyone.
Is it weekend time already?

Name: Don (crow) Burns () on Friday, January 31, 2003 at 09:29:38
E-Mail: burnslock@yahoo.com
City and State: Downey, Ca.
Message: Hey Cougs. All cruisers. there is a cruise in @ the Walmart, the west side of the Long Beach Town Center, from 1-5pm, Sat. 2-1-03. The Long Beach Town Center is located on the west side of the 605 frwy @ Carson/Lincoln and it's hosted by Hazel & Ray, they used to do the cruise @ Fuddruckers @ Lakewood Center. See ya there, Don

Name: Kell () on Thursday, January 30, 2003 at 23:29:17
E-Mail: whatwouldandodo.org
City and State: the beautiful oregon coast

Message: I always enjoyed the so called red tide..at night it was so bitchen, I remember a time that i took elizabeth and sherry krines i believe, i know it was elizabeth, to the beach at night when it was red tide, we had the best time we laughed and had a great time..that might have been the night we got to the car and the couple in the car next to us were having one heck of a good time..elizabeth pounded on the window of the car and yelled something, scared the kids in the car half to death..that was a riot (we thought so anyway)...my favorite night at 26th was the night wallo planned the knocking down of the parking lot wall..it was about to fall anyway so we figured no big deal....a bunch of us met up and proceeded to finish it off...and we ran like hell..those were the days of more fun and less cops. heathcare not warfare...love kelley

Name: Terrie () on Thursday, January 30, 2003 at 21:10:49
E-Mail: kostiszak@yahoo.com
City and State: Las Vegas
Maiden: Kostiszak
Class: 83
Message: Hi Bud Rhoades, Yeah it was Joes Candy Cottage, I forgot the Cottage part!! That was a great Candy store! Is Seal Beach near San Diego. I am planning on moving there after I get married in June. I've been in Las Vegas for 2 years and love it here but now have to move back to Calif. I hope the job market is good there. Does anyone know what Joes Candy Cottage is now? I know The Kettle Restaurant is still there!
Seal Beach is near Long Beach

Name: Walter Holt () on Thursday, January 30, 2003 at 19:57:01
E-Mail: walterholthhs66@socal.rr.com
City and State: Orange, Ca
Class: 66

Message: I am sure the Cabrillo Museum would be great fun for the family..really...But a grunion hunt without Booze, Blankets, plenty of HHS babes N Dudes, Fires And lots of load music Just doesn't seem the same somehow. Jerry, Yeah I forgot about Pier Avenue having surf flicks. Man some of my old favorites were: Have Board Will Travel, Cat On A Hot Foam Board, Barefoot Adventure & Slippery When Wet to name a few. Just Last week I bought The DVD of Endless Summer. First time I watched it in Years, Man did it bring a flood of old memories. Someone else I forgot of our old Surf buddies was Bobby Parker. Half the fun of my surfing right now is teaching my 14 yr. old daughter to surf.

Name: Alan Nelson () on Thursday, January 30, 2003 at 16:21:36
E-Mail: boatcop@boatcop.com
City and State: Parker, Az
Class: '73

Message: The story about the arrest of the 1957 Cop Killer really freaked out my wife. Her Dad was on his way home to Manhattan Beach from his job at P.O.P. driving down Sepulveda in El Segundo shortly after the shooting. His car matched the shooter's and the physical description was similar. The Police kept him in jail and "interviewed" him (remember, this was 9 years before Miranda) for two days. They finally were able to check out his alibi, and let him go.

Name: Bud () on Thursday, January 30, 2003 at 16:08:10
E-Mail: bud.rhoades@fullmerinc.com
City and State: Seal Beach,Ca
Class: 74

Message: Terry Kostiszak, I cant remember the last time I heard of Joe's Candy Cottage, great memories. When we were kids we would head there for big hunks of white chocolate and then head back to the beach. One summer day, Robb Russell and I made our daily visit to Joe's for white chocolate. We headed back to El Porto, scarfed down the chocolate and then decided to body surf a solid 6 foot south swell. I got pummeled and salt water rushed through my sinuses, with it the remains of a good size chunk of Joe's white chocolate. To this day when I eat it surfing I swear I still can smell and taste the stuff.

Name: Marilyn Ross () on Thursday, January 30, 2003 at 15:53:42
E-Mail: mlr@hotmail.com
City and State: Garden Grove, Ca
Maiden: Wisham
Class: 56

Message: I remember the murder of the 2 police officers in '57 very well. My husband lived in El Segundo and everyone there was very paranoid. My husband knew one of them and worked with his wife. We went to dinner one night with my boyfriends parents and when we came home my husband (boyfriend then) and his dad searched the house while I waited outside with his mother they were afraid to go in. We weren't used to that sort of thing in those days.

Name: Jessie () on Thursday, January 30, 2003 at 15:18:43
E-Mail: mikejessie
City and State: LA, CA
Maiden: Corral
Class: Wanna be Cougar of '74
Message: Hey Dave, are you by any chance related to Paul? I remember him at Hawthorne Intermediate as being quite the ladies man. Or at least he thought so ha! If you are, please tell him I said Hello.I must admit, I did have a bit of a crush on him myself, but he was way outta my league :)

Name: Bob Brophy () on Thursday, January 30, 2003 at 14:30:11
E-Mail: rbrophy8@cox.net
City and State: Phoenx
Class: Serra '53
Message: That story of the officers who were shot can be found at latimes.com Bob

Name: Terrie () on Thursday, January 30, 2003 at 14:02:40
E-Mail: kostiszak@yahoo.com
City and State: Las Vegas, NV
Maiden: Kostiszak
Class: 83
Message: Jill Macfarlane THANK YOU for answering my question, The bar next to Mickys Bikini was called La Paz!! It is now a yuppie type bar called Sunsets, its pretty cool. Does anyone remember Joes Candy on Manhattan Beach Blvd. I used to get White Chocolate there all the time.

Name: Sharon Branigan () on Thursday, January 30, 2003 at 12:49:47
E-Mail: srbranigan.srb@verizon.net
City and State: Thousand Oaks, CA
Maiden: Bierman
Class: 76

Message: For anyone who has never seen the grunion run, I strongly recommend the Cabrillo Marine Museum's grunion program which runs specific evenings from March thru July. Admission includes the museum, touch tank, film presentation; then to the beach to observe the grunion. They have a fabulous program and it's great fun for the whole family. You can see more about the museum at www.cabrilloaq.org - Don't miss this; they put on a great show!!!

Name: Jill McFarlane () on Thursday, January 30, 2003 at 12:28:19
E-Mail: jillmcfar@aol.com
City and State: Mission Viejo, CA
Class: 1977

Message: Dan, I read the same story but in the Orange Co. Register. Isn't Van Ness and El Segundo considered the unicorporated part of Hawthorne? When the paper mentioned a vacant field I thought it might have meant somewhere else. Isn't modern day forensics amazing?

Name: Dan Johnson () on Thursday, January 30, 2003 at 12:01:48
E-Mail: wch1ispink@aol.com
City and State: Sherman Oaks
Class: 77

Message: Just read the story about the 45 year old murder case from El Segundo and apparently it all started at "lover's lane" at Van Ness and El Segundo in 1957? An amazing tale. It's in the LA Times.

Name: Jerry Miles () on Thursday, January 30, 2003 at 10:21:09
E-Mail: jfmiles@pacbell.net
City and State: Fair Oaks, CA
Class: 66

Message: Walter?s tale certainly did bring back many great memories. I guess I was the lucky one though. Around the time I was 10 or so we went grunion hunting at the fire pits and they actually did come in. We all had gunnysacks and got our fill that night. I have no memory of eating the darn things but I guess we did. It did give me hope on the other few dozen times I tried again but never saw a single grunion.
Going to the surf movies was always enormous fun. I remember once I called my buddy Fred Kaiman and asked if he wanted to go to Pier Avenue School for ?Standing Room Only?. He declined and I just thought he has other plans. I found out a few days later he was very disappointed he had missed it. He had thought ?Standing Room Only? was the seating arrangement and didn?t want to fight the crowds.

If you have comments or suggestions, please email me at john14@cougartown.com

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