Hawthorne Feedback

Name: Armand Vaquer ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Feb 22, 2006, 9:44 am - HHS Time

Class: 1972
City & State: Tarzana, CA
E-mail
Message: Anita, I am shocked! There goes your "image" as a Pat Nixon-type political wife (long story). (LOL!) Probably my first "Frenchie" was with a girl from Lawndale High, but it has been so long ago and with so many (no brag, just fact), primarily with Valley girls (from CSUN), that it is all a blur. Hey, nobody is ever too old (even for us geezers) for a little fun. One thing I have found out over the past few years is that Japanese women sure do know how to take care of a man. (One does not go to Japan just to see rubber-suited monsters!) It is worthwhile if you have the fortitude to handle long-distance relationships. Thank goodness for A.T.& T.'s 10 cents/min. overseas rates and email!

Name: Kathy ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Feb 22, 2006, 2:24 am - HHS Time
City & State: Torrance CA
E-mail
Message: I LOVE your web site!!!! I graduated from Torrance High School in 1970 and your site is EXACTLY what I wish someone would have done for our class. You have great photos(many familiar to me as WE used to cruise Hawthorne BL all the way up to A & W ....). We do have a group through Yahoo groups and a small website (generic THS one) where there was some interest for a while, but it sort of died out. I tried to get people to post old photographs(I know darn well there are many lying around) but only a hand full ever did. I am going to tell a few "gifted" people from my class about your site and hopefully when they visit it, they will be "re-inspired". So much of what you have here represents memories for the entire South Bay area, not just Hawthorne alumni! Kathy

Name: Steve Fraser ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Feb 21, 2006, 11:38 pm - HHS Time
City & State: l
E-mail
Message: OK Anita. Wish I could be as romantic! But is was spin the bottle in the 6th grade. She shall remain anonymous. And at that time the only French we knew was Charles DeGaulle.

Name: Anita ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Feb 21, 2006, 10:05 pm - HHS Time

Maiden: Harmon
Class: 1969
City & State: Fair Oaks, Ca
E-mail
Message: Okay Steve.....I'll step up to the plate and take a swing here. After all, I can't leave poor Johnny B out there in left field all by himself.....after what was a most eloquent confession (IMHO). At least Jan and Liz came in at the seventh inning stretch which helped the averages.
I have never spoken of this before to anyone.....the anticipated first kiss. It's something that we all had longed for and dreamed about. The year was 1964. I was 13...he was 14. He wasn't the boy next door, but he WAS the boy across the street. I'm sure most of you remember an after school program on TV called "Where the Action Is"? Everyday you could see some new group performing their latest song and you were able to stay on top of the latest dance moves as well. I loved that program. I never missed it. One afternoon the doorbell rings. I get up to answer it and to my surprise, it's Bob.....the heart throb from across the street. We make small talk at first and then he asks if he can come in and watch TV with me. Uh...yeah - like I was going to say no? He walked into the den with me and sat down next to me on the sofa - very close. After a few minutes he reached for my hand. As much as I was loving this, I was also a complete nervous wreck because my mother was in the kitchen starting to prepare dinner. And it would have been just like her to pop her head in at any time to 'see if we wanted anything to eat or drink'. After about 15 minutes of hand holding, he takes his hand to my cheek and ever so gently turns my head toward his and he slowly moves in. Our eyes close and the whole time I am praying "Dear God.....please don't let my mother walk in right now"! His lips met mine ever so slowly.....ever so sweetly, and all the time my heart felt like it would pound right out of my chest any minute. The kiss probably didn't last more than five seconds, but at that moment I was transformed. He had his arm around me and was going in for the second inning when I stopped him. I know he was confused but he wasn't the one with my mothers voice in his head at that moment saying, "Boys only want one thing from a girl". Damn it Mom! Go away! Needless to say the mood cooled rapidly, but I will always remember the theme song from that program playing in the background as we kissed -"Oh Baby Come On, Let Me Take You Where The Action Is....." From that day forward, I knew I could have gone to school the next day and excitedly told my friends that I had crossed the threshold.....but I never did. I've never shared this with anyone until tonight.....why? A kiss is more than the sharing of lips and breath. It is a mingling of hearts and souls.....whether you're 13 or 63. That slight tingle, a funny feeling in your tummy, a racing heart. A kiss is an intimate connection to another human being and a simple way to express love and affection. And whether remembered as sweet and tender, shy and hesitant, or bumped heads and noses, you don't forget it. A kiss is a thing of wonder. You wonder if and when the object of your affections will bestow you with a kiss..... You wonder if your knees will get weak, your pulse will race, or will it be a dud? Soooo much depends on a kiss.
And now the ball is in your court, Fraser!

Name: Richard Lopez ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Feb 21, 2006, 9:25 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1989
City & State: Lakewood, CA
E-mail
Message: Hey guys, site looks great. First visited about 4 years ago. Like the improvements. Keep up the good work.
Rich

Name: Larry Bach ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Feb 21, 2006, 8:21 pm - HHS Time

Class: 1972
City & State: Torrance, CA
E-mail
Message: Are we getting a little racy mixing the discussion of "French Kissing" with Edelbrock manifolds? Makes me long for my '65 Mustang again. My first "French kiss" happened on a 1971 Saturday evening in my parent's backyard after I had invited a certain cheerleader, temporarily estranged from her boyfriend, over for a little teriyaki BBQ. This "French" lesson lasted over an hour and a half and my poor tongue hurt for days thereafter. The BEST "French" kissing was the night before I went off to join the US Army when just about every girl that showed up at my going away party (there were many, and many of these I didn't even know) slipped me the tongue, some at great length (?). By the end of the night I wondered why the hell I had ever enlisted in the Army. I learned that lesson the hard way. I never shared this one before but it seems apropos under the circumstances remembering my last wistful days attending Hawthorne High School in 1972: "The French Lesson"... "Ignited by the wick of no arsonist, hot tongues of flame her heart have kissed. Not a silent word of French was missed, by the mouth of the cunning linguist".

Name: Paul Mackie ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Feb 21, 2006, 5:28 pm - HHS Time

Class: 1963
City & State: Bakersfield Ca
E-mail
Message: Baseball, the great American argument. Perfect game; no runs, no hits, no errors. Thank God for beer and hot dogs so it all makes sense. Also, Benjamin Franklin quote, "it's but a damn fool that can find but one way to spell a word".

Name: Elizabeth A Aleccia ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Feb 21, 2006, 5:13 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1969
City & State: Redondo Beach
E-mail
Message: John, I was fortunate to teach a few Hawthorne High boys the art of The French Kiss, but Don escaped my classroom with his innocence in tact. What a shame, don't you think?

Name: Elizabeth A Aleccia ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Feb 21, 2006, 4:18 pm - HHS Time

Class: 1969
City & State: Redondo Beach
No E-mail
Message: Hello Everybody! Thank you for the birthday wishes. I've been out of touch lately. My daughter got married and I ended up in Vegas last week. I came home and put a reception together in record time. I posted pictures on my blog if anyone wants to check it out. But now that I'm back....I must tell the most embarrassing French Kiss story.
I was mad hot crazy for Don Baril during my second year at HHS. He lived on Truro, just around the corner from our big green water tower. He was a good catholic boy from Bishop but that didn't stop me. One day we were at 26th Street in Manhattan with a group of friends. The whole day I was trying to get him to kiss me but he was just too shy. By the end of the day, when we all piled into the backseat of somebody's car, I sat on his lap. Hey, it was crowded...somebody had to. Anyway, I took full advantage of the situation. I leaned in.....slowly....then laid my lips on his. Very slowly I slipped him my tongue. Ooops! He pulled back and said, "I may be French, but I don't French Kiss." Now, you think a young girl would be embarrassed by that. Not me. I thought, "Poor baby. He's got alot to learn."

Name: Marilyn Ross ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Feb 21, 2006, 2:40 pm - HHS Time

Maiden: Wisham
Class: 1956
City & State: Garden Grove, Ca
E-mail
Message: Oh my gosh John what a funny story. I was laughing out loud by myself. You write a good story. You should write a novel about ALL your experience in Hawthorne. It would be a best seller. At least I'd buy a copy.

Name: Sharon MacDonald ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Feb 21, 2006, 10:44 am - HHS Time

Maiden: Badger
Class: 1963
City & State: Bruceville, Texas
E-mail
Message: Did anyone else see Antiques Roadshow last night? It was like a piece of Feedback - during the segment when the experts look at something from the local area (show was taped in LA) they focused on surfing. They displayed a Dale Velzey signed surf board, a Dick Dale record album, and a Beach Boys Poster along with a few other items.

Name: Jan Peterson ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Feb 21, 2006, 8:05 am - HHS Time

Maiden: Freeman
Class: 1967
City & State: Carmichael, CA
E-mail
Message: After mentioning "french kissing" I remember that we covered this a few pages back. But since I started it and JB added the first memory, here is mine.
7th grade
Sandy Deitch's house
Danny Haig
Closet
ZOWIE!!!!
Who's next?????
Hugs! Jan
ps: did I spell everything correctly?

Name: John Baker ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Feb 21, 2006, 12:58 am - HHS Time

Class: 1962
City & State: Lomita, Ca
E-mail
Message: OK, none of you have the guts to tell your first "tonsil hockey" story, so I'll give you mine. Now I'm not counting the time my dog "Jingo" would come up to me and affectionately lick my mouth. That was always a loving thing until one day I caught him amusing himself with said tongue in the back yard behind the shed. After that the affectionate dog/human thing came to an abrupt end.
It was during basketball season and I had my eye on this hot little HHS sophomore who shall remain nameless. She was very nice, cute, and well.... "mammorally gifted". I didn't have a car yet but was driving around in my mom's Black 60 Corvair 4 door. I had added a VERY cool lookin' Howard Cams decal to the windwing just to make the car even cooler lookin'. Anyway, I finally worked up the courage to asked her to go to the HHS-Inglewood game and she said YES. Man, I was floating. We went to the game and the Cougars were ahead by 3 with 8 minutes to play so I suggested we leave this arena and beat the crowd of 125. She agreed... We scampered across the parking lot to the Cool Corvair with the Howard Cam decal gleaming in the moonlight. While fishing for the keys and wondering how to make my move, being that we're in this big empty parking lot and still 6 minutes left before the crowd comes rushing out.....she slides right over next to me and laid one right on my mouth. Then, almost immediately, this Anaconda like thing that would have made Gene Simmons blush went right down and was tickling the area previously occupied by my tonsils. MAN, I WAS IN....or was I...... Within seconds this sweet little sophomore's breath awakened my senses like a baseball bat across the forehead. It was like the south end of my pubescence was screaming YES, and yet the north end was going, wait-just-a-dog-gone-minute....... What the heck is that putrid sense I'm picking up? Did this girl have a half dozen Vidalias for dinner? I didn't want to stop but my mind was being taken over by this acrid tasting appendage and it was as though I was self hypnotizing myself like one of those cheap act mesmerists on the Art Linkletter show that turned people into chickens.
Two minutes into it and second base was COMPLETELY out of the question. My mind is whirring and while I don't want to spoil the moment for her, I'm mulling over how to back this down enough to where I can utter those four little words, "Want some Juicy Fruit"?
Thank God the game was over and the crowd came out. We stopped and I quickly rolled down the window to ask someone the final score and to GULP IN a few lungs full of the sweet night air. Well, the mood was broken..... I quickly fired up the Cool Corvair, drove straight to her house while all the way trying to figure out how to tactfully shake her hand goodnight. I drove straight home and went directly to the medicine cabinet where a full can of Colgate Tooth Powder awaited. It took about 40 minutes and half that can before finally hitting the sheets.
I never spoke of that incident until now. I suspect it had been blocked by a tiny synapse, unwilling to have me relive the pain of that night, a short half century ago, until tonight when Jan and Anita brought it up.
AGAIN, my apologies to you Mom, who had to hear this awful story after so many years of thinking I was a perfect little gentleman.

Name: Steve Fraser ~~~~~~~~~~ Mon-Feb 20, 2006, 11:34 pm - HHS Time
No E-mail
Message: OK, Anita. You changed the topic, so it's only fitting that YOU begin with your story! Be specific, enquiring minds want to know.

Name: Anita ~~~~~~~~~~ Mon-Feb 20, 2006, 9:01 pm - HHS Time

Maiden: Harmon
Class: 1969
City & State: Fair Oaks, Ca
E-mail
Message: Jimmy Schroeder ~ I refer to you by that name because of your posted picture. You look more like a Jimmy than a Jim (too cute). Well, I for one would like to vote you CT's Pulitzer Prize winner for the funniest "Week in Review" column I've ever read! Do you think you could start doing this on a weekly basis for all of us? Because it was a great way to start off a Monday! You 'old guys' from the 60's are holding your own very well.....touche! And Jan Peterson ~ you want our next topic of discussion to be French Kissing? Can you imagine what Jimmy Schroeder will do with that? And you say you're willing to kiss and tell? Maybe we could take it down just a notch to ah, that first kiss...so nerve-wracking and exciting, all at the same time. Was it a dare? Was it "Spin the Bottle"? Was it all that you had dreamed? Whether it was awesome or awful, it's probably worth remembering...and sharing. Everyone I'm sure has at least one interesting kiss story. First Kiss.....Best Kiss.....Worst Kiss.....we're all sure to learn something, and probably laugh a bit too. Some wacky stuff goes on when lips collide. FIRST KISS ~ Sometimes it's the most romantic moment of a young life. Sometimes it kicks off careers of amazing kissing. Sometimes you just need a towel and a breath mint.....