Hawthorne Feedback

Name: EL ROJO ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Aug 5, 2006, 8:50 am - HHS Time

Maiden: Jude61Jake60
Class: 2008
City & State: KUNA,ID
E-mail
Message: I got word a couple of days ago that a mentor of mine had passed. His name as I remember was "Mr. Porter". Well you might ask, Mr. Porter? Doesn't it come back to most of you early Cougs thats what we called the adults in any situation, that it was Mr. or Mrs. so and so. His real name is Mr. Chuck Porter and it took me three or four phone calls, e-mails to make sure of his first name before I attempted this letter, in respect for him.. Well this particular gentlemen was an Icon in the early days of Hawthore youth. He was a founding Father of the HHS Varsity Booster Club. Coach....led a bunch of us rag tag guys to a couple of "Fast Pitch" softball city championships in 55-56. We had some good athletes on that team that went on to better things. Best thing for us kids was he always took us to Skippys? Biggies? for a coke and fries after the game. We all got to ride there, at least most of us, in a PICK-UP truck, in the back and guess what....we weren't wearing seat belts. We were looking over the sides and back of the tail gate to see what we had just run over. Jeez we got excited when we a heard a "bump". Never knew what you'd see after the BUMP. Fun days and wish everyone would let there kids growup. You only got a "MALT" at Skippys (it was his DIME, Oh Yeah) if you hit a home run. I personally hit 2 one night and we got to Skippies, and being an excited young man I guess I thought I'd get "TWO" malts. Mr Porter just kind of gave me a look like "Russ you don't need two". And I understood. Mentoring....works in strange ways. But I've never forgot that. Tom and Diane Porter, we feel your loss deeply. We lost the last of our folks in March, Judes Dad. Lifes tough and the good ones continue. MAY THE COUGAR BE WITH YOU. Jake N Jude.

Name: James Armour ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Aug 5, 2006, 7:50 am - HHS Time

Class: 1970
City & State: Atlanta, GA
E-mail
Message: Old phone numbers and party lines. The party lines were fun, except if you had two older teenage brothers. Our family was always getting yelled at for tieing up the lines because they were always on it. Mine was OS5-3540, Also, my address was 1223 S. Eucalyptus. Imagine having to learn to spell that at 5 years old for school when they wanted your address. Later, in the late 60's - early 70's, you could also dial a number that was no longer used. If you stayed on the line after all the recordings and noises were finished, you could actually talk to others who were also still on the phone line. There would be people having full conversations and others who were making dates with strangers. I guess that was the early internet dating service!

Name: Joyce ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Aug 5, 2006, 2:07 am - HHS Time
Maiden: Terry
Class: 1972
E-mail
Message: I remember the OSborne phone numbers too but can't remember what ours was. I do remember one number was 644-1662 was such an easy one to remember. Also on the rotary phones does anyone remember the locks your parents could use on them so you couldn't use the dial. Imagine the feedback you would get from the kids today if they had to deal with that. I'm like you and many others John in that I don't throw out any thing and my garage shows it. Have a good week end all.

Name: Bonnie Cozby ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Aug 5, 2006, 1:55 am - HHS Time

Maiden: Simmons
Class: 1971
City & State: Ocean Park, Wa
E-mail
Message: In 1954 (or soon thereafter) our number was OS 5-7678, then 675-7678 and now 643-8678...and still working. But my favorite phone number ever was when we had an "antique" shop here on the peninsula...642-junk.

Name: Marilyn Ross ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Aug 4, 2006, 10:46 pm - HHS Time

Maiden: Wisham
Class: 1956
City & State: Garden Grove, CA
No E-mail
Message: I do not remember my old phone number except it was an Orchard number. What I do remember in the 40's was the party line. Boy have we come a long way since then. Everytime you wanted to make a call you had to pick up and see if someone else was talking. If they were and you didn't hang up right away you got yelled at. I think we had a special ring maybe like a double ring that was different than the neighbors ring so we knew when to answer. What a pain. I remember when my sisters husband became a fireman they got to have a single line, we thought they were so lucky. When area codes came in all of LA was 213 and Orange and San Bernardino County were 714. You didn't have to look it up, now if you memorize the area code of a friend or relative they change it again and again.

Name: Sharon Kettering Johnson ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Aug 4, 2006, 9:18 pm - HHS Time

City & State: Nampa Id.
E-mail
Message: John, just wanted to add a Gardena prefix to your list of old phone numbers. Gardena had a Menlo or ME prefix before they changed it to Davis, I believe it was changed in the early 50's. I must say, I'm amazed how many people remember their phone numbers, I'm a complete blank on mine. (LOL)SharonLHS 61

Name: Denny ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Aug 4, 2006, 7:52 pm - HHS Time

Class: 1955
City & State: Del Aire
E-mail
Message: In the 1930's and early 40's our phone number in a very sparsely populated Del Aire was (Hawthorne 77-HJ) because of no dials on the phones an operator was needed to call out. Now, I really feel old!!! By the way, an easy way to spell check this message form is to install the Google toolbar on your browser and it will do a spell check on Internet forms . . . you're welcome

Name: Wayne Dickey ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Aug 4, 2006, 6:29 pm - HHS Time

Class: 1969
E-mail
Message: For those "OLD TIMERS" who may remember, and I'm sure it has been said before here on Cougartown, our prefix was Osborne, or 67. My home phone was OSborne 6-8331. Donna's was OSborne 5-3634.

Name: Sharon Branigan ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Aug 4, 2006, 5:08 pm - HHS Time

Maiden: Bierman
Class: 1976
City & State: Thousand Oaks, CA
E-mail
Message: 679-3807 Hawthorne Pre 1979 379-4908 Redondo 79-88 279-1901 Corona 88-93 495-7509 Thousand Oaks 93-nowWhy do my phone numbers ALWAYS have a ZERO in the 6th place?

Name: Daria ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Aug 4, 2006, 1:46 pm - HHS Time

Maiden: Sanders
Class: 1982
City & State: Trumann, AR
E-mail
Message: Our old phone number was 644-4527 but I cannot remember what the area code was back in my younger days. I do not think that it was 310. While I am here, I was wondering if anyone has heard from my old high school buddy - Margaret Devine. I lost touch with her about 5 years ago and would like to find her. If anyone knows anything, please email me. Thanks!

Name: Neil Larson ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Aug 4, 2006, 12:16 pm - HHS Time

Class: 1971
City & State: Crestview FL
E-mail
Message: The best Winery was the Nave?-Piersen Winery tucked over around on the coast road which wraps around at the north end of Playa Del Rey bluffs. Nave-Piersen only had two store locations in the Los Angeles area, the winery itself was somewhere near Sacramento. Though a small establishment, the Nave Piersen Winery offered the most exotic Apricot Brandy, among other choice well bodied fruit liquors. However in 1975 the tiny winery was forced to close following a liability lawsuit filed alleging that corrosion from the metal cork wrappers had tainted the wine thus causing bodily injury. Be advised if you ever stumble across a rare bottle of the Apricot Nectar see that it is not rusty!

Name: Maria Fitzgerald ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Aug 4, 2006, 12:10 pm - HHS Time
No E-mail
Message: And I thought the overlay was complicated. So, did everyone keep a "cheat sheet" by the phone? Not only did you have to memorize the pre-fix letters, you also had to know what the letters translated to in numbers. Whew!! After countless screaming matches with my siblings and parents having to yell at me for soaking on the phone. My parents finally let me have a phone in my room. I chose the white princess line. I could have gotten an orange round type phone. Don't know what its called, but it looked like a small purse with handle. Now, I'd love to have one of those. Anyway, the phones used to be free when you get a line installed. The installation cost was $56.00 I had to pay that myself, along with its monthly fees of $ 25.00 toll calls only. John, thanks for the phone link, loved it.

Name: Howard "Paco" Duran ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Aug 4, 2006, 11:47 am - HHS Time

Maiden: OS6-2378
Class: 1961
City & State: LF
E-mail
Message: Thank you Gary and Gary, Ty's daughter Sara gave us all a wonderful pendant with Ty's ashes in it. I think I'll strap him onto my golf bag and when I get my first "Ace" I'll sprinkle him there. Cowabunga and fore!

Name: Maria Fitzgerald ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Aug 4, 2006, 11:20 am - HHS Time
Class: 1980
City & State: CA
E-mail
Message: Looking at the old phone numbers posted..... The numbers seems so short compared to what they are now, especially for those of us who have to deal with the "overlays." ( For those of you who aren't aware-- Some, not all, of the folks who live in the 310 area code district have to dial the area codes then the actual phone numbers. Yes, even when dialing another 310 area code!!!) Anyway, after reading Gina's phone number I tried to think of what our old home phone number was. And before I could even really think about it, some type of muscle memory kicked in and out went 676-8764! Then I had to think again, it seemed too short?! I can remember when we were kids, our family used to watch WWF (when the wrestlers used to wear masks and smash each other with guitars, chairs, whatever). Anyway, there was this commercial and the phone number they gave out was RI-9-9999, the announcer would say " Richmond 9-9999." I used to think, "how in the world would you dial Richmond 9?!? I still don't know. I don't think the letters on the phone were being utilized at that time. Anybody know? Anyway, I remember calling for time 825-and any 4 consecutive digits would take you to, "The time now is...." My friends and I used to call this party line and just listen in on the conversations and if we hear conversation that we know something about or if any of our other friends happened to be "online" we would then talk. Of course, our other friends were always online!! It seems so funny to me that we did that, I can't believe what we used to do growing up. We are so much more sophisticated than that. Now we have CT feedback!!! I guess some things never change. As Jimmy Buffet would say," I'm getting older, but not up, my metabolic rate is presently stuck..." Have a great weekend y'all. "Let the winds of time go over my head, I'd rather die while I'm living, than live while I'm dead."--more Jimmy Buffet.

Name: David Kelly ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Aug 4, 2006, 9:31 am - HHS Time

Class: 1977
City & State: Colorado Springs, CO
E-mail
Message: Steve, I participated in the car rallies in 76 and 77. I remember having an awesome time trying to figure out the clues to finding our next check point. Lots of fun. We managed to complete both rallies, and without any citations for all the traffic infractions we committed. I was the navigator for Garry Simpson (now my brother in-law) in 76 and Donna Dye was my navigator in 77. In a couple of weeks I'll be sharing quality time with my son as I drive him and half of his personal belongings across the midwest as he begins a new step in his life. He will be attending Berea College in Berea, Kentucky on a full ride academic scholarship. We're quite proud of our son and I'm looking forward to a great road trip and making memories.

Name: Sharon Branigan ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Aug 4, 2006, 8:22 am - HHS Time

Maiden: Bierman
Class: 1976
City & State: Thousand Oaks, CA
E-mail
Message: Steve, that car rally was held in the spring of 1976. Jodi Swain and I won it, (page 206- 75-76 yearbook) driving my 1971 dark green Pinto! The route wound all over the place and at one point I recall driving down the 405 from the Westchester area. It ended in a parking lot down by the beach in Redondo I think. We were just goofing around, so when we pulled up at the end and a group of kids ran at us yelling, we were surprised to hear that we were in first place, since we had been so blase about the whole thing. I had that trophy until about 10 years ago. Wish I'd known John Baker then; I'd still have the trophy for sure- never throw anything away! Wish I could still get gas at those prices, too!

Name: Gina ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Aug 4, 2006, 7:09 am - HHS Time
Maiden: Black
Class: 1980
City & State: Hemet, CA
No E-mail
Message: Well, John, somebody has to check in on you boys occasionally! Look at what's happening in here.....calling each other out. Can't we all just get along???? My broom was in the shop and I took a night off from the dating scene (freak show!) to "wash my hair", so I thought I would take a little peakie to see how you kids were getting on. My old Hawthorne phone number was 676-5653. I can't belive I remembered that!!! XOXO

Name: Steve Maldonado ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Aug 3, 2006, 9:43 pm - HHS Time

Class: 1976
City & State: Longview, WA
E-mail
Message: Hey Ted Gioia.....didn't your father own a specialty shoe store in Hawthorne? I am I crazy or what? Didn't I work a few weeks there with you? Or am I thinking of someone else? And who remembers the Car Rally we had in either 1975 or 1976 sponsored by the Knights? Bob Deuel and I planned it and the route went all over the south bay..