Hawthorne Feedback

Name: joseph mailander ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Feb 14, 2007, 11:24 am - HHS Time
Class: 1975
City & State: inner city LA CA
E-mail
Message: John, as you know I have deeply disturbing moments between sleep and consciousness, and in these moments, I occasionally recapture chilling fragments of the distant past. One came the other day--suddenly, I had a childhood memory of an old water park/lagoon in Redondo Beach, immediately north of the Redondo Pier and marina, maybe even from the time before the pier was fashioned into a horseshoe. I remember a water jet in the lagoon and a lot of sand---but I can't remember much else about it, except that it seemed kind of spooky to me. It looked like one of those old locations at which they filmed the old tropical beach TV shows with all the bikini-clad teenagers---maybe there was even a thatched clubhouse. Do you or anyone else recall this? This would be around 1962, I think...I LOVE YOU MMAAAANNNNN and if you can, help me complete the memory, or tell me it's just one of those ol' "Ellis Dee" flashbacks acting up again...

Name: Elizabeth A Aleccia ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Feb 14, 2007, 9:03 am - HHS Time

Maiden: Estrada
Class: 1969
City & State: Redondo Beach
E-mail
Message: Hello Everyone! I've been gone a very long time from Cougartown. Came by to see what was up and read a story about the garden hose in the mail slot. Wow! The details sounded similar to my brother Leo's exploits I had to post this. Angie was a neighbor of ours on 133rd St. I'm not sure what her problem was but she was not a happy or friendly woman. Most of the kids on our block had a name for her and it wasn't 'witch'. Our street was very narrow so there was parking on one side only. If you were coming from the wrong direction you had to turn around to park on the street. Angie happened to have a nice wide driveway but she hated anyone using it. She insisted we were ruining her concrete. I don't know what she did to my brother but he was out to get her back. One night he lit the fuse of an M80 and dropped it down her mailbox. When it blew up, the whole neighborhood woke up. Her plaster was blown off the wall, the mail box exploded and the police were in hot pursuit. At the time we thought it was funny and deserved. It retrospect....well....20/20. He confessed the next day and had to apologize and repair the damage. I suspect if this 'prank' happened today there would have been some jail time involved. Damn kids. The Krikac boys and McLaughlin boys may know what prompted the plan of attack. Bad boys, bad boys...what ya gonna do?

Name: Mike ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Feb 14, 2007, 7:31 am - HHS Time

Maiden: Crash
Class: 1961
City & State: Cerritos, CA
No E-mail
Message: Hello All and Happy Valentines Day; I was catching up on the "Feedback" this morning and I was reminded of one of my very worst HHS memories. So why not share it with you. I was a sophomore in 1959 and didn't yet have a car of my own. My mom however had one of the coolest looking 56 Ford Victorias in town. I convinced her that it would be a great idea if I got up early, drove her to work at North American El Segundo, took the car to school and then picked her up after work. She said "OK but be careful". I arrived at school a few minutes after dropping her off and parked on El Segundo right in front of the building where my Algebra class with Mr. Wade was to happen a couple hours later. Well as soon as the class let out I ran out of the room and 50 feet south to the black and white beauty sitting at the curb where everybody could see. I fired up the 312 inch monster, pulled the cruisomatic down into low range and jumped on it. No sooner had the Sonny's Muffler Shop 22 inch Glass Packs reported and the Firestone White Wall Deluxe Champions began to make copius amounts of smoke when a brand new Plymouth (who was already in the lane I was aiming for) smashed into my left front fender and knocked me right back into the parking space I just left. Of course the worst part was, that there must have been 100 classmates watching the whole episode. I still wake up screaming when I dream about it. By the way, the gentleman from Farmers Insurance called and cancelled my brand new insurance policy the same night. Please forgive me, I'll try to do better; Mike Shay HHS 61

Name: Mary Ann Martin ~~~~~~~~~~ Wed-Feb 14, 2007, 6:47 am - HHS Time

Maiden: Walton
Class: 1961
City & State: Nashville AR
E-mail
Message: Deepest sympathy to Jim, Ken and David on the passing of their dad, Jim Shaw. Knew the family well when living in Hawthorne during the 60-70's. Stacy was my gf and I still miss her. Her David and my David spent a lot of time together, especially during Wiseburn LL season. Jim gave his all to Hawthorne youth and will be missed as well.

Name: Armand Vaquer ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Feb 13, 2007, 7:24 pm - HHS Time

Class: 1972
City & State: Tarzana, CA
E-mail
Message: The movie "Hollywoodland" was released on DVD last week and it contains Hawthorne's own Chip's Restaurant (and the top of St. Joseph's in the background). I loaned my copy to my mom yesterday and she mentioned that the restaurant "looked awfully familiar."

Name: April Snook ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Feb 13, 2007, 4:06 pm - HHS Time
City & State: hawthorne, CA
E-mail
Message: Hi Everyone, I am April Snook and my parents are Don Snook, 69 and Debbie Dickens, 72 for all those out there wondering about the post! Sue was very nice and it was neat to talk to her. I am passing on all this info to my parents! Thanks for all the feedback :)

Name: Sharon Stowe ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Feb 13, 2007, 10:52 am - HHS Time

Maiden: Ritch
Class: 1972
City & State: Lawndale,CA
E-mail
Message: The Gal in the picture from Susan King is Debbie Dickens. She was so fun in high school and had the best laugh. I have not seen her since high school. I hope you told her about CougarTown! Sharon

Name: Michael Kratz ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Feb 13, 2007, 10:39 am - HHS Time

Class: 1971
City & State: Vegas
E-mail
Message: Not trying to top Keith, I just purchased the new 1973 Mazda RX3. And in my second week of ownership and off I went too 26st. It was Friday night had to show RX3 to all my Friends. After kicking around 26st, it was time to come home. It was early Saturday morning and on my way down Rosecrans not a car in sight. It was time to make this RX3 move, going through the intersection of Aviation & Rosecrans at 107 MPH and and not car in sight. I had forgotten that cars exit the 405 onto Rosecrans, it was 3am Saturday morning and to make a long story short, I didn't know I'll be spending Sunday in the Hospital. Anyways I didn't learn, and I like the feel of fast cars. I went on to own a Porsche and my favorite, my very fast TransAM. I'm not going to talk about the accidents I had with them. I must say it was fun to drive from Hawthorne to Vegas with these cars. I've been in Vegas 27 years now and I've learned my lesson. I now drive a slow version of a fast car.

Name: Adrianne DeAlejandro ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Feb 13, 2007, 10:26 am - HHS Time

Maiden: Longpre
Class: 1963
City & State: Cerritos, CA
E-mail
Message: Similar to the Ginny doll, was my favorite Muffy doll. The Madame Alexander dolls closely resemble them. I also loved my Toodles baby doll, the one with rubber hair, not real. Then there was the Little Ricky doll, when he was born to Lucy and Ricky on T.V.

Name: KIRK C. GREASBY ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Feb 13, 2007, 8:34 am - HHS Time

Class: 1976
City & State: SNOW! CO.
E-mail
Message: My sincerest heartfelt sympathy goes out to the Doersam Family, Jim always had a smile and a kind word to say, There are so many of the BIG HOUSE firefighters that I still remember and they truly are Smoke-eaters. I will miss him, My thoughts and prayers are with the family.Kirk

Name: Sharon MacDonald ~~~~~~~~~~ Tue-Feb 13, 2007, 6:45 am - HHS Time

Maiden: Badger
Class: 1963
City & State: Bruceville, Texas
E-mail
Message: Pranks and evil deeds - that Mattel rifle that shot plastic bullets left under the tree until Jan. 6th and the family Christmas tree full of glass ornaments in the parlor that was only used on special occassions. The exception was if we wanted to read in a quiet place. My sister Pattie and I felt the need to do some serious reading throughout the Holiday season. Part of the "reading" consisted of target practice on the glass ornaments. When we were finished, we would rearrange the remaining ornaments and clean up the glass shards and dispose of them under the garbage in the garbage can. My mother went into the parlor a few times a week to clean and finally made a remark at dinner that she thought there had been more ornaments on the tree - my sister and I put on our best "looking puzzled" faces and I answered perhaps that is because you don't see the tree that often and are thinking of the tree in the family room that is full of ornaments! I confessed to this deed about 2 years ago (45 years later)!

Name: Keith D. Jones ~~~~~~~~~~ Mon-Feb 12, 2007, 9:58 pm - HHS Time

Class: 1976
City & State: Kona, HI
E-mail
Message: I did nothing like that. My dad was 6'1" and weighed 220 and from Texas. Something that bad would have ended my life. I will confess to something though now since mom and dad are no longer with us. If my brother reads this who cares. I have never told this one. My mom had a brand new 280Z when they first came out. It was redish/orange and was really really nice and fast. Well my mom and dad used to go up to our cabin in Running Springs on weekends. Well I had a key made for that car. Well one weekend I took this girl to see the movie Cannonball Run at the Loyola. That movie really gets you in the mood to drive fast. Well when everyone left the theater and got in their cars I got into the hottest car of the bunch. People were going fast. We were racing everyone to the freeway. When I got onto the freeway I got that car to about 130. It was the last movie of the night so hardly anyone was on the freeway. I used to take my mom car even when I was 15. My neighbors I know thought something was up since I didn't have a license. One time though I was in Inglewood and a guy ran a red light and just missed me. I pulled over and just sat there so scared cause I almost got hit. I went home and just stayed in my room thinking how dumb I was. I never really did bad things to my neighbors. I was afraid of my dad mostly. Back then I don't think they knew about child abuse.

Name: Susan King ~~~~~~~~~~ Mon-Feb 12, 2007, 9:46 pm - HHS Time

Maiden: Bierman
Class: 1974
City & State: Thousand Oaks, CA
E-mail

Message: Had a vicarious Cougar sighting tonite. While at a community event, I shared the stage with a young lady who was representing MADD from LA County. As we walked to our cars at the end of the night, I casually asked if she had far to go to get home. Yes, she said coyly, I live near LAX (thinking I'd not know the area). I then mentioned that I'd grown up in Hawthorne so I knew where that was. Turns out that 28 year old April Snook is the daughter of Dad ? Snook, HHS 69 and Mom ? Dickens HHS 72! I apologize for not having their first names - I was so tickled at our small world meeting that I forgot them but know that John likely has their pix and names in his archives - right John? I told April to point Mom and Dad to CT and I hope they will post in soon. BTW, their Cougar offspring is a terrific young lady who made them proud tonite. They still live in Hawthorne....Sign in please!!

Name: Kyle Jokela ~~~~~~~~~~ Mon-Feb 12, 2007, 9:15 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1971
City & State: Irvine, Ca
E-mail
Message: Hi everyone. I'm not a graduate of Hawthorne High, but I consider Hawthorne my hometown. My oldest sister Sharon graduated from HHS in 1962. I went to Eucalyptus Elementary School from Kindergarten until the middle of 5th grade. We lived on W. 120th street between Felton and Inglewood avenue, in a nice little brown stucco house. Our family then moved from Hawthorne to Dayton, Ohio. The family of HHS graduate and "Flying Embers" novelist Jim Pasternak moved into our house. We stayed in Dayton until I was in the middle of 9th grade. We then moved back to Hawthorne. I attended Hawthorne High for the rest of the 9th grade. I was on the "C" Basketball team and Track team. Jim Fetherston and Alex Bravo were my coaches then. They're both excellent coaches of great character and principle. I had fun and really enjoyed my return to Hawthorne, seeing alot of my friends from Eucalyptus days again and making new ones. But my stay at HHS was short lived, as the following summer we moved up to the Seattle area. My father got a good job working for the FAA up there as a flight test engineer at Boeing field. He was on the flight crew which certified the very first 747 jumbo jet for public use. I went to three different high schools, all in different states. Through all this, I still considered myself a Hawthorne Cougar. I totally agree with everyone here who say that Hawthorne was a great and special place to grow up. The Hawthorne pool in the summertime and seeing movies at the Hawthorne Plaza. I spent so much time at Eucalyptus Park. I remember that turtle. Do you remember the spash pool also? Royal Lord ran the park and was the coach of the park teams. I was on the park flag football and basketball teams in the 5th grade. I was so sad to move from Hawthorne. But here we are now after all these years. Thank goodness for Cougartown!!

Name: Jim ~~~~~~~~~~ Mon-Feb 12, 2007, 8:14 pm - HHS Time

Class: 1967
City & State: Redding, CA
No E-mail
Message: From the "MOST EVIL & MALICIOUS DEED I EVER DID AS A KID" file: There were only 2 adjoining yards on my street (where lawn adjoins lawn). While both homeowners were away, we decided to play tackle football (on our knees) on the 2 lawns. Needless to say, in the process, both lawns were destroyed. One of the homeowners unexpectedly drove up, ran us off, then immediately went across the street to have a "heated discussion" w/ my dad. I paid a heavy price w/ some good, old-fashioned, physical "discipline" from a very "ticked-off" dad, not to mention not getting to see anything but my room for months. About 8 months later, that same neighbor went away for the weekend. On the spur of the moment, I decided to exact my revenge. That night (Friday), around 1AM, I slipped out of my front bedroom window, went to the neighbor's, &, while wearing gardening gloves (even b/4 CSI), fed their garden hose through the front door mailbox slot, & let 'er rip! The water ran until their return on Sunday afternoon. The police went door-to-door, questioning parents & kids. I hadn't told a soul about the evil deed, not even my brothers. My parents insisted that I had been at home the entire night. It's been 45 years. Maybe it's safe, now, to confess. Can anyone top that? Geez...I think I hear sirens!!! - Gibby -