January 17, 2020

Not a lot to share this week.   I've been busy folding, sealing, labeling and banding the quarterly alumni newsletter, which I hope to get in the mail today at the Midway Post Office.

I'm not sure if the swallows are still coming back to Capistrano each year, but Paul Hildebrand Clare is still coming back to La Jolla -- and still running into Coach Dick Draz.  He's seated next to his buddy Henry Zopatti, who once taught at Pacific Beach Junior High.  I assume they're watching all the girls go by.

Those of us who grew up in the '50s were dealt another blow with the passing of Edd "Kookie" Byrnes.  What I DIDN'T know was that Logan Byrnes, local KUSI newsman, was his son.  Click HERE to read an obituary from the New York Times.

January 10, 2020

I don't know what year this image was taken.  Jack in the Box was still offering Shrimp and Chicken -- but not French Fries.  They were still called French-Fried Potatoes.  It's a good excuse to revisit the Jack in the Box page.  Click HERE -- and enjoy.

Sharon Mass '61 won a trip to New York, according to the January 14, 1959 issue of the Pacer.  I think that was before jets.  Click HERE to enjoy all four pages of the student publication.  This was 60 years ago, so I guess it's a Diamond Anniversary Pacer.

The article on Savings Stamps in the Diamond Anniversary Pacer is a good excuse to visit the Savings Stamp page on my web site.  It also includes Green Stamps and Blue Chip Stamps.  Click HERE please.

I'm passing on a couple of obituaries garnered from the Crawford Foundation web page.   They came with no additional data.

Mary Allison '65 passed away December 15, 2019

Richard Bredeson '72 died December 19, 2019

January 3, 2020

I guess the Roaring '20s are back.  I'm waiting for it to stay light a little longer -- and warm up.   I don't expect to get a lot of sympathy from Colts ensconced in cooler climes.

I liked this Harry Bliss cartoon from yesterday.

Better late than never!  An article in the November 21st Union-Tribune told about George Glover '73 being honored as the Veteran of the Year in El Cajon.  George joined the Coast Guard and was sent to the Coast Guard Station on Harbor Drive.  Reminds me of my late friend John Finn.  He was raised in Los Angeles and joined the Navy to see the world.  I think he spent the first 10 years of his enlistment at North Island, but managed to win the Medal of Honor for his heroics at Pearl Harbor on December 7th.  John died in 2010 at age 100.  By the way, George Glover eventually put to sea.  Click HERE to read all about it.

I've added two more items -- a matchbook and an ash tray -- to my Aunt Emma's Pancakes page, courtesy of John Clay '69.  Remember when everyone smoked in restaurants, even the waitresses?  But the health department made them wear hair nets?  Remember when you could be seated in the No Smoking section, but still be next to a table in the Smoking Section?  Glad I got THAT off my chest.  Click HERE to revisit the Aunt Emma's Pancakes Page.

Here's a brilliant color photo of San Diego, circa 1953, when Navy Hospital was a sprawling pink complex and San Diego High was covered in ivy.  Click HERE to see this photo enlarged on my web site.

December 27, 2019

I snagged this off of Lulu Summers' Facebook page.  Who knew it would end up hitting a little close to home at La Casa Frito?  (That's Spanish for The Fry Home)

Sharon Cramer Sceper '68 forwarded this photo, I think taken at a Denny's.

The grandchildren of my classmate Bernadine Berlin Temple don't go "over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house" for the holidays.  Grandmother comes to them on the back of a Harley.  Here she is getting ready to leave the grandkids' house in San Jose for the return trip home to Hayward.

Click HERE to take a look at the KCBQ Top 40 from December 25, 1970 -- 49 years ago!!

Did you ever go the the Coliseum in downtown San Diego?  Me neither.  It was owned by the Navarro family and I'm wondering if it became Jerome's Furniture.  Last week marked 40 years since the venue was shut down.  The Union-Tribune published an article written by Wayne Lockwood at the time.  Wayne wrote great pieces, always fun, about the history of San Diego.  Click HERE to read this one.

This classic color shot of the Twin Inns in Carlsbad popped up on Facebook this week and I had to share it.  Click HERE to see an enlargement, a little information, and a postcard showing the chicken statues that used to be out in front.

December 20, 2019

When is the official start of winter in San Diego?  The solstice will be at 8:19 PM on December 21st.  San Diego gets 9 hours, 59 minutes and 50 seconds of daylight on the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.  When the summer solstice rolls around on June 20, 2020, the city will get 14 hours, 18 minutes and 25 seconds of daylight.  (From Robert Krier's column in Monday's Union-Tribune)

Ginger Irvine Barnard ’60 recently received the Los Angeles Junior League’s Spirit of Volunteerism Award.  She  currently is serving a 2 year term as President of the Ebell Club, at 125, the oldest women’s club in California. The Ebell Club has a 1,200 seat theater and clubhouse on Wilshire Blvd and a $6 million dollar budget, a full time unpaid job for Ginger. She previously chaired the Protocol and Programs committees for the LA Junior League.  Pictured above are Janis Irvine Ricards ’64, the aforementioned Ginger, and Georgeanne Irvine, award winning children’s books author and Director of Corporate Publishing for San Diego Zoo Global.

What are the chances?  On December 17, 1903 Orville Wright, and his brother Wilbur, made the first powered aircraft flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.  On December 17, 2019 Orville Wright Jr., a 1976 Crawford graduate, asked to be a member of the Colt Corral Facebook page.  I wonder if they're related.

Turns out Raquel Welch WAS a Weather Girl on Channel 8.  I always thought it was an Urban Legend.  Here's a 1960 photo of the La Jolla High grad -- then known as Raquel Tejada -- working on the weather map.

I'm not sure what year this photo of Horton Plaza at Christmas time was taken, but I think that's a '56 Chevy stopped on Broadway.  Click HERE if you'd like to see an enlargement on my web site.

Click HERE to read the 6-page December 18, 1969 Golden Anniversary issue of the Pacer.

December 13, 2019

Reformed convicts?  I'm not sure, but in its current iteration it's Shades of Sound, a cover band containing two Crawford brothers.  You can watch them Sunday at 10:40 AM on KUSI Channel 51 (or is it 9?)  Pictured above are Gary Lewis '69, Brandon Parkhurst, George Lewis '70, Mike Parkhurst, and Jim Klempan.

We mentioned former Crawford High School English teacher-turned French-trained pastry chef Melanie Dunn last year when she opened a bakery in Hillcrest.  Now she's upgraded to a spot in North Park.  Click HERE to read the article in Tuesday's Union-Tribune.

This photo of the Andrew Jackson 1968 Little League Tournament Team popped up on Facebook, but I don't recall anyone saying they were in the photo.  What year would someone in this picture have graduated from Crawford?

From the San Diego Union, December 16, 1959 -- 60 years ago!!

Here's a snazzy old photo from the San Diego Police Museum posted on Greg May's Vintage San Diego Facebook page by Tom Giaquinto.  It looks north across the intersection of Pacific Highway and Taylor Street around 1946.  Click HERE if you'd like to see it enlarged.

December 6, 2019

Ron Dixon '64 "saw" my Thanksgiving Turkey cartoon and "raised me one".

Deborah Nichols Poulos '63 has written the book above.  You can read more and purchase a copy on Amazon.  Deborah left Crawford after a year when her father was appointed President of Sonoma State College at its founding in 1961.  His name was Ambrose Nichols and he was a chemistry professor at San Diego State.

Apparently, if you join the new Disney + Streaming Service, you have unlimited access to Spin and Marty and Mickey Mouse Club episodes.  You might be able to find them on YouTube for free.  If you have to ask who Spin and Marty are, well -- never mind.

This photo got Gary Smith '70 wondering if anyone remembers a Mexican furniture (or furnishings) store not quite visible here on the west side of what is now Santana's Mexican Restaurant.  I think Santana's was once Denny's.

From the San Diego Union, December 3, 1969 -- 50 years ago!!

I'm not sure who Charlene Craig is, but she's posted a couple of photos on Facebook.  Her grandfather built Emmons Mercantile, 6340 El Cajon Blvd, in the 1920s.  Here's an early photo of it, looking west toward 63rd St.  I snagged a current view off of Google below.  Below that is the home Gramps built at 4727 Choctaw Drive, so he could walk to work.  The home is still there and, yes, that is Cowles Mountain in the background.  Remember when we called it "S" Mountain?