April 3, 2020

The New York Times had a wonderful article this week entitled What Social Distancing Looked Like in 1666.  There are amazing similarities between now and the London Bubonic Plague.  Click HERE to check it out.

Here's this week's T-Shirt from Paula Kincaid

You might not have noticed the shirt worn by Larry Wickstrom (back left) in the Class of '60 reunion planning picture a couple of weeks back.  It's from High Seas Trading Company in Laguna Hills.  Larry turned me on to them a few years ago and I've been ordering from them ever since.  This past Monday they sent me an email announcing that they were now offering N95 face masks in colorful Aloha patterns.

Tom Cassie sends ANOTHER Guaranty Chevrolet Little League photo.  This one is from 1955 -- a year earlier than last week's.  His brother Jim, in the front row wearing stripes, looks more like a team mascot.  Click HERE to see the photo enlarged with names.

My favorite publication of all time is 60 years old.  Click HERE to read the FABULOUS 1960 April Fool's Edition of the Pacer.

Debi Cox Landry '72 shares two photos of the Pacerettes, Crawford's Award-Winning Drill team  Maybe someone has names.  Click HERE to take a look at the shots.

Here's a shot from the Vintage San Diego Facebook page looking up Broadway around 1948.  The streetcars may be before your time, but you may recognize some of the other buildings in the distance.  Click HERE for an enlargement.

March 27, 2020

All this talk about Social Distancing takes me back to every date I had in high school.  Two blocks away, the girl would start reaching for the door handle.  "You want me to come to a full stop," I would say, "or shall I just slow down and let you do a combat roll?"

Sharon Whitley Larsen '69 has forwarded a message from her classmate Stephen Bishop (pictured above with his puppy Randy Newman).  Stephen will have an on-line concert April 18th to benefit artists affected by the coronavirus pandemic.  Click HERE for all the details.

Here's this week's T-Shirt from Paula Kincaid

When I mentioned last week's photo of the Tower Bar by Julee Vaughan was taken in what used to be called East San Diego, a great cry came out of Oklahoma.  It was my classmate Londa Galley Warren lamenting the loss.  She also wondered if the East San Diego sign, at Fairmount and University, was also gone.  I'm afraid so.  Here's a photo from the East San Diego Facebook page of Gary Mitrovich '76.

Tom Cassie '62 forwards a photo of his 1956 Guaranty Chevrolet Little League team.  His brother Jim is in the photo and I recognize Paul Janicki.  Click HERE for an enlargement and the rest of the names.

Deby Cox Cowan '72 sent me her 2nd through 4th Grade photos from Webster Elementary.  Click HERE to check them out.

Larry John White ’62 passed away on Tuesday, January 14, 2020.  He was a resident of Kempner, Texas.

March 20, 2020

This coronavirus thing is playing right into my strong suit.  I've gotten self-isolating down pat over the years.  Actually, I get a regular stream of visitors, the last one a young woman who chose a chair in the next room.  I hope the rest of you are getting by in these unusual times.

I guess Spring crept in yesterday without much news.  It's not like the weather has been that nice in San Diego for the last couple of weeks.

Paula Kincaid is back, this time with some T-Shirt humor.  I'll share this one and see what happens.

Ernie Cowan says the Hooded Oriole is back in town and you can attract your own with an Oriole feeder.  Click HERE to read his Outdoors column.

Linda Schneider Crawford sends word that legendary gospel singer Sandi Patty '74 has tested positive for COVID-19 but is doing fine.  Click HERE for details.

The Class of '60 Reunion Committee met last Friday and they sent along a great photo.  Click HERE if you'd like to see it enlarged.  You can find out who the people are and why there's a '61 Centaur on the table.

Julee Vaughan takes stunning photos in and around what I still call East San Diego.  She took this one Wednesday evening, as the setting sun highlighted the iconic Tower Bar at Euclid and University.  I liked it so much I've placed an enlargement on my Historic San Diego Photos page.  KUSI liked it so much they showed it on TV.

Click HERE to read the Crawford Pacer for March 19, 1970.  The headline Cafeteria Food Discussed; Conclusions Reached caught MY eye.    

If you read the Cafeteria Food article in the above Pacer, you may want to read again the emails from folks who LIKED the cafeteria fare.  It includes the recipe for Peanut Butter Chews.  Click HERE to check it out.

James Lindholm ’70 passed away March 9, 2020.   I have known Jim since elementary school at Carver.  He lived close by in the neighborhood growing up. Then, after he bought his parents’ home, I saw him from time to time when I visited my mother or worked on her house as it was rented. I knew him as a dear man of faith, active in his church and of course loved his family -- Barbara Alvarez

Jerry Cullins ’64 died December 5, 2019.  He left Crawford at the end of his Junior year in 1963 and joined the U. S. Air Force.  After leaving the Air Force he completed law enforcement training and served as a police officer with San Diego Police Department.  Some years later he went to work with the Brawley School District where he provided student counseling until retiring to Vista to be near family.  He fought a courageous battle with lung cancer, accepted his fate and passed peacefully with his wife by his side -- Ken Daly  (He did not have a photo in the annual -- JF)

March 13, 2020

It's Friday the 13th.  The only artwork I could find was too scary to post, but maybe not as scary as what's going on in the world right now.  Have a nice day and don't step on any cracks.  The Ides of March is only two days away.

I hope this Bizarro cartoon doesn't require an explanation.

I'm having trouble getting out of my easy chair and John McGuigan '64 is celebrating his 15th year as a member of the Squaw Valley Ski Patrol.  He sent this photo of himself and Avalanche Dog Trouper.

Do you remember what year you first visited the zoo?  Me neither, but here's a 1947 map of the place.  Click HERE to see an enlargement and a link to a whole bunch of other cool maps.

I'm revisiting a photo taken 55 years ago, I assume, and sent in by Dave Knight '73.  It's the Redwood Village Darnall Elementary Carpenters Union Little League team.  Click HERE to look at an enlargement.

Click HERE to read the March 11, 1965 Pacer.

March 6, 2020

I got a kick out of Tuesday's Bizarro cartoon.  Also, it's a lead-in to a great Bar Bet question:  Which President is on the $100 bill?  

Nancy went to Disneyland last week and brought me back this pin.  Sometimes I think she's trying to tell me something.  Oh, that's right -- I forgot.  Below is the decal on the back of her old car that we shared in the Fry Day email of May 17, 2013.

I couldn't resist posting this 1967 photo, taken by F H Worsfold, posted on Greg Mays Vintage San Diego Facebook page.  One lucky Facebook follower spotted her grandpa serving as crossing guard.  Click HERE to see a larger version of the photo.

I was looking through my 1958 Horace Mann annual and came across the above page.  We won't see that again in our lifetime.  It may have been on the page after the Slave Day sale.

Vowen Clark, Vern Bowman, and Wrestling Coach Frank Smith all got their photos on the front page of the May 10, 1960 Pacer.  Click HERE to read the articles.

February 28, 2020

If you stay alive long enough you become an authority.  Click HERE to see the interview Channel 10 did with me about PB's historic Handley House.

Scott Shaw '68, who helped found the original Comic-Con, is back with Comic Fest 2020.  It'll be held March 5-8 at San Diego's Four Points by Sheraton, 8110 Aero Drive.  

There really WAS an indoor firing range for ROTC -- and the GAA Firing Fillies.  Jim Person '61 said if I'd send him a Crawford map he'd show me where it was -- and he has.  This inset looks east, by the way.

The photo of Channel 8's Bob Regan misusing the phone apparently prompted Julia Burnham Little to share a video on how to dial a rotary phone.  Click HERE to check it out.  What kind of phone did you have?  We had the one on the left.  It weighed about eight pounds and had a spring-loaded dial that made me dread having to call people who had a 9 in their number.  Its replacement on the right was MUCH easier to use.

This week's Pacer is from February 25, 1960 -- 60 years ago.  Click HERE to read all four pages.

Wendy Nelson Myers shares a photo from Horace Mann days -- 1957 or 1958.  In the front row are the Hull twins -- Joan and Judy, Jeri Norstrom and Barbara Friedrich.  In the back Wendy Nelson Myers, Natalie Ault, Fritz Ziegenfuss, Nancy Biggs, Judy Marcotte, and Marion Pasas.   Wendy can't remember what the occasion was, but thinks the group won a prize.

I thought I'd shared this photo earlier, but I haven't.  It was taken by Howard Rozelle, possibly in 1945.  It looks north across the intersection of 43rd and University.  The photo I DID share was taken seconds later, across the intersection of 44th and University.  Click HERE to see both photos enlarged -- plus a page out of the San Diego City Directory listing businesses in that area.

February 21, 2020

Paula Kincaid sent me a page of humorous sayings a while back.   Here are some of them

When one door closes and another door opens, you are probably in prison.

I had my patience tested. I’m negative.  

I finally got eight hours of sleep. It took me three days, but whatever.

I don’t mean to interrupt people. I just randomly remember things and get really excited.

I've added John Blackwood's '55 Chevy convertible to the Cars We Drove to School page.

Speaking of vintage autos, the San Diego Automotive Museum just opened an exhibit called That '70s Car Show.  How did THAT happen?  Cars that weren't even on the drawing board when I graduated from Crawford are now part of a show on historic automobiles.  The show goes through June 13th.  The Union-Tribune photo above was taken by K. C, Allred.

Remember Channel 8's Bob Regan?  This photo popped up on Facebook and I'm including it here because it reminded me of when those attachments came out that you could clamp on the phone receiver.  I assume they were a boon to secretaries -- and teenage girls.  Bob doesn't seem to be using it correctly.

Turns out there WAS a Firing Fillies girls' rifle team.  It just wasn't part of ROTC.  Pat Baker checked in and set me straight.  The team was affiliated with GAA, the Girls' Athletic Association.  Pictured above, from the 1963 Centaur, are (Front Row) Mary Smart, Vincette Nietzie, Charlotte Haase, Sandy Wilcox, and Martha Dory.  (Back Row) Pat Baker, Lynn Runge, Judy Burnham, Kathy Hane, Jo Giacalone, and Jane Farris.  I'm still wondering where the indoor firing range was.

I spotted this shot in the '63 yearbook when looking for the Firing Fillies photo.  It's titled All Out, and has always been one of my favorites.

The Golden Anniversary Pacer is from February 19, 1970 and is six pages in length -- or would have been if Ed Schoenberg hadn't snipped out the articles about himself.  Click HERE to check it out.

In the Fry Day email of January 31st I mentioned that Rik Kranenburg '72 passed away on January 18th and that there were no further details.  Turns out he died on January 17th while hiking in Grenada.  His classmate Phyllis Schwartz forwards a rather lengthy obituary, which I've whittled down to three paragraphs and posted on the Class of '72 Obituary Page.