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?

November 22, 2019

On this saddest of anniversaries you can click HERE to look at photos and recollections of a happier time -- JFK's visit to San Diego on June 6, 1963.

Las Vegas?  Guess again.  This gorgeous night shot of the Desert Inn Motel was taken on El Cajon Boulevard in 1980.  I've added it to the Aztec Motel shots we saw last week.  Click HERE to see it enlarged.

Remember this photo of the #7 streetcar in front of the Silverado Ballroom?  Turns out there was another photo taken at the same time and posted on Facebook by Gary Mitrovich '76.  Click HERE to see enlargements of both images.  Click HERE for information on riding one of these streetcars in San Diego on weekends.

Click HERE to read all 6 pages of the Golden Anniversary Pacer from November 26, 1969.

Charles Rafferty ’73 passed away, last Friday, November 18, 2019 according to the alumni web page.  I couldn't find any other details.

Kenn Towne ’73 died in Santa Fe, New Mexico on May 18, 2018 at the age of 62.  I couldn’t find a photo of him in the yearbook.

November 15, 2019

Are you humming the same song I'm humming?

Click HERE to read the football program from Crawford's 5th Annual Homecoming Game, played at Aztec Bowl on November 16, 1962 against Lincoln.  When did Crawford play it's first Homecoming Game at Crawford?  I don't know the answer, but I suspect it was rather recent.

Not a lot of current events in the Colt world, so I'm revisiting a page of photos originally shared by Diana Morawitz Schlader Kruse '72.  That's her astride a llama in the A and P parking lot on 54th and El Cajon.  Click HERE to see this photo enlarged -- and three more really neat color shots taken along El Cajon Blvd.

Every so often a photo pops up on Facebook that knocks my socks off -- this 1919 shot of Torrey Pines beach, for instance.  Click HERE to see an enlarged version.  

I don't know who Gary Schacker is, but he's starting to share photos on Facebook that he took many years ago.  This shot of Dow Sound City, on the northwest corner of 37th and El Cajon, was taken in November 1979 -- 40 years ago.   It's now a muffler shop.

Shirley Franklin '73 has notified me of the passing of two of her classmates, one last year and another in 1996.

Joan Mims died May 25, 2018.  Dr. Mims was a professor of education at California State University, Los Angeles.   She earned her Ph. D. in the Joint Doctoral Program between Claremont Graduate University and San Diego State University where she collaborated with large urban school districts including Montebello; her Masters from San Diego State University in Bilingual/Multicultural Education and her Bachelor’s from the University of California, San Diego in Linguistics. She was fluent in both English and Spanish, and authored several interdisciplinary textbooks in both Spanish and English for Houghton Mifflin Company and Sage Publications, along with numerous articles in professional journals and books. 

Yvette Jones Payne passed away on September 15, 1996.  She left behind husband John Payne Sr., son John Payne Jr., step-son Juan Payne, sister Gerrie Jones, aunt Ethel M. Washington, uncle Brailey Woods, very special friend Dr. Joan Mims and several cousins and friends.

November 8, 2019

Hope this Bliss cartoon from Tuesday is big enough for you to make out.

This 1940 photo appeared on Facebook recently. It looks east on El Cajon Blvd. around Rolando.   That's Mount Helix in the distance on the right and Montezuma Road, I believe, sneaking through on the left.  Click HERE to see an enlarged version.  

Some people, it turns out, have fond memories of cafeteria food.  Click HERE to revisit a page posted some years ago.  It includes the official recipe for San Diego City Schools Peanut Butter Chews.

The music 61 years ago really WAS the best music of all.  Click HERE to read the Mighty 690 Top 40 for November 7, 1958.  

Here's the Golden Anniversary Pacer from November 7, 1969.  Must have been a bad time for the football team.  They lost to the "Birds" AND the "Bees".  Click HERE to read all 6 pages.

November 1, 2019

Another cartoon swiped from Lulu Summers.  It cracked me up -- and when I actually got it -- it REALLY cracked me up.  It's one explanation for why the dinosaurs died off.

Yippee!!  I'm in the money!!  Here's the October Royalty Statement from Schiffer Publishing, who published my book on the USS Saratoga.  Hold on a sec!!  I LOST money?  How can I be out 58 cents?

Much better news for Ernie Dronenberg '61 and Bill Gore '65.   They're getting raises.  I guess I know which doors to stand outside with my tin cup.

Did I already publish this photo of the San Diego Public Library bookmobile?  I wonder where it was taken?  Those trees conjure up an image of the East Coast, but I suspect it's somewhere in Balboa Park.  I probably also published Rick Crawford's Bookmobiles for San Diego.  Click HERE to read it again.

I've seen this photo before, but without a caption.  It's the Number 7 streetcar at Euclid and University, ready to head back downtown.  That's the Silverado Ballroom tucked away in the background.

Click HERE to enjoy an enlarged version of this 1958 shot of the El Cortez.  I think all four cars in this photo are General Motors products.  

Crawford's 3rd Annual Homecoming game was played against San Diego at Hoover on November 3, 1961, with a starting time of 8 PM.  I've already dozed off in the Barcalounger these days at 8 PM.  Click HERE to peruse the program AND check out my Crush the Cavers ribbon, along with my Field Pass signed by Charlie Clapper.

October 25, 2019

I posted this the week it ran in 2016.  It's still one of my favorites.  I'm counting it as Halloween Hilarity.

Louie Schwartzberg '68 has produced another stunning nature documentary, Fantastic Fungi.  It appears to be more interactive than his usual, and he'll be making personal appearances around the country along with the film.  Kind of like Bruce Brown used to do with Endless Summer.   He'll be at La Paloma Theatre in Encinitas on November 3rd and at the Hotel del Coronado on November 5th.  Click HERE to watch the trailer and get more information.

In the Colt Corral of July 5th I mentioned that Linda Blake Morrow and her husband David had been apprehended in Israel, having been on the lam for a year accused of Health Care Fraud.  Sandy Barber Pikula '71 let me know that I had erred in stating Linda was from the Class of '71.  Linda Blake graduated in 1970.  Her sister Barbara (that's her on the right) graduated in 1971.  My concern, expressed to Sandy, is that some of you now might go away thinking Barbara was somehow involved in the skulduggery.  She was not.

The Colts played the Cavers on October 26, 1962 at Balboa Stadium.  Click HERE to peruse the program shared by Sarina Klein Nordmarken.

The good news is Ed Schoenberg saved his copies of the Pacer his Senior Year.  The bad news is he clipped out any articles with his name in them.  Click HERE to get the explanation -- and read the October 17, 1969 issue of the student newspaper.  

Ellen Rochefort Barnes ’59 passed away on October 10, 2019 in Beebe, Arkansas.  At Crawford she was active in Y-teens, GAA, Bible Club and was on the Vespers Committee.  Ellen met Dexter Barnes on Mission Beach in early 1961 and married in May of that same year.  She was the mother of 6 children, 18 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.  She attended her grandchildren's every school event, concert, track meet, graduation, soccer, play, social media and she will be greatly missed by all!!

Al Porter ’64 passed away October 21, 2019 after a lengthy series of health challenges. He’s survived by his two great kids, Forest Porter and Lorna Coclich.  His wife passed away a month earlier.   You’ll want to read the heartfelt remembrance sent in by his friend and classmate Eric Selten.  It’s posted on the Class of ’64 Obituary Page.

My long time friend and fellow Crawford classmate, Nancy Biner McConnell ’67 went to be with Jesus on October 23^rd.   She had been battling kidney failure and on dialysis everyday for a few years now and recently started having heart issues. She is survived by her sister Karen Biner Huntley ’62, her husband Marshall McConnell, her two sons Nathan and his wife Julie and Matthew, stepson Michael and stepdaughter Michele as well as her granddaughters (Nathan’s daughters) Audrey and Kate -- the lights of her life!  Nancy lived in Indiana at the time of her passing -- Don Christofferson ’68