August 31, 2018

Who knew there was a Will C. Crawford High School in El Centro?  Turned out I misread the article on the wife of newly-disgraced Congressman Duncan Hunter Jr.   It noted that she attended Will C. Crawford High School in El Cerrito.  I still think of it as East San Diego.  Click HERE to read the piece, in which Duncan Hunter throws his wife Margaret Jankowski Hunter under the bus.  I think Margaret is a 1993 graduate.

A much more upbeat article appeared in Wednesday's Union-Tribune.  It's about Deka Ismail, daughter of Somali immigrants, who graduated from Crawford last year.   She'll be attending UCSD in the fall, which -- I think -- is pretty soon.  Click HERE to read the piece.

Speaking of Fall, in his latest Outdoors column Ernie Cowan '62 notes that it's tarantula mating season, so watch where you step.  The mating session, Ernie points out, often ends with the female killing the male.  Kind of harsh.  You would hope she'd just take the family home, settle for a monthly alimony check, and let the poor guy go on his way.  Click HERE to read Ernie's article.

Where DOES the time go?  I expect it seems like yesterday when Jeannine Berger Passenheim '60 was going through her student handbook.  Turns out it was 60 years ago.  Click HERE to read all 40 pages.

I recently posted on YouTube a 3 1/2 minute film I made on May 11, 1969.  It was Mother's Day and my Mom was putting her Mom on the Santa Fe streamliner.  Wish I could recall where grandma was going.  Most likely to Lewistown, Montana where she grew up and still had lots of relatives.  Click HERE to take a look.

Have you seen the Geico commercials in which Alexander Graham Bell's phone goes off in the middle of a play, interrupting the actors?  "No, no -- my number's 1," he says, "you must want 2".  Click HERE to watch it for yourself.

August 24, 2018

School starts on Monday at Crawford, but the first football game will be played tonight -- and most of the other schools in the county started last week.   Crawford is picked to finish second in the Central League this year.  Maranatha Christian will play at Crawford tonight at 7 PM.

On Tuesday a man led police on an hour-long chase that went through San Diego, Lemon Grove, Spring Valley, Rancho San Diego, National City, Chula Vista, and Otay Mesa.  Must not have been in that order, because he came to a halt after hitting spike strips while exiting northbound I-5 at Balboa.  I mention this only because the man reached speeds in excess of 100 mph -- IN A FORD FIESTA!!

You know how I love unusual obituaries.  Don Cherry died April 4 at age 94, but his passing is just now being noted.  He was good enough at golf to play in the Masters.  He sang well enough to have a hit single, Band of Gold.  His first wife was Sharon Kay Ritchie, Miss America of 1956.  I've saved the best for last.  He earned over $800,000 as the voice of television's Mr. Clean.  Click HERE to read the whole obituary and listen to Band of Gold as well as a video of him singing with Bing Crosby and Dean Martin.

You know you're getting old when they're tearing down schools that you remember being built.  I previously mentioned the destruction of the 1977 version of Hoover High.  The artist's rendering of the new school (above) is wonderfully reminiscent of the original 1930 building.  Turns out they're also dozing Wilson Middle School.  The original brick structure was built in 1924 and torn down in 1964.  The new school, seen below in a drawing, looks pretty snazzy.  I always thought the schools built in the '60s and '70s looked like minimum-security prisons, which -- come to think of it -- they were.

I'm not sure who Elizabeth Wood is, but she's put together a lovely collage of old matchbook covers (and a few images from my web site).   Click HERE to check it out on Facebook.

My favorite cartoon artists are on fire this week.  You would have had to have seen Thelma and Louise to appreciate that last one.

Rod Miller ’69 died July 25, 2018 of ALS.  He was retired from the City of San Diego.  He is survived by, among others, sisters Pam Miller ’71 and Jody Miller Tobias ’74

August 17, 2018

This Bliss cartoon from last week tickled my funny bone.

Here's a color-corrected screen shot taken from the 3-1/2 minute film I took of the Spanish training ship Juan Sebastian de Elcano arriving on April 12, 1969 to take part in the Spanish Week portion of San Diego's 200th Anniversary Celebration.  Sadly, I don't know how to color-correct a movie, so you'll find it has started to turn purple.  Click HERE if you'd like to watch it anyhow.  It has some nice views of the USS Bunker Hill, the WWII carrier that ended its life parked at North Island as an electronics test platform.

I'm not sure who Gary Schacker is but he posted this photo of Dow Stereo, circa 1980, on Facebook last week and Gary Mitrovich brought it to my attention.  The business stood at 4404 El Cajon Blvd.  Click HERE to see what's there now.

Paula Kincaid thinks the Deja Vu Gentlemen's Club used to be the Cotton Patch.  Quite possible, because The Paradise Lounge and Grill next door was the original Boll Weevil.  Steve Weston thought Deja Vu looked familiar -- almost as if he'd been there before.

August 10, 2018

I'm not sure I even get this Bizarro cartoon, but I love all references to Etch-A-Sketch

I was sitting in the car at the Midway Post Office and noticed flags waving in a reflection off the front door.  When Nancy came out I mentioned it and she peered into the distance.  "Maybe it's a recruiting station," she said.  Close enough.  Turned out to be Deja Vu Showgirls "Gentlemen's Club".  

The Los Angeles Times this week featured an article on unusual school mascots.  I've always loved the Santa Cruz Banana Slugs, whose motto is No Known Predators.  I came close to a spit-take when I read that the Compton High School mascot is the Tar-Babe.  Yikes.  My mind went back to Uncle Remus and the Tar Baby.   Long ago the school mascot was a Lion, and was changed to Tartars, then Baby Tartars, then Tar-Babes.  Click HERE to read the article. (I did the Compton research on my own)

Was it only last week that I was chiding Canterbury Gardens for putting their Halloween inventory out?  Yesterday they -- oh, wait -- it's a "Making Room for Christmas Sale."   Never mind.

The Crown City ferry boat ride brought back memories for a lot of folks.  Carole Smithson and Bob Richardson took the ferry to the 1961 Senior Prom.  They chose to take the Silver Strand on the way home.  The above photo was taken by Bob's father at the Richardson home.  The couple married in 1964.  Sadly, Carole passed away in 2001.   Judy Schwartz Sheinbein '69 shares the photo below of  little brother Larry, father Jerry and herself.

Tom Cassie noticed in the distance, on one of the new Esquire Motors photos, two names.  Says Tom, "One is Dean Flesner, whose son Dave graduated from Crawford in ‘60.  Dave played three sports at Crawford and was a 3-year letterman in baseball at SDSU.   John Lovett had a son who I played Pony League with me at Sunset Pony League.  I believe he went on to graduate from Hoover."

Here's the KDEO "Fabulous 40" from August 9, 1963 -- 55 years ago.  Click HERE for a version you may be able to read.

Diane Strum '66 sends word of the passing of her friend and classmate Laural Johnson Grabowsky.  Laural (I know it says Laurel in the yearbook) died on May 26 of ALS.  Her husband Kip was at her side.  You can read more on the Class of 1966 Obituary Page.

August 3, 2018

Remember when we went back to school in the middle of September?  Judging by the recent Walmart television ads, somewhere kids are headed back much, much earlier.

But wait -- there's more!!

Canterbury Gardens, in Escondido, is now open for those who want to do their Halloween shopping early.

I love Big Bang Theory, but I have to enable Closed Captioning because Bernadette's voice is too squeaky for me to understand.  CC was still enabled later when I was watching the Padres and Mark Grant, after a spectacular catch by Hunter Refroe, compared him to Mikhail Baryshnikov.  Seconds later the printing on my TV screen quoted it as Mikhail Gorbachev.  Conjures up an image doesn't it?

Wanna take a ride on the ferry boat Crown City to North Island and check out the Grumman A-6 my childhood buddy Ken Ptack (Hoover '60) flew in from MCAS Cherry Point?  I shot the film on July 19, 1969.  The last ferry run took place August 2nd, and the bridge opened August 3rd.  Hey -- that's TODAY!! Click HERE to watch the 3:30 minute film on YouTube.

I came across two more photos that Howard Rozelle shot of Esquire Motors on El Cajon Blvd.  Now that I'm able to add stuff to my web site again, you can see all three photos.  Click HERE.