September 1, 2017

What were the chances?  August 26th was proclaimed "Nathan East Day"AND Nathan East performed at the Imperial Avenue Street Festival, also on August 26th.  "I am humbled beyond words," said the 1973 Colt at the presentation.  

Betty Greenwood Houbion (she's the one with feathers in her hair) shared this photo of the Class of 1964's "Roaring Twenties" Party on Facebook.  Bill Graham is wearing the derby and Bob Mitchell is holding a rifle.  Who is the girl on the left?

The score was 31-0 at end of last Friday's football game between Hoover and Crawford -- and Hoover was the team with zero points.  Kudos to Coach Wright and the team.   They host Southwest SD tonight at 7 PM at Lincoln.

August 25, 2017

Whatcha doin' tonight?  If you're still a San Diego County resident . . . 

You could attend the first game of the Crawford football season.  Coach Michael Wright extends a personal invitation.  The Colts play Hoover at Hoover, just as they did on September 27, 1958.  This time the game starts at 6:30.   Click HERE if you'd like to take a look at the entire program from the 1958 game.

Or you could head up north to Lou's Records, 434 N Coast Highway 101, in Encinitas.  Lou is hosting a release party for the new album by Jack Tempchin '65.  It's a tribute to the Eagles' Glen Frey, with whom Jack wrote a couple of songs.  The title of the album will give you a hint as to one of them -- "Peaceful Easy Feeling -- The Songs of Jack Tempchin."  Click HERE if you'd like to read the article penned by George Varga in last week's Union-Tribune.

I'm hoping other Crawford grads were able to make it to the total solar eclipse.  I see on Facebook that classmate Edward Pease saw it from Madras, OR.  This was eclipse #4 for me!   When we were scouting some possible viewing sites in eastern Oregon, driving off-road on BLM land, we met the Crawford family (no relation to our high school) doing some fencing on their adjoining cattle ranch.  They invited my wife and I, plus daughter and 2 of our grandkids, to view the eclipse from a hilltop on their property.  The old buildings are from an abandoned homestead.   I have a video at https://youtu.be/iQ_2RTs-8GU  -- John McGuigan '64

This aerial of the Chollas Heights Naval Transmitting Station popped up on Facebook last week.  Click HERE -- and wait patiently -- to see an enlarged version.  Even enlarged, I can only spot two of the three towers.  Click HERE to take a look at the photos I took when they demolished the towers on November 10, 1995.

The Celebration of Life for Jeff Lee, who died July 3rd while mountain biking, will be held this Sunday, August 27th, from 2-4 PM at Old Poway Park, 14134 Midland Road.   Click HERE to read some nice things in Troubadour Magazine.

August 18, 2017

My husband Jim Metts (SD High, '59) and I just completed hiking the 2650 mile Pacific Crest Trail in the Oregon section (still have Washington to do!)  But while on the Trail with the 20 and 30 year old through-hikers, I got to wondering if any Crawford alums have done the Trail, or sections of it.  We were clearly the oldest people on the Trail.  Ernie Cowan (Crawford alum and a friend of ours from the Sheriff's Dept. Search & Rescue Team) wrote about the Trail in the August 5th Union-Tribune -- Cathy Kelley Metts ‘61  

Last Saturday three kids who met at nursery school at Campus Laboratory School met for brunch.  A top of conversation was, of course, why doesn’t our friend John who sends out the Fried Egg Crawford email devote thousands of more words and images to CLS?  In hopes of nudging this along, I’m sending a reunion photo of we three at a swank, trendy, and funky Palo Alto bistro last Saturday.  We are left to right: Robby Wilcox who retired from being a deputy sheriff in Colorado and decades with the Boston Aquarium, and is now living in Palo Alto. David Wade who did his first year at Crawford then moved to Palos Verdes High School when his dad, who worked at General Dynamics, moved his job up to LA. Dave is into super computers. And, George Sorensen, who is a senior technical writer with Nike in Oregon. We three went to school together from nursery, through CLS, then Horace Mann, and Crawford. Robby (who of course goes by Rob now) and George continued all the way through SDSU.  Hadn’t seen Robby since about 1973 until we met for a little lunch.

Gary Drake has posted some beautiful color photos on the Crawford Facebook page that appear to be the original dedication of the Rolando Little League field.  Click HERE to take a look.  Click HERE to view some Little League programs on my Crawford web site.

Here are some more great color shots of the San Diego of our youth that Greg Mays posted on his Vintage San Diego Facebook page last week.  

Here's a photo of Art Huebner's Texaco Station on the northeast corner of Park Blvd and El Cajon.  I LOVE the "State College 6" sign posted on the traffic signal, and the KSON "Newspaper of the Air" advertisement on the right.  Click HERE -- and wait patiently -- to see the photo enlarged on Facebook.

This photo shows a Mission Valley so pastoral I can't tell where it was taken.  I suspect it's looking north, with 395 at the left.  Click HERE -- and wait patiently -- to see the photo enlarged on Facebook.

This could be anywhere in the USA, but it's not.  It's the corner of Orcutt Avenue and Seaman Street in Allied Gardens.  This was part of a series of photos on Facebook.  Click HERE -- and wait patiently -- to look at them all.

Marc Friedman ’61 passed away August 13th at a local San Diego hospital.  Marc suffered a stroke approximately six weeks ago and never recovered.  His daughter called to let me know.   We were very good friends since we were kids and used to ride our bicycles over to each others house.  He lived two blocks from the old Pep Boys tire store at 30th and University and I lived on Bancroft St in the Normal Heights area and we rode our bikes to each others house frequently.  We lost contact after we graduated from Crawford and never saw each other again until our 50th reunion.  We developed our friendship again and stayed in touch.  The last three years Marc had been coming to visit us here in Montana for a week or so and was going to return this year until he let me know he couldn't this year because of his stroke.  Marc lost his wife a few years back and had been living in the Lemon Grove area.  Marc was an avid swimmer in high school.  One of Marc’s major accomplishments was when he tried out for the United States Olympic Swim Team.  Although he didn't make it, he placed high.  His daughter Shannon said she would let me know if and when his services will be held which I will forward on to you.  He was a great friend and will be missed. -- Don Greeno '61

August 11, 2017

Doncha just LOVE vintage Kodachrome?  This photo of Balboa Park in the late 1940s popped up on Facebook this week.  The ladies are stylin' -- but check out the cars!   Click HERE to see it enlarged on Facebook.

Here's a 1955 postcard of Garden Grove, California.  Click HERE to look at 173 photos of Orange County and Los Angeles.

Nelson Moore '61 shares his Third Grade class photo from Jackson Elementary photo.  If you can help with names, I'm calling the top row A and the bottom row E.  E1 and E2 are Steve Kramer and Nelson Moore.  

Looks like the "Summer of Love" to me, but Bill Keller says this shot of his '68 Classmates Phil Catalfo and Michelle Lerager was taken in 1977.  They probably haven't changed much, since Bill says they reside in Berkeley.

Karen Erickson Moore ’65 passed away May 17, 2017 in Encinitas.  She attended Rolando and Andrew Jackson Elementary Schools, Horace Mann Junior High and Crawford High School.   She married at age 16 and moved to North County.   Karen was a teacher’s aide in kindergarten at Ocean Knoll School for seven years and a team mother, treasurer and board member for Northern San Dieguito Little League for 12 years.   She was a veteran crafter, dabbling in silversmithing, upholstering, stained glass, painting, sewing and much more.  She is survived by her son Kris Moore and husband Hubert Moore Jr.   Click HERE to sign the guest book.

Thomas Meza III '70 passed away July 14th.  Click HERE to read an obituary and/or sign the guest book.

August 4, 2017

Click HERE to read about donating to the GoFundMe account for the Crawford Cross Country team.  The team has gone from 6 runners to 60 in one year.

Three Keeyes -- No Waiting.  Joe '63, Kathy '68 and Bob '67 got together near Joe's home in Chino Hills during Kathy's most recent trip west.

How to Win at Life by Cheating at Everything, is authored by Mark Pérez, but contains 170 funny illustrations by Scott Shaw '68.  It's available on Amazon.

Scott Shaw and his 9th Grade English teacher Joy Woodward.  Joy discovered some cartoons Scott drew for her in 1965 and they got together.  Says Scott, She was the same wonderful, funny and sarcastic person I'd known, and we got along famously, chatting much more about the world around us, rather than the good ol' days.  We plan on keeping in touch from now on -- the poor lady.

I gave up on the Padres last Sunday and switched to Ken Kramer in time to watch Gary Mitrovich '76 explain the significance of Boundary Street.  Click HERE if you've got an extra 26 minutes to learn stuff about San Diego street names.

This photo of the Campus Lab School at San Diego State should bring back memories for some Colts.  It popped up last week on Greg May's Vintage San Diego Facebook Page.

Nelson Moore '61 forwards five photos from his days at Horace Mann.  Since I'm still unable to post to my web site, I'll post the photos as an album on Facebook.  "Nellie" shares the following for the photo above:  Horace Mann around 1957.  Softball champs.  Front row, left to right: Jim Console, Lee Young, Nelson Moore, Lance Consaul, (last person unidentified).  Back row, left to right: 4th from left is Larry Willis, 6th from left is David Pepper.  I'm wondering who the fellow is next to -- and taller than -- Larry Willis.  Maybe it's just the pompadour hairdo.

July 28, 2017

Bob Richardson writes, Members of the class of '61 will be happy to know that our AFS student from Turkey, Nur Karhnan, wasn't harmed by last Friday's earthquake.  She lives in Bodrum, only a few miles from the  epicenter.   

Says Nur, Thanks so much for your concern.  We did have a serious  earthquake 6.3 and many aftershocks.  I took place between Turkey and the Greek island Kos. No one died here but two males -- one Turkish and one Swedish tourist -- lost their lives.  The area has a serous fault line.  Such things happen all the time but this was really serious.  A thousand years ago both Bodrum and Troy sank seven times.

Bob also includes a clipping from the April 30, 1957 San Diego Union and wonders what became of Judy Hottenstein, who got sent home from Horace Mann for showing up with Pink Hair.

I just came across two photos that Howard Rozelle took of Esquire Motors, on the northeast corner of Euclid and El Cajon.  I'd like to add them to the one already posted on the web, but I don't think that's gonna happen in the near future.  Learning Dreamweaver to build your own web site is turning out to be like learning Greek in order to read The Iliad in its original form.  Thank you to the person who suggested the Lynda.com tutorials.  It's helping, but it's gonna take a while.  Click HERE if you want to see the other Esquire Motors photo.

Adele Spirz Delgado '71 invites you to visit the Julian Candy Basket if you're looking for old time favorites.  She stocks over 20 brands of Root Beer and, according to the advertisement above, gives out samples of "the best fudge in town".  You can also order on-line.

Mike McKittrick '60 has written Grandad's Bike Ride, "a beautifully written short story for children, complete with illustrations, about a grandfather's quest to catch-up to his grandchildren as he pedals his way through the local villages and countryside".   It's available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

July 21, 2017

Nancy and I finally got out to Horace Mann this past Monday.  Janice Ricca Hom had emailed me that she drove by "and they were tearing it down!"  I don't think they're tearing it down, but it would appear there is a major addition going in.  The photo above looks north toward the administration building.  The photo below looks east with Trojan Avenue at the right.  Click HERE to look at a 1959 aerial that may help you get oriented.

Ernie Cowan's birdwatching column in last Saturday's U-T features the Common Yellowthroat.  Click HERE to check it out.

The Westgate Hotel, at 2nd and Broadway, sparkles in this photo circa 1965, from Greg May's Vintage San Diego Facebook Page.   

Guess what?  You can order Abba Zaba candy bars -- and all manner of other vintage candy -- on line from OldTimeCandy.com  Make sure you've got your dentist on speed-dial.

Dana Carr '64 went looking for his childhood neighbor Betty McCoy on the internet.  "We moved to Michael Street the summer  I started Horace Mann. She lived on 55th Street" he wrote.  Sadly, Dana found a Facebook page that said Betty McCoy Cook passed away on September 22, 2016.  Her sister, Linda McCoy Petersen, confirms her passing.  "She passed peacefully, in her sleep, from cancer," said Linda.

July 14, 2017

47 years ago on this date I was in Paris with my pals Tom and Steve for the Bastille Day Parade.  It's a good lead-in to the fact that, a week earlier, we were in Pamplona, Spain for the "Running of the Bulls".  In both instances all I saw was peoples' backs and -- in Pamplona -- a cloud of dust.

Speaking of the "Running of the Bulls", have you seen the Geico commercial for "The Running of the Bulldogs"?  Click HERE to take a look.  Be prepared to fall on the floor laughing.

I thought I'd fallen asleep in the Barcalounger again and was dreaming.  The television commercial said something along the lines of "tired of having to push buttons to change channels on your remote?"  Apparently Cox voice remote lets you bypass those pesky buttons and just shout at the TV. Could be a 2 for 1 -- since I shout at the TV on a regular basis.   Remember when YOU were the remote?  When your folks made you get up and change the channel -- and sometimes stay there if you were improving the picture by grounding the set.  And there weren't any buttons either.  It could take two little hands to chunk-chunk-chunk to the desired channel.  Luckily there weren't very many choices.

Will Ernie Dronenburg EVER retire?  The County Assessor -- and '61 Colt -- was quoted in Tuesday's U-T article on who had the highest property tax bill in San Diego.  The answer:  Qualcomm.  Click HERE to get the details.

Bill Davis and his wife had a lovely time at the Herb Alpert Summer Pops concert last week on the Embarcadero, especially after keyboardist Bill Cantos gave a shout-out to his Crawford classmates from 1980.  Click HERE to check out Bill's web site.

I LOVE this color aerial of Belmont Park circa 1960.  It popped up again on Facebook and I'm sharing it again.  Click HERE to see it enlarged on Facebook.

It's been awhile since Bliss tickled my funny bone, but this cartoon from yesterday got me to smile.

July 7, 2017

I love this photo of lower Broadway posted on Facebook and thought maybe I'd used it before.  It appears to be circa 1960.  There's an Edsel going east and a VW headed west.  I blew up the marquee on the Tower Theater thinking the name of the movie would help determine the year.  It didn't, but I'm still thinking about what it said -- "You Won't Believe Your Eyes.  June Wilkinson. 43-20-36."

I'm not sure if Danielle Remer went to Crawford, but she DID attend Euclid Elementary and took this picture at the 100th Birthday Party this past Wednesday.  I believe she posted on Facebook that this was a portion of what remained of the older part of the school.

Ernie Cowan '62, "The Bird Man of Escondido", wrote a nice article in this week's U-T entitled "Sit Back and Enjoy the Show".  He's encouraging you to take an hour out of each day and soak up your surroundings.  Click HERE to read the article.

Details are still sketchy but Jeff Lee '66 died while mountain biking in Rancho Penasquitos on Tuesday.  As a member of the band "Oh Ridge", he put smiles on the faces of thousands of fans.  He entertained at a couple of the First Thursday meetings at The Amigo Spot and managed to reword one stanza of Margaritaville that caught my attention.

Wasted away again in Margaritaville,

Searchin' for my lost shaker of salt.

Some people claim that there's a woman to blame,

Now I think it’s all John Fry’s fault.