The summer of 1963 included working out for Freshman football as football practice would begin in August. I was 5-8 and 105 pounds wet. The high school would still be playing at the Junior High football field but the practice were on practice field at the high school below the basketball courts.
We were about to enter high school with three classes above us. We were at the bottom of the food chain at this point. Most of us expected to be picked on and chastised. Of course if you had a brother who was a Senior and a sister who was a Junior chances are you were not going to be messed around with much.
Freshman learned rather quickly about school traditions, such as the Senior Lawn located on the hill outside the Multi-Purpose building. If you ventured on that holy ground by mistake and not at a school rally you were the subject of wrath by any Senior. You learned quickly to stay out of the path and radar of upper classmen.
I took Latin my Freshman year, I have no idea why and what, if anything, you could possibly due with Latin later in life. Here I was in a class that I had no idea what I was doing. If not for a new teacher and the assistance of a very smart classmate I would have never made it through.
There was also the dreaded Algebra class in which the teacher would keep reminding you that you would need this class later on in life. I still to this day have never had any usage for this subject. One good thing though was my class was in the afternoon and on Fridays and on away games we had to leave early for the bus ride and I got out this class several times.
I remember the rally on the Senior lawn on Fridays. The classes would all gather around and who could forget Coach LeBeck and his “EEEYA” cheer. It was a school tradition. At home games we had to march in full uniform over to the Junior High school football through the streets of Pacific Grove. We had a great Freshman team that went undefeated. I had a really good seat for each game.
The Varsity team lost to Carmel that year 14-12 played at the Junior High field. Shortly after that, November 22, 1963, while in my science class, we received the news about the shooting of President Kennedy in Dallas, Texas. In our next class we were told there would be no classwork. We laid our heads on our tables and within that hour we were told that President Kennedy had died. Everyone was released from school and I went home to spend the weekend watching the coverage on television. I don’t think that there are very many of us who will ever forget where we were on that day.
As basketball seasons approached, we were about to use our new gym. Tryouts were at the Junior High gym. As the season approached the high school finally had its’ own gymnasium,
1964 started with, what else, the introduction of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. The Beatles changed the course of music in this country.The next few years, as far as I’m concerned, were the best in music history.
Our freshman year ended without much fanfare, all in all in was a very good year. Looking forward to my Sophomore year.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Pacific Grove Junior High School 1961-1963
During the summer of 1961 we again moved from 904 Fillmore Street to 609 Alder Street, which was at the corner of Alder and Junipero Ave. George Washington Park was directly across the street. It was all wooded, no baseball field, just a meadow. On the other side of the park were the 17 Mile Drive Village Cottages and store. Very low income area, they had a swimming pool on the grounds but we were always getting kicked out.
Starting 7th grade was another scary moment in my life, as I am sure it was too many other children my age. We were about to go a school where all the elementary 6th graders from a year ago would all be in the same place. Not to mentioned the 8th graders that we would have to deal with as well.
Pacific Grove Junior High School had been the previous High School and they were still playing basketball and football on our campus. The classes were all inclusive into one building. We had our own gym and auditorium.
Physical Education would be new to all of us. Dressing out into gym clothes and then showering and changing before the next class. This would be a change not easily adjusted to. We were meeting new students that we had never met before and starting new friendships.
The school had sock hop dances, usually on a Friday, in the gym. You had to dance in your socks as shoes were not allowed on the gym floor. Boys would be one side and the girls on the other and it was a meeting of sexes on the floor. It all depended on how shy you were if dancing was meant to be. There were always certain girls that you could depend on not to turn you down. The twist, mash potatoes, and similar dances with different names were a sign of the times back then.
I remember the phase of flipping bottle caps and matching coins before school and during lunch.
The summer after 7th grade we move to 735 Rosemont Avenue prior to the start of 8th grade. There were more sock hops and dances. I joined the choir in 8th grade and one morning while riding my bike to school for choir practice I tried to be the traffic light on Forest Avenue. I was hit by a car and I was in the hospital during the Christmas holidays.
I was in a caste for quite a while, missing most of the 8th grade basketball games. We were divided in classes and made the playoffs anyway. The day of the championship game I had just gotten my caste off and played in the game. I can still remember the noise from that game. Although we lost it is still one of my favorite events from Junior High.
Graduation in Junior High was special. Each class had to put on a skit for the school prior to the graduation ceremony. After two years we were finally ready to move on to high school.
Next up: Pacific Grove High School years..
Starting 7th grade was another scary moment in my life, as I am sure it was too many other children my age. We were about to go a school where all the elementary 6th graders from a year ago would all be in the same place. Not to mentioned the 8th graders that we would have to deal with as well.
Pacific Grove Junior High School had been the previous High School and they were still playing basketball and football on our campus. The classes were all inclusive into one building. We had our own gym and auditorium.
Physical Education would be new to all of us. Dressing out into gym clothes and then showering and changing before the next class. This would be a change not easily adjusted to. We were meeting new students that we had never met before and starting new friendships.
The school had sock hop dances, usually on a Friday, in the gym. You had to dance in your socks as shoes were not allowed on the gym floor. Boys would be one side and the girls on the other and it was a meeting of sexes on the floor. It all depended on how shy you were if dancing was meant to be. There were always certain girls that you could depend on not to turn you down. The twist, mash potatoes, and similar dances with different names were a sign of the times back then.
I remember the phase of flipping bottle caps and matching coins before school and during lunch.
The summer after 7th grade we move to 735 Rosemont Avenue prior to the start of 8th grade. There were more sock hops and dances. I joined the choir in 8th grade and one morning while riding my bike to school for choir practice I tried to be the traffic light on Forest Avenue. I was hit by a car and I was in the hospital during the Christmas holidays.
I was in a caste for quite a while, missing most of the 8th grade basketball games. We were divided in classes and made the playoffs anyway. The day of the championship game I had just gotten my caste off and played in the game. I can still remember the noise from that game. Although we lost it is still one of my favorite events from Junior High.
Graduation in Junior High was special. Each class had to put on a skit for the school prior to the graduation ceremony. After two years we were finally ready to move on to high school.
Next up: Pacific Grove High School years..
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Robert H. Down
We moved from Forest Avenue up to 904 Fillmore Street, off David Avenue sometime around 1957. Sinex Avenue east turns into Fillmore Street at David Avenue. We were just on the other side of the city limits, which was an alley that ran north/south on the side of our home. My parents received permission for us to go to PG schools, since my Mom worked in Pacific Grove.
Robert H. Down Elementary School,formerly Pacific Grove Grammar School, named after Robert Hodge Down, who was principal from 1914-1945. There were four other elementary schools in Pacific Grove during the late 50’s, David Avenue, Lighthouse, Forest Grove (1959) and St Angela’s (Catholic School).
Memories of Robert H. Down Elementary School
I went to Robert Down from 1956-1961. Most of my friends in high school went there as well. I truly have fond memories of Robert Down. Three of my four children also went to Robert Down.
You can’t go to an elementary school in Pacific Grove without being a part of the annual Butterfly Parade. Started in 1939 and held on the first Saturday in October, the Butterfly Parade celebrates the return of the Monarch butterfly to Pacific Grove. Pacific Grove is the winter stop for these butterflies. Elementary schools of Pacific Grove gather at Robert Down School and marched through the downtown dressed in various costumes. Traditional costumes of butterflies, otters, Native American, pioneers and clowns. I marched in five of these parades, dressed as an Eskimo to a football player. I have no recollection of being a butterfly.
While at Robert Down, I was a crossing guard for several years. We would march down to Forest Avenue and utilize the swinging overhead stop sign to control traffic so that students could cross. Forest Avenue did not have a traffic control device for north/south traffic at the time.
Robert Down was self inclusive. All the rooms were inside and could be reached by walking around the hall ways. There was a center court with picnic tables and a cafeteria, to which I became very familiar with over those five years. The cafeteria cost 25 cents in those days.
I remember the auditorium and playing the Sting Bass with the orchestra, singing in the choir, and all those special programs put on by the school for the parents. Many of these programs I was privileged to see years later as a parent. I didn’t know it at the time I was in school but realized later in life what parents had to put up with during these programs. I wouldn’t have missed any of them for the world.
I remember the recesses and lining up with your class to go back to the classroom with your teacher. During 6th grade we voted on the Presidential race between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon and the school voted for Kennedy to win. It was an exciting time to be growing up. It was Pre- Vietnam, and we still had President Eisenhower in office.
I believe it was on May 1st or there about. We had a Maypole dance out on the playground. All the classes were there. I know we did the Mexican Hat dance and some kind of pole dance on the tether poles. We had to dance with girls, of which I didn’t mind at all.
I left Robert H. Down School in 1961 after my 6th grade graduation. I will always have fond memories of those years, of the life time friends that were nourished there and continued throughout the next 6 years.
Up next: Pacific Grove Junior High School
Robert H. Down Elementary School,formerly Pacific Grove Grammar School, named after Robert Hodge Down, who was principal from 1914-1945. There were four other elementary schools in Pacific Grove during the late 50’s, David Avenue, Lighthouse, Forest Grove (1959) and St Angela’s (Catholic School).
Memories of Robert H. Down Elementary School
I went to Robert Down from 1956-1961. Most of my friends in high school went there as well. I truly have fond memories of Robert Down. Three of my four children also went to Robert Down.
You can’t go to an elementary school in Pacific Grove without being a part of the annual Butterfly Parade. Started in 1939 and held on the first Saturday in October, the Butterfly Parade celebrates the return of the Monarch butterfly to Pacific Grove. Pacific Grove is the winter stop for these butterflies. Elementary schools of Pacific Grove gather at Robert Down School and marched through the downtown dressed in various costumes. Traditional costumes of butterflies, otters, Native American, pioneers and clowns. I marched in five of these parades, dressed as an Eskimo to a football player. I have no recollection of being a butterfly.
While at Robert Down, I was a crossing guard for several years. We would march down to Forest Avenue and utilize the swinging overhead stop sign to control traffic so that students could cross. Forest Avenue did not have a traffic control device for north/south traffic at the time.
Robert Down was self inclusive. All the rooms were inside and could be reached by walking around the hall ways. There was a center court with picnic tables and a cafeteria, to which I became very familiar with over those five years. The cafeteria cost 25 cents in those days.
I remember the auditorium and playing the Sting Bass with the orchestra, singing in the choir, and all those special programs put on by the school for the parents. Many of these programs I was privileged to see years later as a parent. I didn’t know it at the time I was in school but realized later in life what parents had to put up with during these programs. I wouldn’t have missed any of them for the world.
I remember the recesses and lining up with your class to go back to the classroom with your teacher. During 6th grade we voted on the Presidential race between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon and the school voted for Kennedy to win. It was an exciting time to be growing up. It was Pre- Vietnam, and we still had President Eisenhower in office.
I believe it was on May 1st or there about. We had a Maypole dance out on the playground. All the classes were there. I know we did the Mexican Hat dance and some kind of pole dance on the tether poles. We had to dance with girls, of which I didn’t mind at all.
I left Robert H. Down School in 1961 after my 6th grade graduation. I will always have fond memories of those years, of the life time friends that were nourished there and continued throughout the next 6 years.
Up next: Pacific Grove Junior High School
Sunday, January 10, 2010
The beginnings....
The year was 1956, my family just moved from Monterey to 150 Forest Avenue in Pacific Grove. This was the very first time that I had ever been to Pacific Grove. I would be starting 2nd Grade in the Fall at Robert H. Down Elementary School.
We lived across the street from Jewell Park and spent many hours playing there. At the north end of the park was an old two story Victorian house. Very dark looking like something that you would see in a Hardy Boys episode. An elderly woman lived there and when we played baseball in the park, as we often did, we sometimes would hit the roof or front of her house. This would cause an immediate reaction from the woman, causing us to leave many a baseball or in most cases a tennis ball behind.
Everything I would ever need in the next few years was in a five block radius of my house. There were three grocery stores within two blocks,which included; Top Hat Market, Friendly Market, and Grove Market.
The Grand-Daddy of all department stores, Holman’s, built in 1924, was three stories and had a restaurant on the roof. It was originally the El Carmelo Hotel.
The Grove Theater, one screen, located on Lighthouse Avenue and 17th Street. It showed matinee’s on Saturday with serial episodes of “Rocket Man”. I remember the song “Diana” by Paul Anka being played there prior to each show. The second row is where the boy 6th graders and their girl friends would sit on a Friday or Saturday night to make out. It was restricted to 6th graders.
There was a small candy shop next door to the theater that sold penny candy and of course the Barber Shop on the other side. If you couldn’t find what you wanted there you could always find it at Sprouts Ritz a half block down.
The old Catholic Church was on the corner of Lighthouse Avenue and 17th Street. It encompassed the entire block. The church was used as a backdrop for one scene in the movie “A Summer Place” starring Troy Donahue and Sandra Dee in 1959. It would later be torn down and used for the “Downtown Farm” and subsequently Pacific Grove Plaza.
On Fountain Avenue between Laurel and Lighthouse Avenues was the Pacific Grove bowling alley. On the corner of Lighthouse Avenue and Congress Avenue was the Golden West Pancake House.
Lover’s Point was only two blocks away. The was a salt water swimming pool, snack bar, beach area with a raft floating out in the cove. We had a pier and glass bottom boats. This was where the Feast of Lanterns took place every July. A railroad track ran along to the coast line. We could often be found placing bottles, rocks, and coins on the track to see what the trains did to them.
And of course, there were butterflies…….
These were the memories of my first few years in Pacific Grove. There was always something do. It did feel like a hometown to me at the tender age of 5-6 years old.
We lived across the street from Jewell Park and spent many hours playing there. At the north end of the park was an old two story Victorian house. Very dark looking like something that you would see in a Hardy Boys episode. An elderly woman lived there and when we played baseball in the park, as we often did, we sometimes would hit the roof or front of her house. This would cause an immediate reaction from the woman, causing us to leave many a baseball or in most cases a tennis ball behind.
Everything I would ever need in the next few years was in a five block radius of my house. There were three grocery stores within two blocks,which included; Top Hat Market, Friendly Market, and Grove Market.
The Grand-Daddy of all department stores, Holman’s, built in 1924, was three stories and had a restaurant on the roof. It was originally the El Carmelo Hotel.
The Grove Theater, one screen, located on Lighthouse Avenue and 17th Street. It showed matinee’s on Saturday with serial episodes of “Rocket Man”. I remember the song “Diana” by Paul Anka being played there prior to each show. The second row is where the boy 6th graders and their girl friends would sit on a Friday or Saturday night to make out. It was restricted to 6th graders.
There was a small candy shop next door to the theater that sold penny candy and of course the Barber Shop on the other side. If you couldn’t find what you wanted there you could always find it at Sprouts Ritz a half block down.
The old Catholic Church was on the corner of Lighthouse Avenue and 17th Street. It encompassed the entire block. The church was used as a backdrop for one scene in the movie “A Summer Place” starring Troy Donahue and Sandra Dee in 1959. It would later be torn down and used for the “Downtown Farm” and subsequently Pacific Grove Plaza.
On Fountain Avenue between Laurel and Lighthouse Avenues was the Pacific Grove bowling alley. On the corner of Lighthouse Avenue and Congress Avenue was the Golden West Pancake House.
Lover’s Point was only two blocks away. The was a salt water swimming pool, snack bar, beach area with a raft floating out in the cove. We had a pier and glass bottom boats. This was where the Feast of Lanterns took place every July. A railroad track ran along to the coast line. We could often be found placing bottles, rocks, and coins on the track to see what the trains did to them.
And of course, there were butterflies…….
These were the memories of my first few years in Pacific Grove. There was always something do. It did feel like a hometown to me at the tender age of 5-6 years old.
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