Memories

Flat top Haircuts	After-game dances the Tri Hi Hop	Howdy Dances At the beginning of the semester
Dion and the Belmonts	Friday afternoon football games	Cool cars with flames and pipes
Sadie Hawkins School Dance	Watching the Submarine Races in Signal Hill	Beach Parties at Huntington Beach
"Sopp Chevrolet and Spreen Cadillac"	Pacific Boulevard	The Gage Drive In
A great idea for getting out of the house to "MAKE OUT" was "GRUNION HUNTING".		Shady Acres
Drag Racing on Bandini Blvd.	The Pike	Bumper Cars
Jeff's Barber Shop	Norms Restaurant on Slauson	Warner Theater
Blue Suede shoes	Recapped Tires	Slumber Parties
Anita Shops	The Clock Drive In... in HP (Remember the deep dish cherry pies)	A & W Root Beer
Farmer John Smells	Date night at Disneyland	Harvey's Broiler Drive-In in Downey (LINK To Picture)
Clorets	MAN-TAN	Bill Ballance on KFWB
	The Prom
Guest's Drug store	Rancher Bill's famous 19 cent burgers back in the days before McDonald's	The Silver Saddle in Downey.
Tweedy Blvd.	Savon Drugs	Wineman's
Butch Wax	Look Mom, no cavities!	Safeway
The J Car. street car to L.A.	Dial Pay Phones	Whirlitzer and Seeburg juke boxes
19 cent gas	The Lyric Theatre	Bowling
S. H. Kress	Curry's Ice Cream Parlor	Thrifty's (the great ice cream)
"Going Steady"	Tabi's were worn with capri pants	"Girls' locker room burns down"
The Red Car and the J-Car street cars	School DJ playing music during the lunch hour from Westover Hall	Green Stamps
Jim n' Dick's gas station on Pacific near Florence	Sharing each other's lockers when they were closer to the class and "10" different people have their stuff in there?	The wave hair doo! (remember the clip?)
Get away from me, you have cooties	"Sack Dress" and the "Shift Dress"	Chicken Delight "Don't cook tonight, call Chicken Delight!"
J.J. Newberry's on Pacific Blvd.	DJ, "Hunter Hancock", (Ol' H.H.) radio station KGFJ (Rhythm and blues)	DJ, Dick Hugg, better known as "Huggie Boy" also of KGFJ
Huntington Park Christmas Lane Parade	Art Laboe's dedication and song requests from Scrivner's Drive-In on Sunset and Vine in Hollywood	Orange Julius stand at the corner or close to the corner of Pacific Blvd. and Florence Ave.
THE CALIFORNIA THEATRE	Shopping at J.C.Penny's and Getting a ride on the Wineman's Dept. store elevator	Hy's coffee shop on Pacific next to Warner Bros. Theater
Knitting your boy friend miniature argyle socks with white angora and another color yarn. He would hang them over his mirror in his car		Buying a huge cinnamon roll for 5 cents and eating it while sitting on the grass during nutrition break
Watching I Love Lucy through the window of the TV shop on Pacific	Sin-Sin. The licorice tasting candy that would cover up the smell of most things you had put in your mouth..
"Who cares?"	"Hello, my name is Lloyd Thaxton"	FLAGG BROTHERS SHOES ON PACIFIC NEAR GAGE AVE
PAL'S USED CARS on Florence near Santa fe.	KRESSES AT THE CORNER OF PACIFIC & GAGE AND THEIR TALL BAG OF POPCORN FOR A DIME
The ice cream place on the South side of Florence Ave. just west of Santa Fe that was shaped like a chili bowl was called: PUNCH AND JUDYS		MONTGOMERY WARDS ON PACIFIC WITH THE WOODEN FLOORS
Flagg Brothers shoes	Ross's Mens clothes	The Joke shop
Candy bars three for a dime	The Jumps with Big Jay McNeely and Joe turner at the California and Lyric theaters.
The HELMS man with those chocolate eaclairs and the big cream puffs, and most of all the smell when he pulled out thos long drawers of everything good to eat. It's whistle would sound announcing it was in the neighborhood		The big ice cream cones at Sav- On
The midnight horror shows at the California Theater		Lerner's on Pacific Blvd
Huntington Park Ballroom over the Bank of America	Huggie Boy's dedications next to the Warner's theatre
Wearing your boyfriends Letterman Sweaters -- The more emblems the better!		Going to Balboa Island for Easter Vacation
Duck Butt hairdo's on guys!	Saddles and Bobbie Sox	Picnics at Griffith Park
Remember the HPHS PARK PLUGS??	Wearing Alex Plashert's Sweater! --it's been a long time since I wore his sweater!
Going to the beach on the Pacific Electric (red) car and staying there for hours, coming home, you looked like a red lobster. (Ouch)		Zoot Suiters
Archers Pool Hall on Slauson Just East of Santa Fe	The J-Car On the Corner of Florence & Pacific	The old Safeway store and the entire front was open. The only wall at the entrance was when the pull - across fold ups were in place during hours they were closed.
One of the original Carl's was on Pacific and had an "expensive" 58 cent hamburgers which really was a giant ground sirloin steak, fresh off the char-grill and placed in a huge bun. Yum Yum!!		The Polka Dot Bus
More about Carl's hamburger stand on Pacific: . It originally was about 10 feet by 10 feet square, and we called it the Chili Dog. Cause he made the best chili dog in town. It had to be about 1954 when he built the next place on the same property and featured that giant hamburger. But his chili dog (served with a little yellow chili on top) was still a big seller. Carl's ketchupy sauce was the best. Its not the same today. The last time I remember Carl's, he had built a new place farther south on Pacific, in the style of Carl's Jr of today. Actually the first stand was at Slauson & Alemeda. I used to eat there after the fights at the HP arena at Gage & Alemeda. Of these are my memory's of over 50 years ago, I could disremember.
Bethlehem Steel on Slauson and the little train moving the red-hot ingots around. You could feel the heat from the ingots.		"White Buck Shoes" Every girl had them
The Rainbow Pier	The PIKE and The Plunge (at the Pike)	Taco de Town
Setting pins at the 'bowling alley' on Pacific. If I remember it was just north of Florence ave.... that was NOT a good job! Bowlers would throw change down the gutters to the 'pin boys' setting pins after they were through. Seems like most of the pin boys were half bagged!		At the pike The Double Ferris Wheel
At the pike... One of the really great wooden roller coasters ... the Cyclone Racer	I used to sell papers on that corner. Standing in the street when the lights were red. ... 10 cents a paper which I got 3 cents for selling. Big bucks for risking my life ....
Blue (or black) suede shoes with the zipper for guys.	The 'Red' Car from Long Beach to LA	Cal "and my dog spot" Worthington over on Slauson ....
Having your car on a 'rake' Was cool!	Motor bikes... the ones you had to peddle like crazy to get the motor to kick in.	Welch's Restaurant in Long Beach
Lions drag strip in Long Beach	George Barris' custom car shop in South Gate on Atlantic Blvd.	Welch's Restaurant in Long Beach
Anyone remember 'Tin Can Beach'?	'Airplane Hill' in Long Beach. Had to go down it on the way to the beach. Big time thrill.
Remember.... Dixie Peach as advertised on the Hunter Hancock Show, on KGFJ	Webster Webfoot - was a favorite on afternoon T. V	Jack's Burgers across the street from the Vogue in South GAte
The convenience store Vondeys ( or Vondys or Vondis) on Southern Ave. near South Gate JuniorHigh School. We used to get Chum Gum for our leaching buddies. 3 slices for a penny, not the penny a slice for Juicy Fruit. Also, the junior high brawls took place there, when Joe chose off Tom, for who knows what.
Gene's Muffler Shop	Lets not forget the Allen Theatre on Tweedy Blvd. I remember they gave away bunnies at the Saturday matinee. This was in the 55 time frame	The Coachmen Car Club
Only the "coolest" kids jammed into a truck or car and zoomed off on a Friday or Saturday night to the cliffs at Huntington Beach and built a fire. Always a "group" at first, running and joking around in the sand became the initial excitment, but nothing compared to the eventual high school intoxication of all that kissing and hugging around the camp fire that capped the evening. But somehow, there was always that one lone person sitting there without a partner. Typical for high school.
"THE CHILI DOG" that was on the South West corner of Florence & Alameda		The HP Wrestling Arena - A rather large tin barn - Wrestling on Friday & Boxing on Wednesday -
Does anyone remember the old NADEAU Theatre ??	Playing "maime the fool" at Miles Park where we had 25 guys on each side and used a football and the ball carrier got "maimed" by about 24 other guys ??
What happened to the beautiful June Arbuthnot ??	The "Turn Around" for the "J Car" The J car turn around was at Liberty and Long Beach/Pacific Blvd. Then it came back down Seville, made a left on Florence and again a right of Pacific on it's way to L.A. It went around Hagerty's Drug Store and Ziggies's Shoe Repair and Shine.	Where are they?? The Sabella boys - Ronnie & Donnie, Billy Eckenrode, Glenda Moon, Marilyn Rhodes, Gary Kimberly,
For the girls...KNIT TOGS - on Pacific Blvd. Only the neatest skirts, sweaters and swimsuits!	How about the Florence Theater, out west of H.P. on Florence Ave., where the boys watched �Mom & Dad,� the sex education flick. That was really graphic.
My first after school job was at Kress' five and dime. I walked to the Social Security office way down off of Pacific Blvd, I think on Slauson, to get my card. I memorized it on the way back to Kress'...at about 45 cents an hour. I then moved on to Woolworth's Dime Store and 50 cents an hour. Then Sav On Drugstore opened and I got a job making 87 1/2 cents an hour...a fortune! I was the one scooping those monstrous ice cream cones...nearly broke my wrist. My Mom worked across the street at Wells Coffee Shop...next to the theatre. My co-workers, all older than I, convinced my Mom they'd take care of me if I could go with them to Balboa for Easter week. Boy...did they take care of me! HAH! And...don't forget the picnics at Griffith Park! I loved wearing my fella's Letterman Sweater.
I do remember that 1955 gymnasium fire and how we were displaced for a number of months. Couldn't even get into the regular boys locker room BUT they still had us into the swimming pool and will never forget the heavy smoke odors throughout. Also boys in the "buff" and heard years later that the girls out on the field could watch boys going off the high dive when the window transoms were open. Fond memories of Mr. Howard Plossel (sp?) who was really "Mr. HPHS Swim"
Dick's Mobile service station on the corner of Hope and State streets and you could choose to pay a cash price of 23 cents a gallon, or it was 25 cents if you wanted the S&H Green Stamps.		HOW ABOUT THE CHICO'S CLUB AND ALL THE GOOD LOOKIN' GUYS IN IT - WHERE ARE THEY? THEY HAD GREAT JACKETS (FOR US GALS TO "BORROW").
The yearly Carnival at Salt Lake Park back in the 50's......... Oh what fun they were!	Remember...EASTERN COLUMBIA, BROADWAY AND NINTH...RADIO ADS?
	Remember the "Good Humor Ice Cream Trucks" ringing its bell as it came down the street.......and what yummy ice cream treats they had!
Going Grunion (small fish) hunting on the beaches- yes, there really were grunions - not like going snipe hunting.		Mellow glass pack mufflers
Riding on a flatbed truck down Pacific Blvd. during the Annual Christmas Parade while playing my accordion with the other members of the music studio where we took lessons.		Waiting outside the gym for the school bus to return with the football team after they played an 'away game'.
Senior Field Day near the end of the school year. And the losing class president getting a big whipped cream pie in the face!!	Our great school newspaper THE SPARTAN SHIELD and our annuals -- "EL RECUERDO" (the souvenir) . . . I still have mine and love to read all the autographs and notes. -- And how about those neat wall calendars printed in our own print shop -- black and RED -- for school days off.
Tennis Shoe Ernie's Pizza for 10 cents a slice out on Manchester Blvd.	Uncle Ned's restaurant on the boulevard. They made hot dogs by butterflying them and grilling them.	Girls in the PE Classes trying to watch the Boys swimming in the pool
Roc Cutri Pontiac on Firestone Blvd.	Francis Fern's on Pacific Blvd. that sold ladies "foundation" garments, etc. Their motto: "What God has forgotten, we fill in with cotton".
Friday and saturday night cokes & "chubby the Champ" hamburgers at the clock drive-in on florence!		Sock-hops in the h.p.h.s. gymnasium on Friday nights!
Friday and Saturday nights at the Roadium drive-in theater in paramount!	Friday and Saturday nights at the South gate drive-in theater in south Gate!	I still have a pair of those socks that hung on the mirror of my 1952 yellow Ford convertible
Dick Lane selling cars on Channel 5	The Bimini Baths in Los Angeles � three indoor pools, one pool each was cold, one was warm, and one was hot. The pools were closed in 1951
Hopalong Cassidy, Space Rangers, roller derby, Georgous George on early TV, and test patterns when the stations went off for the night.		Space Patrol....
Wearing your boyfriends ring on a chain around your neck	Seeing the very first movie, in 1954, to play at the brand-new Rosecrans Drive-In in Paramount, River Of No Return, in Cinemascope on their fabulous new wide screen!
The old Montgomery Ward�s on Pacific Blvd. not only had wooden floors, but it had the tubes for sending the customers money and receiving change back. These magical tubes ran on wires up to a window above the mezzanine, and it was fascinating to watch them, going so fast, and so smoothly, and hear the whizzing sound they made as they traveled to and fro, from all over the store, disappearing into that little window. I�ve never seen this anywhere else, before or since!
White wall tires and names on cars!	Dances at El Monte Legion Stadium	Beetle Baileys custom 56 Chevy, Homer Holensby cruising in his chopper
Working on hot rods at Jim & Dicks Chevron after hours Pacific south of Florence	REMEMBER OWL DRUG, REXALL DRUG, ROBERT HALL CLOTHES AND KARL'S SHOES?	Nu-way chili dogs at Pico blvd. and Bundy
Guys Pegger Pants	Rollerdrome skating rink in Culver City. Marilyn Monroe and Cary Grant learned to skate for a movie there. Bela Lagosi use to come there on the weekends to watch the skaters
La Barbera's Italian rest on Wilshire near Barrington. UCLA students ate there often. Thursday was star night because Thursday was maids night off in Brentwood. Frank Gorschin was a big hit with the kids. Ann Margaret a hit with the men		Loafer shoes with horseshoe taps
Girls horsehair slips	Girls peddle pushers	Coffee houses.. One to remember....The Insomniac in Hermosa Beach
KFWB Channel 98	Waiting on the corner of Gage and State for the newspapers for my paper route with the Huntington Park Signal. Only $1.00 a month	I hit one of those pin boys at the "bowling alley" on Pacific when I threw a ball too soon. Had my bike stolen while I was bowling too!
The Four Lads concert of 1953 at H.P.H.S.	The Rogues Hi Y 1956, 57, 58 and 59	From Barbara Pixley '52 HPHS Grad, personal web page "Do You Remember" Link
Mac Donald's Hamburgers were 15 Cents in 1955	The teen dances where the boys lined up against one wall the girls did the same on the opposite wall.. You would think no one would ever get a chance to dance. .but we did.. slowly but surely!
Dolphins of Hollywood	1955, Girls could wear pants on Friday	Capri Pants for girls
Elvis Presley appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time. My parents were shocked!		Cashmere Sweater Sets
There were two malt shops. One was across the street from the high school and the other one was on the corner of Randolph and Miles it was called "Connie's Malt shop" does anyone remember it. H.P. Night school classmates would stop by for coffee and milk shakes. It was my mom's malt shop. My aunt and my younger sister and I work at the malt shop. I think it was before I graduated in S'59, so it must of been 57 & 58. My mom also had a little market on Randolph and State across the railroad tracks, there was also another little store right across from ours. My mom store was called "Connie's Market" and the malt shop was called "Connie's Malt Shop" we had a juke box and lots of us use to dance there at the malt shop, we had a lot of fun. Do you remember it"?
Listening to Bo Diddly and doing the hand jive!	Here is a link done by Barbara Pixley '52. "Cool" Pixley-Blair: Pioneers &Princes	Some "Cool" retro Pictures (Link)
Tiny Naylor's drive in Hollywood	Walking And Shopping Down Pacific Blvd. And Going To The Show	Norm's Restaurant On Slauson Blvd.
I loved the long, slow walks after school down Pacific Blvd. What an abundance of shops to peek into, or stop for a treat on the way home. When we got to Florence Ave., we all went different directions. I caught the bus to Holmes Ave. My first date was at the Florencita movie theater. Dennis, where are you now?		Putting your hair in �pin-curls� after PE when you had swimming and covering them with a scarf�just around the curls, not your whole head
Ziggy's on the corner of Florence and Pacific Blvd.	Uniform of the day, blue suede bomber jacket, white tee shirt, faded blue 'Peggers' and blue suede shoes"
Here are some memory clips of the 50's Click here A cool nostaliga site

The 50s' Memories of Huntington Park