I just receievd an e-mail from Carlos Molina, THS '66. He attached some pictures of Tempe Beach, but they're mostly the kindof pics the Chanber of Commerce released. However, he sent a personal picture of his softball team from about 1959 or 1960. I'll attach it here as well as post it onthe Looking Back section. Lots of familar Tempe names, including a couple from our class. There's 2 attachments -1 with the pic and the other with the names.
Tempe beach was my save haven when we moved from Ajo to Tempe. I had been on the swim team in Ajo then we moved to this place during the summer in which I knew nobody. I was going into 8th grade. How do parents do that? Any way my sister Lora and I joined the swim team to 'make friends' and that got us through the summer until I met the 'neighborhood' Gail, Denise and Peter were my first memories of 'friends'. Thanks guys for taking that Ajo family in the 'hood'. My life changed forever when you all came over to my house for the 'Beach Party'. Summer of '64
Vic
Mons and Sally, great to hear from you guys and thanks for posting the pictures of your family. What a great looking group. Are your kids the ones in the black shirts, in the second picture?
Speaking of pictures, we need more people...Belle, Carol, Mike, Phyllis, and anybody else out there who hasn't yet posted a 'now' picture. Think of the time and money we'll save in name tags if we know what each other look like before the reunion!
Mons and Sally, how nice to hear from you guys. Loved seeing the pictures of your family. What a good looking group. Are the ones in black shirts, in the second picture, your kids? Wish more would send in 'now' pictures (Belle, Carol, Mike, Phyllis) and any others out there that havne't done so. Just think of the time and money saved on name tags if we know what each other look like before the reunion. We've even got a picture of Louis' horse, Cisco, for Pete's sake.
Remember the Boston Store, where you could buy a pair of Levi's for $5.00
How about the Tempe Theatre, where admission was 25 cents. Remember the News Reels. I will never forget seeing 'The Blob' there and thinking the Blob oozed through the projection window at a theatre just like the one I am in.
A big response to this post...ok, Gail, from the “Instigator” to you, here is a little free association in no particular order:
Jaycees cooking whole sides of beef in giant buried-overnight pits dug with backhoes for giant city feeds behind Tempe Beach
Livingstone Lockers
Old Salt River Bridge with big dangerous holes in it that you could walk out on
Indian pottery shards on Tempe Butte
Snake Town, Case Grande
Knot Hole Gang at ASU Stadium
ASC Stadium Track Meets
Leon Burton and Henry Carr
Devine, Onofrio, Kush
Ozzie McCarty and Nolan Jones
Tony Lorick and Charley Taylor
B-ballers Tony Cervenik and Jumpin’ Joe Caldwell
Easter egg hunt at Tempe Beach
Big Hunks at Tempe Beach
Swimming at night and getting close to the underwater light
Swimming at night and getting close to the girls underwater
Peeing in the swimming pool
Pruny fingers and toes and chlorine eyes at Tempe Beach
Muscle bound Marv, Tempe Beach summer swim team coach, who could not swim
Rescuing Marv when he thought he could demonstrate the butterfly
Little League at Tempe Beach
George Selleh Cleaners
Joe Selleh Sports Store
Nelson's Toy Store (later bike shop)
Jan's Barber Shop
Miller's Indian Store
The Boston Store
Chico's Quesadillas
Mugs Up Root Beer
Burgers and Malts from the Varsity Inn across from Rispoli’s Drug Store
Milk Duds
A real cork tree next to Old Main
Lion in cage in front of Harmon's
Gail’s Great Danes
Gail’s Great Danes’ dumps
Sugar Shack
Mag's Hambun
Playing four square and spanking girls in 5th grade
Not spanking girls in 6th grade
Swats (spanking?) at Broadmor School
Occasionally getting spanked in life
Now confused about spanking in general
Knowing the difference between being a Doctor and playing Doctor
Still confused
Kyrene Power Plant like the Emerald City in the distance
Mrs. Bryan's (7th grade Payne Training Teacher) Ginormous Intimidating Breasts
Kennedy Getting Shot in 7th grade
Bugs and beetles, and the Beatles
Paulette’s Magical Mystery Hair
Cottonwoods
Hitting the dreaded caliche when digging a hole
Digging lots of holes
Hitting lots of dreaded caliche
Lots of unfinished holes
Baby chickens and rabbits
Rabbit pellets...both kinds
Girls and horses
Girls and Cowboys
Boys without boots get no booty
Switch from French horn (note: does not equal horny and French) to drums
Turns out the drummer sits in the back
Should have switched from drums to boots
Overturning canoe at Encanto Park in scary water
Goofy Golf at Green Gables
Verde River
Sheep Bridge
Salt River
Inner tubes
Four Peaks
Twin Peaks on 12 year old girls
Teen Canteen
Ron Hawkins, the DJ
Amethyst Mines
Apache tears, galena, fool's gold
Hot copper smelters dumping red hot slag
Mating carp in Saguaro Lake
Blonde on Blonde
Baby Love
Little Red Book
In My Room
Norwegian Wood
Devil with the Blue Dress and CC Rider
Under Assistant Westcoast Promo Man
Black is Black…I want my baby back!
Season of the Witch
Wooly Bully
Here Comes the Night
House of the Rising Sun
Slow dances
Twin Peaks again
My older brother's Brylcreemed pompadour
Frightening braces and structural strapless evening gowns
Ms. Ormsby, Stupefying Jones in L'il Abner
Crazy but brilliant Mr. D
Lost Dutchman
Fat Man's Pass, South Mountain
Feed Lots
The Fog of Manure
Denny Gleason
Jackie Gleason
Spike Jones
George Gobal
Surfer Shirts
Polyester wind breakers
Dog choker bracelets
Teepee Hotel on Apache
TP on Diane Hull’s trees
Best dating quote, 'Take a bow,' Diane Hull as I hit the brakes too hard
Kite Season
Yoyo Season
Squirt gun Season
Slingshot season
Cap guns
Popguns
Spud guns
Rat tail combs
Denise and Linda obsessively combing their bangs
The constantly changing eye patches on Jonesy's eyeglasses
What a great athlete Jonesy was but was never tall enough in High School
The Sunset Limited
Squished pennies
Hobos
Red Ants, Ant Lions, Horny Toads
Irrigation, siphon tubes, berms, ditches, crawdads, tadpoles
Sleeping outside in tents and boxes.
Eating sugar coated graham crackers
Standing in the pigeon coop in bare feet
Locked out of house by Mother
Cleaning feet
Bringing red racer snakes into the house and losing them
Locked out of house by Mother
Finding snakes
Roddy Farrell running by extra fast saying he can't stop to talk, 'The Colonel is after me!'
Colonel Farrell running by five minutes later in his spit shine dress shoes with belt drawn saying 'Have you seen Roddy?' 'Nope.'
Regular grass
Saint Augustine, lydia, bermuda
Other grass
Dirt and sand
Lots of it
Playing at night
Getting really, really filthy
Making things
Making even more things
Clamp-on steel roller skates
Clamp-on steel roller skates on tennis shoes…not.
Valley Art Theater
Shock Theater and Triskets
Jack Ross's pompadour
Aquanetta
Aquanetta Dolls
Flag football in Jonesy’s back yard
Flag football with girls
Girls’ Mothers say “no” to flag football with boys
Or any other kind of footsy or ball for that matter
Tomboys in the hood
Denise, the wrestler
Gail, the wrestler
Vicki, the wrestler
Punky, her cornerman
Long lines of boys on stingray bikes chasing Vicki after she gave up wrestling to develop in other ways
Waking Vicki up at 3 in the morning to muck around in the irrigation
Vicki trying to get the Instigator (huh?! Me?!) to 'make out'
The Instigator responding densely 'what do you mean 'make out?''
The sudden appearance of Mrs. Smith's six shooter
The Hearsemen, aka Hobbit, Aceves, Dulski, Keener
Mrs. Birchett (big pink house) for all crippled birds
Dr. Stanke and Snakeman for all creepy crawlers
Scorpions in new houses
Gophers
Dead gophers gored in gopher traps
Rattlesnakes buried by a ton of rocks by Boy Scouts in 30 seconds
Water balloons
Twin……
Getting hit with an ornamental orange
Victory Village where Gammage auditorium is now
Getting hit on the head with a roll of drawings that were drawings of Gammage auditorium by Grady Gammage in front of Frank Lloyd Wright
Taliesin West and Soleri Studio
Polio shots at the Women's Club
Dust storms
Jackrabbits and coyotes
Jumping cactus
Drinking water from hot stinky vinyl hoses
Hitting dog bones with the lawn mower
Hitting dry(or wet!) dog doo with the lawn mower
Mosquitoes
MOSQUITOES? Potatos (Quayle’s spelling)
DDT fog trucks
Big fat dog ticks
Dead deer, dead javelina, dead quail, dead rabbits, Jerry's dead cat (Thanks, Gail), my dead cat (Thanks Billy Schuman)
Stop this dead animal thing already!
Jerry, the top FFA Creed Reader
Our dog, Holly
Our cats, Aunt Ener and Aunt Ginny (Damn Billy Schuman!)
Distant War
War close to home
Dress codes
Swamp coolers on humid days
Lifelong addiction to the white noise of fans
Astounding but sometimes painful crushes
Wounds may heal but but teenage crushes cut deep
Those Twin Peaks again
Pimples
Hot air
Flip flops
Cracked heals
Sweat
Bullheads
Cut offs
Music
Chex Mix
Head lettuce
Thousand Island Dressing
Undressing?
She wore a Freudian slip?
Girls
Kisses
Wow, Peter. What an amazing list! And such an wonderful look into the psyche of an adolescent boy. Gail is right, you are one of a kind.
Speaking of adolescence, here's an adolescent moment I wrote about in a writing class a few years back that seemed appropriate to the discussion. (Sorry for using 'rushed' twice, Larry.)
Hot air rushed in the open windows as the stark desert landscape rushed by, the tall saguaros clicking by like rails on a fence. The wind whipped at my wet hair, its warmth spreading throughout my body and into my mood. My bathing suit felt cool against my tanned skin, and when I closed my eyes, I could still see the sparkle of the sun on the water, and feel its hot rays burning down on me. My hair smelled of lake water, and I remembered its cool, murky depths. I snuggled into the wet cotton towel that protected my back and legs from the sticky vinyl surface of the car seat. My shoulder brushed against the sunburned shoulder of my friend, Mary Lou. The car was crowded with teens, boys and girls together, all of us lazy after a day of laughing and flirting in the sun. The faint refrain of a song floated over the roar of the wind, “So happy to-ge-ther”. A feeling of belonging washed over me. I was a part of the group and we were on the road together. Time was suspended. The warmth of this moment was all that mattered.
Peter, that had to be cathartic. It was for me. Just left one out, the cake I made you that you didn't eat. JK
Loved: Jonesy being a great athlete. Eddie Grant and Charlie Nelson used to say that all the time; impact of our pets when they died and remembering the ones who hit them (Gail, how many cats did you run down?); Vicki moving into the neighborhood and how things changed; beetles and Beatles; being hit by the plans for Grady Gammage Auditorium; being locked out by your mother (happened to me only I was in the snow in Ill.).
Diane, I did not run over Peter's cat. That was Billy Shuman and I think he was on his ten-speed bike. Poor kitty.
Denise, I loved reading your writing. I could feel, smell, and hear it all. And that feeling of belonging is soooooo wonderful. (I think you are never to start a sentence with 'and' or 'also' or 'plus'.) I was not in Mr. D's class, but I did have Miss Ormsby.
Phyllis, thanks for running down the baseball team picture and roster. I recognize a couple of the names.
Denise, you are a gifted writer. I agree with Gail. Reading your exerpt took me to another place. I think you need an agent and publisher.
Gail, I know you didn't kill Peter's cat, but I could have gone without knowing Shuman hit it with a BIKE!
Thanks, Gail. You have been so incredibly supportive to everyone on this message board. You're the best! (And you're definitely forgiven for pushing me into an ant hill.)
Thanks to you, too, Diane. (You're another very supportive person on the message board.) But I think right now I just need to retire and eat bon-bons all day.
Today Diane would be doing time in a federal prison for explosives violations and Kelly would be dragged before a secret inquisition in the basement of the Tempe City Hall for political incorrectness, insensitivity to the homeless, not bums, and be banished to Chandler.
If I could steer it back to Tempe for a moment . . .
The Cine Capri, Western Auto, Tempe Sales, Tempe Hardware, Arizona Feed & Seed, some store -- Sprouse Ritz? -- where you could buy all sorts of stuff including fishing poles, the Richfield station where we always went for fishing worms, and then Ernhardt's (?), the hardware store just south of the Richfield station that was run by a family. Going in there and lusting for a metallic green Schwinn Stingray. Charlie Wilkinson could ride for a block on the rear wheel of one.
OK, I must jump in too. Being a country hick, I was in heaven whenever I got to 'go to town'. School clothes bought at the Boston store. Remember Mr Getz wrapping your purchase in paper and tied with a string? Tempe Beach was so much more fun than an irrigation ditch. My first thought of Tempe Beach is always the frozen fruit squeezy things in a paper cup. What were they called? Who was that crazy guy that was always around Tempe on a bike with doll heads and sundry items tied to the basket?! Knothole gang, walking to the games with Kim Standage or Steve Scow. Remember running out on the field after the games and begging the players for their chin straps? Riding with Steve Scow on his paper route to the dorms at ASU. Mike, we too liked the sweet rolls at campus drug, with a cherry 7-UP. ASU student union had a great drink called the purple passion. I still have nightmares thinking about the couple enjoying the evening under a tree at Daley park (around midnight) and me almost running over them because Mike Vance was chasing me through the park, with our lights off of course. Stopping at Dairy Queen on the way home from church Sunday evenings. Anyone else eat at Chicos on Apache? My mothers aunt Mae worked at that Indian jewelry store for many years. One day we loaded a beef in a trailer to take to Livingstons to be processed. I drove all the way into town (about 15 miles) and when I threw open the gate at the slaughter house, there was no beef steer to be found! He had jumped out of the trailer not long after leaving home. One other Tempe memory, Chum gum from Rundles Market. Oh how I loved and remember the flavor of that gum!
Thanks all, for your memories, and sparking mine.
Rick
Larry, Western Auto run by the Earnhardt Family.Nice family. Diane E. in class of '70.
Diane, you have to aim to kill a cat with a bike. Billy was that kind of guy.
Sorry about that cake. As I said, I was a little 'dense.' I bet your family ate every bite with a look of 'that dummy' on your faces. Do you still have your toga?
As for Gail's tragic road kill, I think she was aiming for the Kerr's house and missed hitting the poor cat.
Denise, nice piece of writing. What happened to Mary Lou? Peter
Thanks for adding the Tempe Beach pics. The one of the stadium looks fairly current - if you can call 30 years ago current!
I have done a lot of family history and genealogy and become the thing I always dreaded, good at managing information. I thought it was boring, and now I have a completely different perspective on it. I mention this because I was thinking about all of us putting together some sort of address list for ourselves, by neighborhood. It could be a THS alumni thing, spearheaded by our class, of course.
This project could have several purposes, but the main one is to contribute something of ourselves and our past, to Tempe. We could submit this to the Tempe Historical Society, put in on a chart, format it to a CD, make Mr. Dee proud, etc. and leave a legacy of what we knew about Tempe during your youth. I don't need to remind anybody that what we remember now will be lost over time.
Anyway, what does everybody else think about it?
For instance, Mons could write about his house on Forest Ave. I've always wanted to know the story of that house, by the way, as I thought it was the closest thing to a mansion Tempe had. The address, a brief description of years he lived there, and what he knew about the house would about cover it. It wouldn't require too much effort on anybody's part. It could be a video, for example, done during the reunion when many people are around. Or we could develop some kind of query sheet and people could write about their house or neighborhood. We could call it the THS Class of '69 Tempe Legacy Project, or let somebody more creative choose a name.
It's just that I hear the energy we all have about Tempe and I think doing something about it feels natural. I'll volunteer for any job anybody else doesn't want.
Pete, (ahem) Western Auto was run by a family around the corner from us, on 15th & Parkway. Their son gave me a ride on the back of his Tote Goat behind the store. I didn't hold on and did a half backflip onto my head -- hence, the memory of ownership was driven deeply into my brain. I think they sold it to Charlie Henry's dad and it became Henry's Hobbies, with an AWESOME slot car track.
I was looking at the picture of the Valley Arts Theater. I remember it being painted black and I think that is when the name changed. Is that right? Wasn't it the Tempe Theater before that?
Speaking of movie theaters. Peter mentioned Ron Hawkins as a DJ. All those Hawkin Theaters are his family.
I love the plants growing out of the river rock Tempe Beach bleachers. Isn't that amazing with no water and scorching heat. Must be all the soda pop and melted snow cones that spilled on them.
Rick, I cannot remember the name of those frozen fruit treats in the little paper cups. They were so cold and sweet tart.
It was amazing how many of us were running around Daley Park around the same time, soing about the same crazy things.
-Cheeseburgers and Milkshakes at the Yankee Doodle on Mill Ave.
-Kiwanis Christmas tree sales at Tempe Center parking lot - It must have been a lot colder then, I remember them always having a fire going and taking my dad Hot Chocolate.
-Kiwanis fireworks shows
-Walking the tracks, putting pennies on the tracks, trains through the night
-Under the THS bleachers
-Dr. Stahnke being bit by a Gila Monster when he brought it to our 3rd grade class (Mrs. Stahnke's class). Dr. Stahnke and my dad bringing bags of rattlesnakes(live) to our house after a day of hunting them.
-Music Memory Contest
-Taking the wagon to the cafeteria for our milk and crackers in Kindergarten at Broadmor
-4th grade girls could wear shorts or pants to school - 5th grade changed the rule back to dresses only
-2 square and 4 square tournaments
-Brownie hikes to T Butte
I remember swimming at the old pool at Tempe Beach. You could hardly hold your breath long enough to get to the bottom where the drain felt like it was going to suck you in. I surfaced one day and Ronnie Acedo pushed me back under. He did this several times, so if he's out there, I will find him! I thought I was going to drown. Tempe Beach was a place to build friendships and memories. I didn't like it either when they tore the beloved big pool down for a smaller one. It just wasn't the same. My brother, Dennis and I used to walk to the pool and back home again to 6th and Priest. I remember watching baseball games at the park and walking on the old bridge too. Gosh! we were probably all there at the same time! Hayden Flour Mills loomed large above the pool and Monti's was a stone throw away. That was the 'special' place to go eat. I remember my brother and I walking our bikes across Mill Ave. during rush hour and getting the chain guards or something on our bikes entangled together and couldn't get them apart -- yes, cars zooming around us. Finally, a kind man came out and helped us. It was fun riding our bikes, roller skating or having races with wooden race cars (built by us) with old skate wheels attached and steered with our feet, navigated by a rope tied to the front and pushed by the fastest runner on the block. We had to wear ugly white blouses and blue shorts for PE, did the President's Physical Fitness competition. Girls could belong to GAA, but couldn't participate competitively in sports like the guys. (think only tennis) Remember mini skirts and having to kneel on the sidewalk and one of the teachers used a ruler to measure to see if we could stay in school, or get sent home to change? In fact, we couldn't wear pants except for Western Day if I remember right. Guys, had to have their shirts tucked in or get a swat. Can't remember what grade, but the teacher had a paddle and everyone's name was on it. Peter, you about covered it all, but what about the 'Love In' and flower children, flower power at Tempe Beach Park? Remember that anyone?
We had live bands at our dances. They use DJs now.
Oh, Diane, I have bunches of pics. on Facebook -- guess you'll have to go there! Ha! No, I'll post some one of these days. I'm usually the one taking the pics. I'll have to have someone take one.
I was blessed to have a Tempe-ite student nurse at the birth of my first child. Kind of a little different having someone you know see you in that position, but she was an encouragment to me when fathers weren't allowed in the delivery room. (Diane Hull) Thank you!
Walking the OLD Tempe Bridge avoiding all the holes in the concrete road up there. I used to stand back and look way down there. The perfect 'Visual Bridge' from Child Psychology.
Bobbie's Flowers, Teepee of Toys, Gallenkamp's Shoes, W. T. Grants, the Safeway that used to be on 5th & Forest.
My brother and I had an Arizona Republic paper route that went from 1st St. to 8th, the tracks to Forest, and it afforded us all kinds of early morning adventures. Like, walking through Carr's Mortuary and looking around because the doors were sometimes unlocked, getting on the roof of the Casa Loma, looking in the windows at some of the residents there -- one guy always slept naked in the summer time, and watching for trucks coming down Mill and then running over and jumping on the car sensor on 10th St. to make the light turn red on them. 10th and College intersected in the middle of the campus back then.
Diane - Thanks for the positive response, and yes, I had Mrs. Wells in 6th grade. I remember a lot of the class, but I don't know what happened to the class picture. I know Cathy Wyckoff, Trini Aepli and I were the 'tall' girls and they stood us all together. John Ditsworth, Mark LeVan, Kelly Moeur, Mons and Sammy, Nancy Bergman, Betty Armstrong, Johnny Webster, Tom Jordan, Sid Emery - these names also come to mind. Wish I could find the picture!
Anyway, about the Legacy Project, I have given this some thought. I think it's a book. I think we decide on how we want to organize this, but my initial thoughts are we have sections on Tempe landmarks, with pictures and individual comments/memories, plus facts we can discover about them. I think we're all the real stars of this book, though, as we knew Tempe as well or better than anybody, and we certainly knew our neighborhoods and homes. We could each have a page or 2 and include text and pictures. I think a Tempe street map would be helpful, and I also think we should divide Tempe itself into sections. For instance, one section would be north Tempe south to University, and from Rural to Hardy. So the map shows that section, and anybody who lived in that area puts their page there. I know Patsy Simon would be there, so would Jill Boyd, Henry Noriega (anybody remember him?), Ron Erickson, etc. The map showing that section could have stars where our houses were/are, with numbers, and the numbers correspond to the individual person's page, which follow behind the map.
Does this make sense? I can see it in my head but let's see if I've done a good enough job describing it to you. And I'm open to other ideas here. It wouldn't have to be done this way; I'm sure somebody else can develop a different concept or design and it would save space, tell the story better, etc.
The place to start is by having a questionaire for all of us to fill out and return with either pictures on a disc or pictures themselves to be scanned. Once we have the info, then it's organized and we can either self-publish, or if there's any money for it, we find a local publisher. I know there's a publisher in town called Arcadia Publishing, and they publish this type of thing.
Ok, my brain has expelled enough! Back at you, Diane.
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