Monday, December 03, 2007

What was your first job in Orange County?

My first job, at fifteen, was working at Kentucky Fried Chicken on Warner and Bolsa Chica in Huntington Beach. Not very glamorous I know, but all of my friends worked there, which was really the only criteria for a first job--well, that and your parents willingness to drive you there.

The man who owned it was a WWII veteran named Bill who sported a neat flattop, high and tight. He drove an old, very old, burgundy Cadillac and looked a little like W.C Fields in polyester pants and a bolo tie. I can just see him now, all in brown, hunched over a large white plastic container, elbow-deep in macaroni salad (with gloves on, of course), mixing it with his ginormous hands.

Bill had a little dog named "Mimi" bequeathed to him by his late wife. He always said when "that dog" died he was going to sell KFC and travel the world. He acted like Mimi was a pest to him, but he hand-made a seat in his Caddie just for her and took her everywhere with him. You know the type of man, right? All rough and grumpy but, deep inside sensitive and thoughtful.

I went back to visit KFC when I was going to Golden West College and Bill was still there. Mimi had died years before, but he stayed on. He was very uncomfortable by my happiness to see him again. He asked if I still liked to take pictures (see...so thoughtful) and gave me a free pint of cole slaw when I left. I still think about him and wonder if he ever got to travel the world.

After KFC, I worked at the One Hour Photo Lab in the Westminster Mall through the rest of High School. Back then it was located right in the middle circle of the mall, above the food court. Working at the mall in High School was a prime job. My brother worked at Chess King at the same time and sometimes we would meet for a "Hot Dog On A Stick."

I was also a Ruby's girl for about three years until I moved away to go to college in San Francisco.

What was your first job in OC?

36 comments:

  1. My first job was a canvasser for the California Democratic Party. I was 18 years old then. It was the 1984 Presidential election. I would go around to places in Santa Ana, with a clipboard, trying to register wannabe Democrats to vote. I quit after two weeks.

    The thing was that I was actually a registered Republican.

    It happened because I saw this job posting in the Pennysaver, but it didn't explain that it was for the Dems.

    But I took the job anyways because I needed a job, and anything would do. They paid me $1.00 per signup, and $4.00 per hour. But I would only earn the hourly rate if I met my quota. I figured that signing up people would be easy. WRONG!

    Signing up people to vote in Santa Ana was ridiculous. There were so many Mexicans there, and none of them wanted to talk to me. So, I focused on the white folks, and most of them were already registered.

    One day they sent me to the K-Mart in Santa Ana, on the corner of Bristol St and Edinger. Today, it's not K-Mart, something else. But I met another canvasser working the same place, and she was from the Republican Party. We got to talking, and she told me that they were paying $2.00 per signup, and guaranteed hourly rate, whether or not she met her quota.

    That just about deflated my perception of the Democratic Party.

    She herself explained that signing up people to vote was not the main goal of canvassing, it was delivering the message of the Party. You're just there to be visible in public, wear the pins, and remind people to "Vote for Reagan" or "Vote for Mondale".

    Those who didn't care about voting, wouldn't register, while those who did care about voting were already registered. I think the Dems knew this conundrum, and that's why they put a condition on the hourly rate. Basically, they just wanted a sucker like me to promote their party, and not expect me to sign up anyone. I never earned jack from them.

    But I never did promote the Democratic Party as a canvasser, or urged anyone to vote for Mondale. I just asked people to register, and tried to hit the quota. I quit after two weeks when I exhausted all ideas to get people to register.

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  2. First job was Del Taco on Warner & Springdale. I lied about my age to get the job (was 15) and keep delaying the whole work permit thing for various reasons. I too am Chess King alumni....but I swear I never owned one pair of parachute pants.

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  3. Chris, what about one of those knit ties that are squared off at the bottom. My brother had one of those in yellow,**shudder** Or Angle Flights-- You know you had Angle Flights.
    Suzanne

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  4. No angle flights...I swear.

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  5. My first job was working at the Reliance Dairy (drive through) on Bristol St near Myrtle in 1969. Made a whopping $1.35 an hour, but we ate a lot of free ice cream. It's still there but the neighborhood has changed a bit...

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  6. My first job was at Little Folks Shop in the Westminster Mall. They had a slide for the kids, but so frustrating because parents basically left the staff to watch them while they shopped. I don't think that it was there long. Remember when the food court was basically in the basement of the mall? I'm pretty sure I spent most of the money I made on my breaks!

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  7. I took my first part-time job as an 18 year-old usher/concessions worker at the Cinema West Theatre in Westminster. I am uncertain as to whether it still stands.

    Working the concessions was gross due to the "butter" that we used to pour over the popcorn, which inevitably ended up dripping onto the floor making a disgusting mess. Perhaps the part of my job that was most interesting to me as a very naive and un-worldly teenager was my duty to usher the X-rated movies. WOW! I got to watch "Last Tango In Paris", "Fritz the Cat", and the Candid Camera production called "What Do You Say To A Naked Lady?" Like I said, WOW! It was quite an education.

    Cyndi Wright

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  8. My fist job was at ITT Cannon Electric at 666 East Dyer Road in
    Santa Ana on Apr 1972 till may 2002
    Holly Sugar was in front of ITT across the street and also on the corner of Dyer Road & Holiday street was
    Knudson Milk & Union royal Tires.
    Holiday Inn Bar.
    I lived in santa ana from
    1966 to 1985 went to mcfadden Jr High and Saddleback High.

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  9. My first job was in 1986. I was 16 and my dad made me work the summer with the City of Huntington Beach Park Maintenance Department. The pay was great at the time (I think $6 an hour), but it was a lot of hard work.

    Each group of workers had a specific route of parks to go each week, to cut grass, pick up trash, trim trees, pull weeds, etc. I think I went to every single city park that summer. Of course, the best route was the beach route. I could spend all day picking up trash and watching the girls in bikinis (I was 16~!).

    My first full-time job was at the UA Twin at Westminster Mall parking lot. I could watch the same movies over and over and eat popcorn and drink coke all day. After work, everyone would race their cars around the empty mall parking lot.

    Of course, the most fun job was in 1990 when I worked at Knott's Berry Farm at the Steakhouse and Ghost Town Grill. I made a lot of friends there.

    Anthony
    sprbudman@yahoo.com

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  10. My first job was '63, teaching the accordion at the Milton Mann Accordion Studio on Broaday between fourth and fifth, next door to The Broadway. It was upstairs and the accordions were so heavy, Mann had to hire someone to carry them up the stairs. The first I remember was Manuel Penaflor who went on to be a coach at Santa Ana High. Great guy.

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    1. OMG - the things you come across on the Web. I took accordion at Milton Mann from 1958 - 1966. Manuel Penaflor was my Spanish teacher at SAHS, my favorite teacher and a great coach.

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  11. My dad is Manny Penaflor formerly of Santa Ana High School. He loved playing the accordian and told us many stories of Downtown Santa Ana, where he played the accordian before they dime movies.

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  12. My first job was at Beno's Donuts" in Orange on Tustin Ave. It paid $1.00 per hour and then we had an increase to $1.25 per hour. I loved working there after school. They had the best chocolate frosted long johns with real whipped cream inside. I must have gained 20 lbs. And he had a phonograph in the back and played Tony Bennett albums. He also had the sound track from Moon River that he played all the time. That was in 1963 while I went to Orange High School.

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  13. I remember walking through Westminster Mall one day, I want to say around 1975 and heard the sounds of a live band performing. As I got closer to the sound I realized it was coming from a small clothing store called The Fly Trap, I think that was the name. There was a small crowd gathered outside of the store listening to the band. Being a musician myself, I had to see who this band was. As I moved through the crowd to get a better look I was blown away to see that it was an all-girl band playing rock-n-roll. The musicians names I later found out were Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Sandy West & Jackie Fox. You also might know them as The Runaways. I saw them again a month or so later at a house party in Huntington Beach performing in the living room of all places. Nobody knew at that time, including me, that these chics would soon explode onto the music scene!

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  14. My first job (in 1985 or 6) was as a photographer's assistant for Worthington Reunion Photography which was located in the upper level of a little strip mall located across the street of the rear of the old Ice Capades Chalet shopping center (Music Market and cinemas were also in there). I can't remember the street. I had so much fun at that job.
    I worked a summer at Tutti Animali, a rediculously priced stuffed animal store in Crystal Coart but it was great! I also remember working a couple of years at CD's Unlimited on Fairview much later when I was going to Orange Coast College.

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  15. Hey Suzanne, I know Bill! He actually lives across the street from me - just off Bolsa Chica. Before I knew his name, my kids used to call him the KFC man. He stays mostly to himself. He retired in late 2008. He closed the store and sold the lease to a lady who re-opened the store as the Chicken House. The shop didn't last long. Maybe a year and it closed. A new restaurant is going in now, something Italian. I don't know if Bill traveled the world. Now that I know something more about him, I'll have to ask. I'll see if he remembers you.

    My first job (1971) was at the Taco Bell on Beach Blvd, just south of Warner Ave. It's still there today! Do you remember the Enchirito. - Dan

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  16. My first job was at Daves Parkway Market on 4th and Ross Street in Santa Ana in 1964, I made a whole $1.45 an hour. I spent my first check of $32.00 on a tape recorder at J.C.Penny for $29.00.

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  17. my first job was as a busboy at the Steakhouse at Knotts Berry Farm. My first love, Charlene Scott worked as a set-up girl in the grill. Her dad was "Scotty" who got a job for Walter Knott during the depression after comming out from Oklahoma, fleeing the devestaion of the dust bowl. He later became the chief mechanic and engineer on the old locomotive there. Anyway, Charlene went to Buena Park High and graguated in 1971. I went to Arroyo High but moved to Norwalk my senior year and graduated from Norwalk in 1970.

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    1. what year were you busing tables at the steak house

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  18. My first job was in 1968 at the Home Silk Shop on Harbor next to Belisles where I ate onions rings for lunch each day. Werner Roman and Mr. Beauclay were my bosses.

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  19. My first job was at the A&W Root Beer in Tustin as a carhop in 1964? Worked with Diane, Janet and Cindy and for Don and Joanie McMann. Great times! Jean D.-Smith

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  20. Looking for my old buddy Calvin the Indian that posted on here! Remember the pool table birthday cake at St, George and the Dragon? BACK IN THE DAY. Jean Dunker-Smith

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  21. My first job was at Del Taco on Katella in Orange.

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  22. My first job was working in the shoe department at Two Guys in Huntington Beach in 1976.

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  23. If anyone can tell me where the amazing Calvin the Indian is working, probably tending bar or running some amazing place, PLEASE let me know asap....sharshar719@att.net
    Thanx...I would LOVE to be reunited with some of my friends from those amazing dancing days.
    Charlie @:) Disc Jockey for Desiree's before it was Deje Vu in 1977 and at Ichabods in Fullerton from 77/78 til 1979....

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  24. My first job in Orange County was at a little dress shop called Hildy's in the mall on Euclid in Anaheim.

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  25. My first job in O.C. was at Sears in Costa Mesa as a floater, working in all different departments including the automovtive dept at the parts counter. While working in the men's department one day I got the chance to meet "John Wayne"....helped him find the boys long underware. What a trip!!
    Then finally got a department to work in. During that time I also worked at a store called Odeon, in the South Coast Plaza next to Tom McCann shoe store. Then worked at Betty's Dress Shop and etc. etc.

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  26. My first job was at Goldenwest Liquor in the Ice House. I was 14 and was responsible to process the 300 pound blocks of ice into 25lb blocks and crushed ice bags. People that tried to steal ice by sticking their arms into the opening on the ice house always got a rude surprise when I was working. A cold hand grabbing an outstretched arm was a real shock. Pay was 5% commission on sales. That netted a whopping $40 a week in the summer with the big $100 payday on the 4th of July. Times have changed. The store is still there but really shabby and the icehouse is long gone. Did this off and on throughout my college years. And...I still flashback to those days.

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  27. First job during the summer of '62 and weekends till summer of '63 was delivering lawn mowers for Russ Hasty at Hasty's Sales and Service near the old Greenbrier Restaurant. Next job, summer of '63 was hoeing weeds for Orange County Flood Control. Great times

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  28. First job was at the Woolworths in South Coast Plaza around 1974-76. It's long gone from the mall. I stocked, worked sporting goods selling guns, where I worked with the legendary former marine Col. Kornrumph, who was an advisor to all the local fishermen and hunters. Also worked in cameras and did odd jobs for the bosses, Mr. Rydalch and Mrs. Bianchi. Ate lunch on the lower level across from Woolworths at a Mexican restaurant owned by former Los Angeles Rams legend Tom Fears (Rainforest Cafe is in the site now).

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  29. My first job was flipping burgers at burger king when I was 15 in 1978. I dont remember the street but it was in Huntington Beach. I only worked a few hours a day as a part of some work program from school. I got a second weekend job soon after at a car wash on Beach Blvd and the 405 fwy. I remember I worked for an oriental guy cause we used to make fun of him cause he used to tell us to go vacuum the "cadarack" and "rinkin continrental".

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  30. My first job was working at Togos on West Chapman. Lampost pizza was right next to use and we would swap sandwiches for pizza's. I had so much fun there. I was the youngest worker there. My manager was all of 18! Most of us went to Orange High. I remember whenever we would get a shipment of cookies we would take all the peanut butter ones! They were so good!! One time a secret shopper came in and I was sitting on the counter with my long hair down, did not have on my visor or my name tag and I was eating a sandwich! I got busted, but everyone thought it was pretty funny! Those were good times!

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  31. Bob, My first job was bussing tables at the Sampan Restaurant on Brookhust in Anaheim< I was in the 10th grade at magnolia, I made a $1.80 an hour plus tips. Those where great times back then.

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  32. My first job was at Foothill Rentals on Newport Ave. in Tustin. Just worked around the yard, helping people with whatever they rented. Checking it our, checking it in. Loading their cars.

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  33. I was the temporary DJ at the Beef Rigger on State College. I was happy to get away from that one; the night manager was a sleazy little fascist who wouldn't let me have a tip jar.

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    1. When did you work there? I worked there in the 80s.

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