Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Space Ball Trampoline of Garden Grove

Palanuk's Pen writes about memories of the "Space Ball Trampoline" in Garden Grove...

Garden Grove-Does anyone remember the "Space Ball Trampoline"? Best I can remember it was in front of the indoor swimming pool behind Winchell's donuts...I think!! We played there for hours. A big trampoline with a net in the middle with a hole in it that you passed a ball through to the other person. I graduated from Rancho Alamitos 1969 and lived on Plesant Pl off Lampson.

5 comments:

  1. there was a giant slide there too.. my dad would take us , and there was that donut shop and nearby a der wienerschnitel

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  2. Steve,
    I graduated from Rancho in '68. I remember much of what you are talking about. We moved here from Minnesota in Fall of 1955 and moved into our new house on Dewey Drive (West of Gilbert, South of Katella) in December of that year. I started Kindergarten at Gilbert School the first year it was open. Marie L Hare was then, I believe a continuation school or a school for special needs kids. We got polywogs from the drainage channel, walked in the floods to Gilbert School before the ditch was there, enjoyed The Pink Spot, A&W, IHOP, The Copper Penny, walking to the Orange County Plaza and home again, eating at the lunch counters at Woolworths and Grants, shopping at Candy Canes (sp?) and JC Penny's. We watched Zodys and Newberries go in and lots of places go out. As kids, we would walk or ride our bikes to The Plaza, and coming from Gilbert, we would have to walk through that large, vacant parking area between the street and the first building. Guys would speed wreacklesly through there . . . and scare us! We thought for sure they were trying to run over us and kill us in the process! Rudy Kaul had the 76 Station on the N/W corner of Chapman and Brookhurst. My dad had an agreement with him when I started driving that when I needed gas, I'd go in and get gas, Rudy would write up the charge slip and my dad would sign it whenever he was in for gas. Things were so much more simple in those days. I don't know about the trampolines but there were trampolines next to A&W where the car wash is now (and has been for many years). . . . Oh, the memories. I loved going up there and getting ice cream cones at Savon. Back then you could get just about everything you needed except clothing at Savon and the grocery stores. Savon had some kitchenware, sleeping bags now and then, jewelry, a real makeup counter, you name it. It was kind of like drug store that was a general store as well. For clothes, you went to the Plaza, Broadway in Anaheim or Fashion Square in Santa Ana - or maybe Buffums.

    Until the mid '60s we could easily see the Disneyland fireworks from our house. We always figured that the growth of trees as well as the added street lights and other lighting made them harder to see, if not impossible.

    I have so many more memories ... can't get them all into one post! i'll be expelled from this site.

    CJG

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    Replies
    1. Everything you mention is my exact memory. I graduated from Rancho in '67 and lived on Vons Drive(next to Dewey). GG was such a fun place to grow up and not worry about safety. I could ride my bike and be home just before dinner and have no worries. The fireworks from Dland were watched from our driveway and every now and then I got on my dad's shoulders to watch. Great memories and how glad I am that they are my memories!!
      DS

      How about the ice cream cones from Savon for 5 cents?

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  3. I believe the indoor pool was across the street. I remember they had a big sign there that said swim lessons. It was like one street over from the Garden Square. I remember the Space Ball place. The trampoline sloped up in the back. The object was to throw the ball through the hole in the net at the top. It was hard to get the timing right with the opponent. I was too young to be good. It was hard and it wore you out quickly! I remember watching two men doing it. Tne idea was to bounce off the back and throw the opponent off sync so you could throw while he was down and score. We only did it a couple of times. I remember while there a kid whose mouth was bleeding and he had a few teeth knocked out! They probably got sued, because it wasn't open very long.

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  4. I grew up right next to the Spaceball location in Garden Grove. The Swimming Pool was called Virgo Swimming, and was run by an English Expat who lived on nearby Stanford Street. The exact location was the corner of Brookhurst Way and Acacia street. My house was on a big piece of property that now list listed as hidden way in Google maps. Across the street was the old Smith Ford dealership, and the Winchells was on a triangular lot at Stanford and Brookhurst, along with a Mobil Oil gas station.

    My Dad was good friends with the guy that franchised the spaceball location. I have photos in my library of my older brothers bouncing around and shooting balls back and forth on those things. I believe they mounted one of those spaceball contraptions on a float for the annual strawberry festival parade!

    Garden Grove was a great place to grow up!

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