Growing up in Santa Ana, 1960's
by Steve
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
An anonymous reader shares his memories of growing up in Orange County during the 1960's, attending Santa Ana Valley High School, and all his favorite hangouts...
Hi Everyone
I just surfed in here and just like in the 60's I surfed most of the coastline with friends instead of going to Valley High and I think I am probably the only one to ever get kicked out of Work Experience and then had two more study halls to study nothing except the fine girls in the study hall too.
I graduated in 66 and have a lot of fond memeories of Knotts Berry Farm, and the Ballroom in Balboa with all the fine surf bands. Plus we had one of the best groups to sing at Valley, and Tony and Andy Gallo sang in the band. Plus I went to school with a great friend Bob Samuels who was killed by one off Valley's alumni and now she is the 5th woman on death row.
Does anyone remember the Bisbee's Orange Julius on Flower and Edinger? What a great place to eat. Plus on Friday and Saturday Nights we would cruise Oscars where the DMV is now and get races set up. Go to either Richey street or down on Talbert west of Bristol.
I remember too that Knotts Berry Farm was no cost to go in and Disneyland was 2.00 dollars and you didn't have to even ride anything and go to the dances there.
Does anyone remember Bob Jolly that played in the Justin Tusk? Well, he has a music store in Irvine and is still in music. Valley was great in those days and before I went to Vietnam and we lost a lot of our school mates. I guess I could go down memory lane the rest of the day and say those were the good old days.
God Bless You all and Have a Very Merry Christmas.
And a merry Christmas back to you, and a Merry Christmas to everyone!
Labels: Santa-Ana, Santa-Ana-Valley-High-School
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Racial Integration at Santa Ana Schools
by Steve
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Nearly a year ago, I received an e-mail from "Gramma Sue", whose maiden name was Susan Pulsipher. She was an alumni of my alma mater, Santa Ana Valley High School, but graduating way back in 1962.
The year was 1959, and she was attending Valley, and talked about one particular memory of hers that remained over the years, having to do with racial integration, Mater Dei High School, and it's unwillingness to move forward...
Hi Steve,
Well from what I saw on your website I may be the oldest Falcon on there. I graduated in 1962. Susan Pulsipher was my maiden name and I was the gossip columnist on the school newspaper.
Just a tidbit some of you younger Falcons might be interested in. Smedley Jr High in the year 1956 and Santa Ana Valley High in the year 1959 were the first two schools in Santa Ana to integrate whites, mexicans and blacks all together. We almost killed each other the first couple of years at Smedley, but by the time we hit 9th grade we had all grown to appreciate each others differences.
I can still remember one football game against Mater Dei. We had this absolutely gorgeous boy on our cheerleading squad. He was half black half white, and he was one of the most popular boys at school. When our squad went into the center of the field at half time to exchange with the other squad in cheers, their cheerleaders wouldn't shake hands with him.
You could have heard a pin drop. In a true united front, our cheerleaders turned back to our side of the field, and you could hear the cheers from our bleachers for miles.
Mater Dei was banned from playing for something like 5 years because of bad sportsmanship. I'd really like to have seen how the players dealt with those idiots in the locker room.
Anyway, on a more uplifting note, I was there when Lukens Dairy was still behind Smedley, and when you could smell the orange blossoms from the groves everywhere you went. The air was clean and the beaches were to die for, especially Balboa and the Newport Fun Arcade.
If anyone knows who handles the reunions for those early 60's, I'd sure like to get in touch with them. Haven't been since the 10 year. We're all looking pretty old about now, but still have some kick and play left in us.
If anyone would like to add their comments or memories of "integration" in Orange County, click on "Post a Comment" below.
Labels: Mater Dei High School, Racism, Santa-Ana, Santa-Ana-Valley-High-School, Smedley Junior High School
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Santa Ana Valley High School, the Early Years
by Steve
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Today we received letters from two people writing about their memories of attending Santa Ana Valley High School in the early 1960s. Both of these people graduated from Santa Ana Valley in 1962.
The first is from Sharon...
Hi Steve.........a friend of mine sent me you site, and it sure brought back memories. Just for information:
I was born in Santa Ana in 1945. Went to Valley High School the first year it opened. Went to Lathrop on south Main, way before it was a closed campus. It reminded me of the movie 'American Grafeiti'. We could go across the street to the malt shop and to the record shop and listen to 45's for the lunch hour. Then down to Al's drive in for a burger. For me jr. high was almost better then high school. I have kept in contact with several of the gals that I went through school with. And my husband and I actually went to Tenn. and stayed for three weeks in that area with one, Sharon Shaw. Anyone remember her out there. We graduated from Valley in 1962, the second graduating class. Boy have things changed!! As for Disneyland, my father worked there when they were building it, right from the start. He use to see Mr. Disney on the property watching things being built, and sometimes changing the plans to somethingelse. I lived in the south end of town and in those days you could walk downtown to the 'West Coast' theater for a movie for 50 cents. So much to remember and such changes now.
The second is from Lynda...
I've been reading the comments from SAVHS alumni on this site and only found one person who graduated with me in 1962. We were the first class to attend all three years at Valley. The class of '61 only attended their Junior and Senior years. We '62 grads started as Sophomores the first year Valley opened, when it was just us and the Juniors, NO SENIORS! If my memory serves me right, I believe our football team of Sophomores and Juniors were also in the CIF Championships that first year coached by the best, Coach Dick Hill, who passed away last October.
I attended Edison Elementary and Lathrop Jr. High before entering Valley High. Half of my 9th grade classmates leaving Lathrop entered their Sophomore year at Valley High and the other half entered Santa Ana High as Sophomores. The Santa Ana Valley High School Class of 1962 is celebrating our 45th Reunion in August and many friends from the classes of '61 and '63 are also joining us this year. The first three graduating classes were very close, many classmates have kept in touch through the years, including those who went to Santa Ana High. I don't remember any of the negative things I've read here, our memories are great, it was a good time and place to grow up.
Lynda from the Class of 1962!
Any others out there that graduated from Santa Ana Valley High School in the early 1960's?
Also, check out another article we published about Santa Ana Valley, which has already received over a hundred comments...
http://www.octhen.com/2006/01/santa-ana-valley-high-school.htmLabels: Santa-Ana-Valley-High-School
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Santa Ana Valley High School
by Steve
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Anyone an alumni of Santa Ana Valley High School?
Well, I am. I went from 1981-1984, graduating there.
Valley High had the reputation of being the roughest high school in the city, and probably among the roughest county-wide. There were several gang fights there. I remember one black guy getting pounded to a pulp by a gang of Samoans. Nearby at Centennial Park, there were students and gang members that died in knife fights.
One time a guy got his throat slit while walking though Carr Intermediate School on his way into Valley High.
There was also a prankster club there called the "Crack Club". All they did was pull some unbelievable pranks, like hauling up some lunch benches up on to the roof of the Auditorium.
Watch out for Spirit Week! At this time, the seniors set their sights on the freshman and kicked their asses. I mean some kids got flat out beaten senseless. I imagine some lawsuits were filed between parents. I don't know how I managed to escape it.
At Valley High, they had a annual tradition called "The Kangaroo Court". The whole school went into the auditorium and watched a panel of judges (members of the senior class) pull some of the popular students out of the audience, and convict them of various sins. One guy was pulled up for having a reputation of dating a lot of girls. They blindfolded him, and told him that they would be bringing a mystery girl out, and that he would have to kiss her. Well, they ended up bringing his mother out! He grabbed her by the arms and laid a full-on open-mouth tongue-tickling kiss. Nobody expected such a thing; they thought it would just a peck on the lips. They pulled the blindfold off, and he just about wet his pants.
But due to political correctness, they cancelled The Kangaroo Court in 1982.
Labels: Santa-Ana-Valley-High-School
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