Are you from San Diego

[ronaldtrotter]

Did those also. But they were a long way away from home and at 11to35 cents a gallon we had to watch our pennies.

[Pete Millikin]

I"ll give it a try as a native and an old timer. In the Midway area remember Cal Stores, White Front, Fedco and the forunners to Costco - Fedmart and Price Club? How about Oscars Drive In at Midway and Rosecrans? If you are hungry try the Midway Chuck Wagon (buffet restaurant) down the street with the Dr Dean hypnotist show upstairs.

Lane field was before my time but we saw the Padres as a AAA team at Westgate Park in Mission Valley. It had a metal roof and foul balls made a racket when they hit.

A little Point Loma memory lane stuff is Rosecroft Gardens nest to the Silberman (Jack in the Box co founder) estate; Cal Western University (now Point Loma College) where we saw Derick and the Dominos (E Clapton) in the Gym. In OB you always stop by the The Black "headshop" - still open BTW.

[LUCKY DAVE]

I grew up in then-out-in-the-sticks Del Mar.
I have many fond memories of summer - surfing till the wind came up, then trail riding my minibike till dark on a full tank of gas (that cost a quarter). The Arnazs, Milners, Lawfords, and Durantes lived down the beach a ways. To us kids they were just the neighbors.

[John Straub]

How about "Hot Curl" at Wind n' Sea beach?

John

[John Straub]

Here's a photo of Mission Valley with Westgate park down in the lower right.

John

[jenniferreinhardt]

John, great photo. It must have been taken in a dry year. I don't see any river in the middle part of the valley?

[John Straub]

Hi Jennifer,

Yeah, "Westgate Park"...Fashion Valley is now there. We even ran some autocross events at the park. But, here is one for you.

John

[ttweed]

John, great photo. It must have been taken in a dry year. I don't see any river in the middle part of the valley?

My grandparents lived up on the south rim of Mission Valley, just east of Texas St. (which is now Qualcomm Way north of I-8). I remember their stories of the valley floor being underwater from "wall-to-wall" at times in the old days, before all the flood control efforts. The river is running pretty dry in that photo, but the riverbed is still visible, running out to the OB jetty.



TT

[ttweed]

But, here is one for you.

That really brings back memories for me, too, John. I lived right up the hill from the Helix Theatre. We walked down on Saturdays for the 25-cent matinees (with 10-cent boxes of popcorn).

TT

[Kim Crosser]

My son (Corey), my wife (Marian), and her father (Robert Ely) were all born here. Bob Ely was born here in 1911 and remembers the big flood of 1916. "Rainmaker" Charles Hatfield was contracted to produce rain after an extended draught. He apparently succeeded too well - the resulting rains destroyed the Sweetwater and Lower Otay dams and washed out everything out to the coast.


Marian's father remembers seeing a newspaper photo showing a (Navy?) ship steaming up through Mission Valley on its way to rescue folks stranded by flooding.
Of course, the city fathers couldn't accept financial responsibility for the damage caused by the floods, so they deemed the rains "an act of god" and thereby also refused to pay Hatfield.

By the way, Bob Ely worked at, and later was a part owner of the local Auburn Cord dealership. Unfortunately, he didn't keep one...

[Steve Grosekemper]

Hi Jennifer,

Yeah, "Westgate Park"...Fashion Valley is now there. We even ran some autocross events at the park. But, here is one for you.

John

MAN YOU GUYS ARE OLD!

When I was a small lad of 11 years old ('75 or '76)I waited with all my friends and older brothers in a line that seemed to go around the theater three or four times to see Jaws. The head usher at the theater was like a Commandante' and took no grief from any punks in line as I recall. That was really an end or an era where theaters were filled with crushed red velvet even in the smoking and crying rooms
And people would dress up to go to the theater; it was a really a big deal.
The theater closed soon after that to make way for a Gemco super store.

[jenniferreinhardt]

My older brother and sister used to reluctantly let me go with them to the Helix Theatre. I just remember watching Roger Moore James Bond movies there in the 70's. Smiley Faces and STP stickers were hot and then Angel Flights, Dittos, Wallabes, and Waffle Stompers! I don't remember Gemco, but White Front was closer to my house in the Grossmont area.

[Kim Crosser]

MAN YOU GUYS ARE OLD!

Whippersnapper...
Several of us in college at UCSD went to the Pacific Drive-In (Mission Bay Drive and Cass - long gone) to watch Easy Rider when it came out in 1969. That was an amazing film for that era.
There was also a little theater in one of the mini-malls (the Von's one?) along Garnet in PB where we would go for cheap late-night movies in 1970-71. They showed cult classic movies ("Reefer Madness" was one) at midnight real cheap - I think it was only $1 admission to the midnight showings.
When the Der Wienerschnitzel in PB ran specials, you could get 5 hot dogs for $1 back then - which was pretty good for impoverished students.

We flew sailplanes off the cliffs at Torrey Pines at $0.50 per flight in the '60s and '70s - we launched them using a WWII barrage balloon winch mounted on a truck, hooked up to a Mercury 350 V8. Stomping on the gas pedal reeled in the (used and swaged) Miramar air target towing cable and flung the sailplane up - like running with a kite behind you - and then you rode the ridge-lift for a long time. UCSD shut down the gliderport for sailplanes in the '70s when there got to be too many uncontrolled hang-gliders (dang liability lawyers...). We used to hold the Pacific Mid-Winter Soaring Championships on the bluffs there each year into the early '70s.

In 1973 I bought a new MGB Roadster (in British Racing Green - ok, Mallard Green was that year's closest color). A friend bought a bright yellow Porsche 914 shortly thereafter. He demonstrated the phenomenal handling and braking of the 914 on a quiet road on the UCSD campus, so we had to try the same with the MGB. Scared the **** out of us - it wasn't nearly as stable as the Porsche. But I still loved that car for many years.

My uncle was a career Navy officer and skipper of a Landing Craft (not sure which exact model - big enough to hold 6+ trucks or a few tanks) and in the late '50s, he would take us over to the Navy facilities and let us roam over his ship. The yards still had lots of ships at that time.

[ttweed]

There was also a little theater in one of the mini-malls (the Von's one?) along Garnet in PB where we would go for cheap late-night movies in 1970-71. They showed cult classic movies.

That was called the "Fine Arts" theatre, wasn't it? The Roxy was on Cass St. and had all the general distribution movies. Then there was the Unicorn theatre and bookstore next to where Symbolic Motors is now in La Jolla, at Pearl and LJ Blvd.--another "art-house" movie spot for the early UCSD crowd. I'm sure you remember that one, too, Kim.

And who could leave out Maynards in PB w/ 25-cent spaghetti and taco night specials for the starving students, and the most "colorful" clientele of the era?



Ya, we are old, Steve...but we were young then, and haven't forgotten...

TT

[ronaldtrotter]

This is fun and yes Steve we are (well most of us)old. Moth balled destroyers at 32sd street (it seemed like 100's 0f them), the tuna fleet on the embarcadero. Use to spend big bucks and take my wife for a date on the San Diego Ferry.She wasn't my wife then. I'd pay .25 each (yes I was the last of the big spenders) and we'd ride the top deck all night and that was only 1964. I was drafted in '68' and when I came back in '70' the bridge was build and no more Ferry's. Saw one about 6 years ago rotting away in Alamito in San Francisco Bay. The Strand was used for landing craft during war games and we'd drive down the Strand with the Marines shooting blanks and flirting with our girl friends in the car. Hare and Hound Rallies seemed to be big then also. On any Sunday morning you'd see flour marks on the roads of San Diego. How about the first Cinerama theater near College and University. First run movies the first one I saw was "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World". This has been fun, I love this town. What a great place to grow up. Oh wait according to my wife I'm not finished growing up. That means there's more to come. You know it doesn't matter how old you are there are always great memories and great places to remember and good friends to share them with. Merry Christmas everyone and if you don't celebrate Christmas have a Happy Holiday Season. That reminds me of every Navy ship in the harbor decorated with lights.