Are you from San Diego

[ronaldtrotter]

> THIS IS PRICELESS, SOMEONE SURE PUT A LOT OF THOUGHT INTO THIS ONE.
> BOY DOES THIS BRING BACK MEMORIES, FOR US THAT HAVE SPENT A LIFE TIME IN SAN
> DIEGO (THE GOOD OL' DAYS)!
>
> 1. You can correctly pronounce Tierrasanta, La Jolla, Rancho Penesquitos,
> San Ysidro, Otay Mesa, Jamul, and El Cajon, and know where they are.
>
> 2. There are four distinct seasons: Summer, Not Quite Summer, Almost
> Summer, and "Oh, hey look, it's Summer again.
>
> 3. Your high school had a surf team.
>
> 4. Insane Diego and Chulajuana are real towns. So are San Yskidrow,
> Venereal Beach , and International City .
>
> 5. Your house is worth more than some small countries.
>
> 6. You know what IB, MB, OB , and PB stand for.
>
> 7. Every street name is either in Spanish or Spanish related, and you're
> surprised when other areas don’t have this.
>
> 8. You can determine the accuracy of someone's "I'm ghetto" claim by
> knowing their high school. For example: El Camino High School, or Crawford
> High.
>
> 9. You see weather forecasts for four different climate zones in the same
> county, and aren't remotely surprised.
>
> 10. You've gone to Mt. Helix in July and know you still need a jacket (60
> degrees is COLD!).
>
> 11. You remember going to "The Cross" on Mt. Helix for Easter services.
>
> 12. You've tailgated at Qualcomm Stadium, and for bonus points, also
> tailgated when it was Jack Murphy Stadium.
>
> 13. You know that "Charge!" doesn't refer to a credit card.
>
> 14. You remember going downtown via Federal Blvd. before Hwy 94 was built.
>
> 15. You remember when Hwy 94 was 2 lanes in each direction and Bonita Road
> was one lane in each direction.
>
> 16. You've been on a field trip to see an Imax movie at the Rueben H. Fleet
> Space Center .
>
> 17. You still call it the Del Mar Fair.
>
> 18. You say "I'm going to the track!" and people know what you are talking
> about.
>
> 19. You say "I'm going to the park!" and people know what you mean.
>
> 20. You remember when 'Lemon Grove', ' La Mesa ', and ‘Spring Valley', and
> El Cajon were "Out in the sticks."
>
> 21. You understand what "May-gray" and "June-gloom" means.
>
> 22. A famous skateboarder/surfer lives in your town.
>
> 23. There’s " North County ", " South County ", and " East County " but no
> " Central County ".
>
> 24. You know what it means when a girl in a short skirt is walking on El
> Cajon Blvd.
>
> 25. You've gotten stuck in the Horton Plaza parking structure traffic after
> a Padres game.
>
> 26. You know what "the merge" is, and will plan your entire day around not
> being on it during rush hour.
>
> 27. You know the difference between Clairmont Mesa, Kearny Mesa, and Mira
> Mesa.
>
> 28. You've stayed home from school or work, because “It's raining!”
>
> 29. You've gone to Sea World on a warm day and sat in the first few rows at
> the shamu show to get cooled off.
>
> 30. You've been delayed at the border checkpoints at Tijuana and Tecate.
>
> 31. Your house doesn't have or need air conditioning unless you live in the
> East County .
>
> 32. No matter what the weather is, there is always someone walking around
> in a t-shirt, shorts, and flip flops.
>
> 33. You've been to the desert, the mountains, and the beach all in one day.
>
> 34. You know that Santee and Lakeside are where the 'cowboys' live.
>
> 35. You know why Hillcrest is known as 'The Swish Alps'.
>
> 36. You hate tourists and their bad driving (but you don't know how to
> drive in the rain).
>
> 37. You've gone to the Zoo just to hang out.
>
> 38. You have family or friends who have moved to Washington , Oregon ,
> Nevada , Utah , or Colorado .
>
> 39. You know someone who doesn't own long pants.
>
> 40. You know what 'Santa Anas' are, and they have nothing to do with the
> city of Santa Ana .
>
> 41. You know what 'real Mexican food' tastes like.
>
> 42. You remember when ' Mission Valley ' was cow pastures, carrot farms,
> and dairies (oh...to have bought some of that land then!). Ditto with
> Coronado !
>
> 43. You remember when Lemon Grove had "the cows."
>
> 44. You remember when Chula Vista was a small town and all that was East of
> it was miles of Otay Ranch before Otay Lakes .
>
> 45. You remember the Big Sky, College, Harbor, and South Bay drive-ins.
>
> 46. Escondido was a long way off and there wasn’t anything in between.
>
> 47. There wasn’t an I-805, I-8 or I5. You went on Highway 80, Highway 395
> and the Pacific Coast Highway (especially to get to Disneyland ).
>
> 48. National City stunk.
>
> 49. The Navy and the tuna fleet were THE big employers.
>
> 50. Getting to Coronado was a boat ride or a long trip in the car.
>
> Have a beautiful, sunny San Diego Day....!







NOTIC

[SDGT3]

Hey, I'm ghetto --I went to Crawford High. I didn't know they called it anything other than Del Mar Fair? What is it known as now?

[jenniferreinhardt]

Another Local here - but my High School (Grossmont) out in the boonies of La Mesa didn't have a surf team. I've met more locals in this club than anywhere since I graduated from high school 15 years ago.

Oh and my old friends always come back to SD for real Mexican food - even if they live in LA!

[ronaldtrotter]

Hey look I grew up in Nasty City and worked my entire career in the shadow of Mt. Helix, graduated from Sweetwater and San Diego State when it was San Diego State College (I also got a degree from San Diego State University but could never figure out the difference, so much for state education). Converse tennis shoes were the in thing when I was a Jr. in high school and the Harbor and Rancho were places you got into in the trunk of a 55 Ford (nothing like the passion pit). Oh by the way surfing was just becoming the in thing and Jan and Dean were it. Hey dead mans curve was real to us, it was on Otay Lakes Road. Rode in the back seat of a 57 Chevy racing at Paridise Valley Drag Strip and on Kearny Mesa in the Convair Parking Lot. Shot rabbits on Kearny Mesa and rode my dads horses from Flechter Hills to the now Fashion Valley.. Hey I also attended baseball games at Lane Field (also Westgate) and had the good fortune to see Johnny Richey play(the west coast Jackie Robinson, he bought me my first drink when I turned 21) and worked with him later in the 60"s(really nice guy). I know I'm old but man I've had fun.

Jennifer do you know about the old oaken bucket at Grossmont. Sweetwater and Grossmont the number one rivals in San Diego County. Past my time but still neat history. This list also missed Proctor Valley Road and the Proctor Valley Monster. Worked for me many times. Cherry Hill, Campus Drive in, Rounders Room, Cinnamon Cinder and The Land of Oden in La Mesa ( saw Hoydt Axston (sp) light a Greenback Dollar there one night. ), The Kingston Trio in Russ Auditorium with Bill Cosby as the opening act and Joan Baez at Golden Hall(although that was in the late 60's). Oh I also was able to have a drink at Tops before it closed. Cool place still at PCH and I believe Grape. Not Tops know but was China Camp.

The El Cortez was the tallest point in downtown San Diego also the only glass elevator. The Bank of America building was the tallest until the Home Towers, and the Star of India didn't have it's rigging. There was no 805 or 15 The 15 was the 395 and the 8 was the 80. Oh my god Riverside Raceway was active and the greatest race track on the west coast. Fireball Roberts died there. IROC, IMSA, CAn-AM,Indy Car, Richard Petty, Mark Donahue, Roger Penske, et al. and now it's a shopping mall what a waste. There was this place called the Golden Horseshoe outside the Riverside Raceway but then I can't talk about that it would still get me in trouble.

As Teenage boys you always wanted to see the donkey show in TJ(sorry but true, but never did) and the Blue Fox was more then just a name. The Nelson Hotel was a happening place, Jai alai was great and Tiquila Sunrises made you see the sunset. You also drank Southern Comfort(god help me I can't believe I drank that stuff).

San Diego was a great place then and I would not trade it now or then for another.

Okay I've said enough. I know I'm Old but what the hell it's been fun and continues to be. San Diego the greatest place to grow up and grow old in.

[John Straub]

I remember the "Donkey Show" in TJ and the "Long Bar". Great days!

John

[LUCKY DAVE]

Scene: Roughly 35 years ago in the Long Bar.
My girl friend, a couple of my Baja racing buddies, and I were drinking tequila (she far more than us, that girl had a real problem with booze) and I was pissed at her about I-don't-remember-what.
She had recently given me a nice pair of expensive tan suede hiking boots, so I had the shoe shine boy polish them GLOSS BLACK to piss her off. It worked......
Much, much, later that night in Ensenada we -along with everyone else- were ejected from Hussong's by the Policia De Municipal Ensenada who simply blew us out the door with a fire hose. It wasn't unusual when things got too rowdy inside.
She and I woke up the next morning in the back of my van down by the harbor, no idea how we got there.









yeah, I'm a local

[ttweed]

San Diego the greatest place to grow up and grow old in.

Ya, Ron, I'm a 4th-generation native and remember all that stuff. Ferrari's Dairy in Mission Valley, the last one to close down, was owned by the grandparents of a guy I went to high school with. Anyone remember McGowan's turkey farm out in Spring Valley? I've always wondered if that was Martha's relatives?

TT

[ttweed]

Hey, I'm ghetto --I went to Crawford High. I didn't know they called it anything other than Del Mar Fair? What is it known as now?

It's officially the "San Diego County Fair" now, and was also called "Southern California Exposition" at one time. From Wikipedia:
The fair began in 1880 as an agricultural fair. The location moved from place to place for several years until finally settling on the Del Mar Fairgrounds in 1936. In 1954, the fair's name changed to the Southern California Exposition and San Diego County Fair. In 1970, this was shortened to the Southern California Exposition. The fair was again renamed in 1984 to the Del Mar Fair, which lasted until 2002, when the original name was reinstated, although it is sometimes still informally referred to as the "Del Mar Fair" by locals.

Anyone remember who won the "Fairest of the Fair" pageant title in 1958? It was a La Jolla High School student named Raquel Tejada, whom my recently deceased friend Mike Diffenderfer used to date back then. She is better known as Raquel Welch, the name she took when she became an actress.

TT

[rshon]

I'm a suburban kid, so the first time I went downtown to attend a dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory 35 years ago (on a Friday night) I was amazed to see all these sailors swarming around the area which is now Horton Plaza. For some reason, there were all these girls sitting in front of shops, many trying to drag the sailors inside(?). This went on for blocks and blocks...

Also, back then, almost every coastal lagoon from Oceanside to Torrey Pines smelled like a cesspool, and NOBODY WANTED TO LIVE THERE.

[jenniferreinhardt]

Jennifer do you know about the old oaken bucket at Grossmont. Sweetwater and Grossmont the number one rivals in San Diego County. Past my time but still neat history.

No, Ron, I didn't know, must be football. I miss the more mellow San Diego.

BTW, I heard one of our super racers talk about cruising 2nd St. in El Cajon when he was a youth! Another one of our current ladies racers is from SD too.

[ronaldtrotter]

Cruising any avenue was the name of the game on a Friday night. I even remember the gas wars. How many of you paid 11 cents a gallon for gas. Not many I bet. Back in the 40"s and 50"s the only two rivals were Sweetwater and Grossmont. I don't know when the Oaken Bucket was retired but it was the trophy for that game between the two. Grossmont won it last and the last I heard still had it. I only know that because my father in law taught at Sweetwater and attended Grossmont.
My family only came to San Diego with WWII but my wifes family are Grossmont people with her Grandfather being a teacher there in the 40's. I loved and love the fact that I grew up in a gentle (or not so gentile San Diego and I mean gentile. A time when we were a small town and everyone dressed up to go down town) Hey ladies if you didn't put on your hat and gloves you were not with it then, when you went to downtown. In fact a big day was the Woolworths counter or the Pullman Cafeteria. Marstons Department Store was the "tony" place to shop and Walker Scotts was a close second. The Grant Grill didn't allow women(not PC but hey that's history) and Broadway was filled with locker clubs the Seven Seas being one. I even remember the canneries on 101. I sorry but I enjoy this almost as much as driving my car around Jack Murphy. But then I remember the Chargers playing at Balboa Stadium and Watch Johnny Volkavich driving at the same place. for those of you who don't know he died at Indy and we all cried. I was young but still remember even though I am young no more.. Oh wait that young thing is a state of mind and time clock thing, but hell what's a little time when you are having fun and remembering cars that drove like tanks yet seem to be made of dreams.

[ronaldtrotter]

Oh hey Tom I understand the tunnel for the cows under the 8 is still there. Of course it was the 80 then and the tunnel was retained when they expanded to the *. Not sure about that but remember reading something about it in the last couple years. I also remember Pike Hodge and the Golden Arrow Dairy(Sweetwater River valley where the Chula Vista Target is now). He was one of the first to turn old plastic milk bottles in to combs. The guy was green before his time. Not sure how much call there was or is for combs but Pike was a first. I went to school with his son Ed.

[John Straub]

Wow Ron...those are great memories!

John

[ZombiePorsche44]

What about the Midway, Frontier and Pacific Drive-ins?????? Didn't anyone else grow up in Pacific Beach, Mission Beach or in South Mission like me????

[SDGT3]

What about the Midway, Frontier and Pacific Drive-ins?????? Didn't anyone else grow up in Pacific Beach, Mission Beach or in South Mission like me????

Nope, sorry Joel.... went to Crawford High in the 'hood.... but we did have a surf and waterpolo team at ghetto high....