It was proclaimed to be the tallest wooden frame roller coaster west of the Mississippi. Had you driven south on Atlantic Boulevard back in the 1950s from East Los Angeles all the way to Pacific Coast Highway in Long Beach you would have certainly notice the tall wooden structure known as the “Cyclone Racer.” RollerContinue reading “I do not want to end up deep in the ocean.”
Category Archives: autobiographical
Romance in the parts bins.
My first job. It was my first job after getting married. I started to work in the parts and service department at Sears Sacramento 1965. My new boss, Mr. Cole said it doesn’t pay much but come and get it. So, I started in September a few days after our honeymoon. Mr. Cole had alreadyContinue reading “Romance in the parts bins.”
Needed good walking shoes.
Yes, indeed I’m walking. Now I am not saying this to just solicit your well-deserved sympathy but from kindergarten and all the way up to my senior year in high school I walked to school. Almost every day. I walked approximately two miles each way. Walked to elementary, junior high, and high school. Our grandkidsContinue reading “Needed good walking shoes.”
Homeroom was not for the faint of heart.
Second period. At our junior high second period was always ‘Homeroom.’ Meaning we had an extra 30-minutes to discuss topics not related to the period’s curriculum. This was seventh grade 1956. The curriculum was metal shop. Our teacher was Mr. Leo Fanar. A tall balding man in his thirties and about six-foot two. He stoodContinue reading “Homeroom was not for the faint of heart.”
What does this have to do with my science class?
Ranching is not for me. Junior high L A County 1958. I had Mr. Macintyre’s eight grade science class fourth period just before lunch break. We were all just settling in at our desks when Mr. Byerman, a tall red hair and bespectacled no non-sense teacher with a public-address speaker like voice came to Mac’sContinue reading “What does this have to do with my science class?”
A family’s history has to begin somewhere.
So here is how it all began. I was born and grew up in Los Angeles, California. East Los Angeles to be precise in a working-class neighborhood. An unincorporated section of the greater Los Angeles area east of the all-concrete Los Angeles River. And in a community just east and downwind of the B FContinue reading “A family’s history has to begin somewhere.”
What you have to do when your credentials fail you.
If you remember the last time we got together I mentioned to you I was a chicken whisperer. I chose this vocation because wearing cheap wire rim glasses disqualifies me to be what I really wanted to be. Roy Rogers. Roy Rogers does not wear glasses. I wear glasses. And yes, broke them three orContinue reading “What you have to do when your credentials fail you.”
How did we ever make it out of Junior High?
Junior high boys are the most peculiar barbaric animals observed in the human world. And I am speaking boys of my own generation. Not middle school boys of the recent generations. And speaking of middle school I’m not really sure why we went from junior high designation to middle school classification. We societal wonks areContinue reading “How did we ever make it out of Junior High?”
Was it skating or dancing?
Thou Shall not dance. Especially with the opposite sex. Boys and girls were forbidden to dance with each other. At least this was the doctrinaire of our fundamentalist church. However, the first Monday evening of each month way back when we kids would go with an older couple in their twenties to Pasadena at theContinue reading “Was it skating or dancing?”
The Okie summer nectar.
What’s in that bucket pops? Looking back over my Okie heritage, a summer had never passed without the turning-churning handle of the coveted ice cream maker. Possibly a wooden sided hand-cranked ‘White Mountain.’ And my Okie parents were in to this Heart and Soul. It was a big part of their Oklahoma heritage. A summerContinue reading “The Okie summer nectar.”
Chuck the Blogger Guy 