An Entire 6th Grade Class of Nerds

Gledhill Street School, Sepulveda, CA, December 1961.  Grade A6.  Age 11.

How my mother could've let me out the door in a white turtleneck sweater is a mystery.  Yes, that's me, the tall chubby girl in the upper right corner.  The one with the hairdo from hell.  The one with the major crush on Freddy Bratton (top row, tallest boy, center) who never knew I existed until one day when the Devil took over my soul and I actually chased him down the street on my bike.  Believe me, THEN he knew I existed and he hated me forever after.

I believe that was our graduation photograph, but here's one taken earlier that year when the class took a field trip to the LA Times.  Back then the typesetters wore little hats made out of newspaper so we each got one to get us in the mood.  (Note: Back in the stone ages when I was a child, newspapers were typeset--the word "digital" only applied to the more feared part of a prostate exam).  They also gave us a pencil and a little pad of paper so we could pretend we were "ace reporters."  Are 6th graders still that gullible?  What a bunch of dorks!  We also field tripped to a bakery and a dairy, where we were amazed to learn that milk actually comes from a cow and doesn't just magically appear in the local supermarket!

That's me smack in the middle (again in a sweater), third row from the top.  My crush, Freddy, is sitting in the SAME ROW (you know that caused me no end of palpitations), far left.  I believe by this time he hated me, though.

A year earlier, my parents rented a house at the beach for two weeks during summer vacation.  But oh, not just ANY beach.  Nope--we rented a house on the beach at Malibu!  Believe me, we were not at all wealthy back then but even though movie stars were already living in Malibu, there were still obviously affordable rentals.  Wonder how much it would cost today to rent a house on the beach there.  Affordable?  Yeah, if you're a frickin' Saudi prince!

I guess back in the 50's and 60's the waves never dared to come up too far on the beach, since had they done so this house would've gotten flooded in a big way.  That's my dad in a studly pose (well, those black glasses aren't exactly studly) but hey, I was 10 years old and thought my daddy was the most handsomest man in the world!  And come to think of it . . . he still is.

Here's me in 1961 with my best friend, Susan Simonson.  I have a Dick Clark iron-on patch stuck to my shirt.  You might also be able to vaguely see the word "FAT" written across the photo.  Yeah, I was a bit on the chubby side but I was also one of the tallest girls in my grade and looking back, I think I might have been a little too hard on myself writing FAT.  Maybe "CHUBBY BUT WILL BE ATTRACTIVE TO BLACK GUYS IN A FEW YEARS SO HANG IN THERE" might have been more appropriate.

Susan's family was what passed for Bohemian in our southern California tract home neighborhood--they had sparkly white rocks on their roof AND in their yard, and when I was invited over for dinner the kids ate before the parents!  Seems Mr. & Mrs. Simonson enjoyed a bit of vino with their meal but didn't want to drink in front of the kids.  Plus they had this radical idea that they needed some time to themselves instead of giving over their entire existence to the offspring.  That was pretty radical for a time when it was still de rigeur for everyone--Dad, Mom, kids and any invited pals--to sit down to dinner together.

This last photo was taken during a family vacation in San Francisco at the Cliff House.  This was taken in about 1960 (I'd just been given my first Brownie camera!) but from the outfits those two unknown women are wearing it looks more like the 40's!  I thought at first the woman on the right was my Dad's mother but then I saw those ample hips and knew it wasn't her (she was always scrawny).  Back in those days adult women still wore dresses most of the time in public, even when on vacation.  Note Mom's awesome sunglasses.

For those of you living in San Francisco these days, you might know about the old Sutro Baths at the Cliff House--they still existed during our visit except they were no longer baths--the place had been turned into an iceskating rink but still had the original museum.  The main thing I remember seeing at the museum was P.T. Barnum's famous mermaid, which to me looked like the top half of a monkey stuck on to the bottom half of a fish.  Which was, of course, correct.  They also had the outfits Col. Tom Thumb and Mrs. Thumb wore at their wedding, a life-side diorama of The Last Supper, and lots of other cool stuff.  The structure burned down in 1966 and I'm so glad I have some memories of the place when it was still intact. 

You know, in alot of ways, they really WERE the good old days.

Next up--more swingin' 70's!