| Cruisin' the Past |
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| Cruisin’ the Past by Ed Dooley |
After-Game Activities
In my last column, I wrote about the Fall sports season, which was always an exciting time
at Catalina High School. Fall events, especially football games, normally took place on
Friday evenings, but not so late that there was no time after the games for other
activities. And other activities there certainly were.
Once the Friday night game was over, usually at 9:30, the stands had cleared of
spectators, and the lights on the field had been turned off, often there was a post-game
dance or mixer in the CHS cafeteria. These social events were sometimes sponsored by
student clubs to raise funds for their activities. For example, the members of the
Boboquivari Hi-Y Club organized a Halloween Hop after the CHS-Flagstaff game.
According to the club’s advertisement for the dance, “Admission will be 50 cents and
proceeds will be used to supplement the treasury” – the club’s treasury. (This, of course,
is the club that was later transformed into “The Fun Club.”). On other occasions, Catalina’
s Letterman’s Club sponsored a dance after the CHS-Tucson High game, and the Junior
Class held a mixer after the CHS-Mesa game. For this mixer, the Trumpeteer announced:
“Recorded music will be piped throughout the cafeteria. Liquid refreshments will be
served.”
On nights when there was no post-game dance or mixer at the school, and for those
students did not go home immediately after the game, one of the favorite destinations
was La Cucina restaurant (now no longer in existence), where pizza with sausage was a
universal favorite. This was an especially popular restaurant for battered, bruised, and
hungry football players, cheerleaders, and their friends. Before the 1950s, the fad
among high school and college students was Chinese food (it was good food,
inexpensive, and you got a lot for your money), but starting in the late 1940s, pizza
began its steady rise in popularity, spurred on by veterans who had enjoyed it during the
Italian campaigns of WWII. By our time at Catalina, pizza was king with the younger set,
and especially with us. Mexican food was also quite popular then, although not as
popular as now, and so Casa Molina, out Speedway near Wilmot (then on the fringe of
town), was also a destination for the after-game crowd. Our classmate Gilbert Molina’s
family owned this wonderful restaurant, which is still in operation today.
The main alternative to La Cucina and Casa Molina was Johnie’s (“Fat Boy”) Drive-In, at
the corner of Speedway and Tucson Boulevard. (Like La Cucina, Johnie’s has long
since disappeared from the landscape that we remember because of the widening of
Speedway.) Unlike La Cucina, where people went to stuff themselves with pizza, Johnie’s
was primarily a place in our section of town to see and be seen. It was also the point of
origin for cruisin’ down Speedway to the A&W Root Beer Drive-In and back. As with all
drive-ins, patrons could park under canopies at Johnie’s and wait to be served by
carhops, or they could go inside to sit at booths and listen to hit records on the jukebox.
The menu (see note below) listed a variety of sandwiches, golden fried shrimp, and
southern fried chicken, and other dishes, but after-game fare was almost always burgers
(a burger alone cost 45 cents; a combination plate cost 65 cents – those were the
days!), greasy fries, and thick chocolate shakes (25 cents!). These items were easily
managed at booths, but if patrons ate in their cars, meals and drinks were placed on a
tray that was attached precariously to the driver’s window. And woe to anyone who
forgot for a moment and opened that door or moved the window and spilled the contents
of a shake all over one’s new naugahyde seat cover! The scene is right out of “Happy
Days” and “American Graffiti.”
But the 50s were changing, and by the time we were seniors, the after-game destination
was less often Johnie’s and more often Portofino’s Café Expresso coffee house, near the
corner of Sixth and Park. That was, as we then said, “Where it’s at.” We were starting to
give up shakes and cokes for expresso coffee or hot mulled apple cider with cinnamon
sticks, and doo-wop music for Folk and Beat music. Directly across the street was a
place (I forget the name) that was “quite beat,” where, in addition to expresso and cider,
one could listen to bongos and guitars and where people gave “Beatnik readings.” It was
“frosty, man, frosty,” “too cool for words,” “like wow!” Our tastes mirrored national trends,
and our years in high school marked a major turning point in American popular culture.
By the time Friday night games were over, it was usually too late to go to a drive-in
movie, but it was not too late to go bowling at the new Lucky Strike Bowling Alley just east
of Alvernon or to play miniature golf at the Speedway Putt-Putt. For those a bit more
adventuresome, there was the new fad of go-kart racing, a sport that started in 1958.
And, of course, there was always “cruisin’” (more on that in a later article) and trips to the
end of Campbell Avenue for “parking” and “watching the lights.”
Some after-game groups congregated at individual homes for parties – swimming parties
at Janie Mills' house, for example, when the weather was still warm. On such occasions,
some of our talented musicians provided the entertainment. One evening, according to
an article in the teen section of the Tucson Daily Citizen, Charlie Fowler, Dick Martin, and
Steve Miles “really rocked on the bongos and guitar.” On another occasion, also
reported in the Citizen, “Bob Jacobs, Darlene Hansen, Barbara Berger, Rick Parrish, and
John Goodwin were only a few who joined in singing as Don Fones and Dan Breck
strummed many choruses of ‘At the Hop’ on their guitars.” Don, as I remember, was the
first among us to own and play an electric guitar.
Clearly, back then it was: “Any excuse for a party.”
But lest it appear that we were simply fun-loving and frivolous teenagers (well, perhaps
some of us were), I must point out that many among us were also seriously interested in
the politics of the day and engaged in public service activities. These will be the topics of
the next two articles in this series.
NOTE: Here's a link to a copy of Johnie’s menu courtesy of Ray Lindstrom’s 1959 CHS
web page. He also has collected information about KTKT and other radio stations from
those days. Ray, as you may know, is a 1959 Catalina graduate.
In my last column, I wrote about the Fall sports season, which was always an exciting time
at Catalina High School. Fall events, especially football games, normally took place on
Friday evenings, but not so late that there was no time after the games for other
activities. And other activities there certainly were.
Once the Friday night game was over, usually at 9:30, the stands had cleared of
spectators, and the lights on the field had been turned off, often there was a post-game
dance or mixer in the CHS cafeteria. These social events were sometimes sponsored by
student clubs to raise funds for their activities. For example, the members of the
Boboquivari Hi-Y Club organized a Halloween Hop after the CHS-Flagstaff game.
According to the club’s advertisement for the dance, “Admission will be 50 cents and
proceeds will be used to supplement the treasury” – the club’s treasury. (This, of course,
is the club that was later transformed into “The Fun Club.”). On other occasions, Catalina’
s Letterman’s Club sponsored a dance after the CHS-Tucson High game, and the Junior
Class held a mixer after the CHS-Mesa game. For this mixer, the Trumpeteer announced:
“Recorded music will be piped throughout the cafeteria. Liquid refreshments will be
served.”
On nights when there was no post-game dance or mixer at the school, and for those
students did not go home immediately after the game, one of the favorite destinations
was La Cucina restaurant (now no longer in existence), where pizza with sausage was a
universal favorite. This was an especially popular restaurant for battered, bruised, and
hungry football players, cheerleaders, and their friends. Before the 1950s, the fad
among high school and college students was Chinese food (it was good food,
inexpensive, and you got a lot for your money), but starting in the late 1940s, pizza
began its steady rise in popularity, spurred on by veterans who had enjoyed it during the
Italian campaigns of WWII. By our time at Catalina, pizza was king with the younger set,
and especially with us. Mexican food was also quite popular then, although not as
popular as now, and so Casa Molina, out Speedway near Wilmot (then on the fringe of
town), was also a destination for the after-game crowd. Our classmate Gilbert Molina’s
family owned this wonderful restaurant, which is still in operation today.
The main alternative to La Cucina and Casa Molina was Johnie’s (“Fat Boy”) Drive-In, at
the corner of Speedway and Tucson Boulevard. (Like La Cucina, Johnie’s has long
since disappeared from the landscape that we remember because of the widening of
Speedway.) Unlike La Cucina, where people went to stuff themselves with pizza, Johnie’s
was primarily a place in our section of town to see and be seen. It was also the point of
origin for cruisin’ down Speedway to the A&W Root Beer Drive-In and back. As with all
drive-ins, patrons could park under canopies at Johnie’s and wait to be served by
carhops, or they could go inside to sit at booths and listen to hit records on the jukebox.
The menu (see note below) listed a variety of sandwiches, golden fried shrimp, and
southern fried chicken, and other dishes, but after-game fare was almost always burgers
(a burger alone cost 45 cents; a combination plate cost 65 cents – those were the
days!), greasy fries, and thick chocolate shakes (25 cents!). These items were easily
managed at booths, but if patrons ate in their cars, meals and drinks were placed on a
tray that was attached precariously to the driver’s window. And woe to anyone who
forgot for a moment and opened that door or moved the window and spilled the contents
of a shake all over one’s new naugahyde seat cover! The scene is right out of “Happy
Days” and “American Graffiti.”
But the 50s were changing, and by the time we were seniors, the after-game destination
was less often Johnie’s and more often Portofino’s Café Expresso coffee house, near the
corner of Sixth and Park. That was, as we then said, “Where it’s at.” We were starting to
give up shakes and cokes for expresso coffee or hot mulled apple cider with cinnamon
sticks, and doo-wop music for Folk and Beat music. Directly across the street was a
place (I forget the name) that was “quite beat,” where, in addition to expresso and cider,
one could listen to bongos and guitars and where people gave “Beatnik readings.” It was
“frosty, man, frosty,” “too cool for words,” “like wow!” Our tastes mirrored national trends,
and our years in high school marked a major turning point in American popular culture.
By the time Friday night games were over, it was usually too late to go to a drive-in
movie, but it was not too late to go bowling at the new Lucky Strike Bowling Alley just east
of Alvernon or to play miniature golf at the Speedway Putt-Putt. For those a bit more
adventuresome, there was the new fad of go-kart racing, a sport that started in 1958.
And, of course, there was always “cruisin’” (more on that in a later article) and trips to the
end of Campbell Avenue for “parking” and “watching the lights.”
Some after-game groups congregated at individual homes for parties – swimming parties
at Janie Mills' house, for example, when the weather was still warm. On such occasions,
some of our talented musicians provided the entertainment. One evening, according to
an article in the teen section of the Tucson Daily Citizen, Charlie Fowler, Dick Martin, and
Steve Miles “really rocked on the bongos and guitar.” On another occasion, also
reported in the Citizen, “Bob Jacobs, Darlene Hansen, Barbara Berger, Rick Parrish, and
John Goodwin were only a few who joined in singing as Don Fones and Dan Breck
strummed many choruses of ‘At the Hop’ on their guitars.” Don, as I remember, was the
first among us to own and play an electric guitar.
Clearly, back then it was: “Any excuse for a party.”
But lest it appear that we were simply fun-loving and frivolous teenagers (well, perhaps
some of us were), I must point out that many among us were also seriously interested in
the politics of the day and engaged in public service activities. These will be the topics of
the next two articles in this series.
NOTE: Here's a link to a copy of Johnie’s menu courtesy of Ray Lindstrom’s 1959 CHS
web page. He also has collected information about KTKT and other radio stations from
those days. Ray, as you may know, is a 1959 Catalina graduate.
The Beatnik (bët' nik)
- one who thinks and
expresses freely by
rejecting conventions
and mainstream
standards and
therefore thrives on
creativity and
appreciates art and
beauty.
- one who thinks and
expresses freely by
rejecting conventions
and mainstream
standards and
therefore thrives on
creativity and
appreciates art and
beauty.
Danny and the Juniors
"At the Hop"
"At the Hop"
