Mrs. McCan was a teacher from 1934 to 1948 and became the principal of Hilltop Circle in 1948 and then Hilltop Drive in 1951. Maybe she was specifically brought in to control unruly guys like Frank, Billy Carnes (sp) and I. Feel free to add other names.
BTW Foodarama was at 303 Hilltop Circle into 1961.
It has been reported that the Hilltop Circle Grammar School was closed in 1951 when Hilltop Drive Elementary was opened, but from Terry's recollection that apparently isn't true at least for the kindgergarten.
This was derived by Bob Franklin (like me, a former resident) from an aerial photo and is not to scale. Note that the name of the street winding through the proect was Hilltop Circle Road. Ralph Pierson and Bob Franklin compiled all this information presented here.
The neighborhood where Terry's house sits today was called Claire Vista. Again, my memory is weak here, but as I recall it, Terry overcame his fears and was elected President of the kindgergarten class.
This is Judy Hensler in front of the Hilltop Circle Community Center (1951)
Hilltop Circle Grammar School 6th Grade class (1948-49). The dog's name is Stubby.
1947 - Here's the J Street fire station and one of the busses a number of us used to ride around CV and to as far as Balboa Park, Point Loma and Pacific Beach. In the center I believe is that UFO which was reportedly seen again about the time Ike was at the Country Club (I believe by Hank S.).
1950 - Betty Hensler (left) and Janet Wahler (right) in front of Community Center. There are a number of photos of horses within Hilltop Circle, but no indication of where they were quartered (any ideas?) nor any indication of the name of the dog.
There was an "Earls" family in the project with a son Billy. Did Gary have an older brother?
I've seen the market referred to variously as Hilltop Market or Holmes Market and Foodarama (which is what I remember).
My wife found an article dated October 11, 1997 that described my speech delivered to the fiftieth celebration of their "rededication" presumably dating to 1947. My mother was indeed present as Addie reminded me that we tied my speech to the family wake we held for my father at Glen Abbey. Many of my family are resting there.
Not only did I attend first grade at the annex but there was a congregational church in that area that my brother Brian drove me to on his Black Phantom bicycle. This would have been about 1951. I attended kindergarten (morning session) with Mrs. Bocks (as I recall) at the Hilltop Drive School, then went to the annex for first grade. I was scared because it was a whole day of school! The clown in your photo sure looks like Jack in the Box to me. BTW Billy Carnes was a bad boy. And so was Freddy Bunker and his pal Bobby Sutton. I encountered my first example of a dominance triangle walking home from the first grade with my friend Max (he lived in the projects). Bobby was teasing me with his neighbor Chris Stark. We all lived in the Carla area. I turned around and jumped on Bobby. I had him down when he asked Chris to shoot me with his sling-shot. I told Max to jump on Chris, which he did. Bobby wouldn't let go of my cheek and I wouldn't let him get up until my mother came out of our house (we fought conveniently in front of my house at 667 Carla Avenue). He released his grip and my mother sent all of them away. I went in the house but wouldn't cry until I got myself behind a closed door. A few years later Bobby said to me, "I don't understand why you can beat me up and I can beat up Freddy but he can beat you up?" How deep we were in those formative years.As far as I remember nobody our age could beat up Bill Carnes.
Thank you George, I did not remember that I had been honorably mentioned, nor was I aware of the Star News publication of the honor. And Bruce I think the dog's name was Spot.
Bruce - do you remember the church up there? I spent my time pasting lambs and shephards in a coloring book while my older brother attended the sermons.
I'd tucked the church away into the back of my head. I'm gonna look into that one today. OK so far what I'm seeing is the Hilltop Baptist Church (on where else Hilltop Dr. across from the Junior High). They say they've been there since 1955. I'll look through some aerials later.
By the time you went to the "Annex" they apparently had completed the 1-3 grade classrooms.
I don't see any photos of the lower grades, but here's the Fifth Grade class 1947-48. If anyone recognizes names or faces feel free to chime in, Ralph Pierson, the driving force for this collection, has passed away. Bob Franklin (CVHS 1955) who also worked on the colleciton was a co-high school player of the year in 1954
1954--M: John Hangartner (Hoover of Glendale) qb. L: Bill Cooper (Hawthorne) c and Bob Franklin (Chula Vista) qb.
The mural (which we did in Mrs Fuller's Fourth grade class as Hilltop Drive) is "Early California Indians". I think ours was just "Early California".
Bob Franklin played in this one at CV Spartan Stadium (vs Oceanside), which is said to have attained an attendance of over 10,000. Yoube the judge. CV population in 1950 was about 15,000.
Yeah, but who won the battle of the two unbeatens?
Both teams were 7-0.The Chula Vista community was agog. Tickets to the game were tougher to come by than a seat for a 3-D movie at the Vogue Theater.
Rindone had bleachers installed around the Spartans’ field for an additional 1,200 persons. An overflow crowd that included rows of standees was said to be 10,000 persons.
Roberts [star of Oceanside team, quite a player] was held to 35 yards. Chula Vista won again 14-0 and clinched a second consecutive Metropolitan League championship.
Note to Bev B. I did find Roger Schmidt and John Link in your aircraft carrier field trip photo. I somehow missed it first time around.
I still haven't located my misplaced Hilltop Drive Elementary school class photos. I do recall giving copies to one of my lovely girlfriends Ms. Corinne McCall a number of years back, but I'm sure I wouldn't have mixed up the originals.
George sent me a high resolution version of the Last Train from Boot H .. er ... CV.
It's comforting to know that the Third Avenue Drug Store was still dealing in S&H Green Stamps.
There appears to be a 1957 Chevy at the ordering window. I always get it mixed up whether WB III's was a 1956 or 1957. But if his was a '57 maybe Corinne is getting herself a little snack.
I've scanned the train pretty carefully and can attest to the fact it appears to be graffiti-free.
However, like Hank says:
If it was rainin' gold I wouldn't stand a chance I wouldn't have a pocket in my patched up pants No matter how I struggle and strive I'll never get out of this world alive
Definitely a 1957 Chevy in the "last train" picture. If anyone wants a high resolution copy of this picture let me know by email at gillow@cox.net. Also, any other photo or video I posted.
Economics of Hilltop Circle, Marijuana Initiative qualifies for CA ballot, there wasn't much to CV in '43
George: If you look closely at the pennants on top of the bulding you can see that JITB sold not only f. fries, but fried chicken", which was a new one on me. I thought you had to go over to Keith's in National City for you f. Chicken.
The train was 'ol 5101, but I can't make out the letters in the circular symbols on the front.
A little excerpt from the article regarding Ted Williams.
Baseball? Allow me to tell you a little story. I had heard this, and when Bob Brietbard introduced me to Ted Williams, the first thing I asked Ted was: “Is it true you went to Hoover (our archrival) because you didn’t think you were good enough to play for San Diego?”
Ted lived in an area where he could have attended either school, and SDHS coach Mike Morrow had built a baseball program unmatched not only in California, where it won more than a dozen SCIF titles, but in the U.S. It won national championships.
The Splendid Splinter’s
answer: “True.” I told him I didn’t know if I could forgive him. He may have yelled at me, hard to tell, in that he talked across raging rivers late in life. Loud.
The video quality is not great, but this may be the only video of Hilltop Circle in existence.
What we did BITD when we still had iceboxes (with ice deliveries) and no TV. I can't remember whether we had a refrigerator. I know we did not have a TV until after we moved.
The kid backing down the steps had fallen on them previously while carrying a sharp tin can and almost amputated his nose.
Has anyone had expierence with video restoration? The original film, and converted videotape and DVD are all available to work with.
Bruce, I used DVD Your Memories to restore a lot of my 8mm and 16mm movies including the "Movie Magic 8mm" on my post 1402 (about page 57): http://www.dvdyourmemories.com/san-diego/ , 858-503-7965, 8305 Vickers Street #206, San Diego.
I used Movie Maker to add titles and sound before uploading to YouTube. Some quality is lost when posting on YouTube.
Peter Watry used Video to DVD (http://www.videotoodvd.com/) to restore the 3rd Avenue movie done in 1929 (post 432, about page 18). I tried them for one 8mm, but prefer the DVD Your Memories.
There is no place in San Diego that does a complete restoration to HD format. You have to go the LA/Hollywood area for this and it is quite expensive. Probably not worth it for most 8mm and 16mm movies.
Your movies have some scratches but have not turned red and look in fairly good condition. The one problem with restoration is if the film has deteriorated badly and smells like vinegar.
I was contacted by a filmmaker in Norway who's grandparents lived in the same mining camp in Chile where I lived. I loaned him my 16mm movies and he had them professionally converted to HD format and send me a disc. They come out great on HDTV set, but lost quality when I posted on YouTube. This is as follows (need to turn up volume on some computers for some reason?):
San Diego paper is doing a series of articles on the Zoo. (Disclaimer: I used to deliver this paper and my usual recommendation would be to read something else).
Alvila at one month of age. The offspring of Albert and Vila, two lowland gorillas brought to the zoo from Africa, she was the first gorilla born at the San Diego Zoo.
Her birth on June 3, 1965, made national headlines.
The zoo is celebrating its 100th birthday this year. This is one reason whey they are hosting the annual meeting of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Expect a lot of PR in September.
Toyon Lane has an interesting history. The street was once the very eastern portion of E Street which ended on a hill.
The City extended E Street, in 1964, to connect with Bonita Road. However, the short section on the hill had to be bypassed by a route around to the north. So that portion of E Street was re-named Toyon Lane.
The Lane has 8 homes. One of them is the childhood and present home of classmate Rosie O'Day Mason and her husband Dennis Mason (CVHS '64).
Movie and TV star Leif Erickson lived at 12 E street (now 12 Toyon) when he was a teenager. His name at the time was William Anderson. He changed it to Leif Erickson when he became an actor.
This picture of the hill was taken looking west from the Bonita area. The house at 12 is in the center of the picture and is still there today. This is a view from Richmond Park Court.
Leif Erickson's father was G. W. (Andy) Anderson. He was an Engineer who was also the Chairman of the 1935 California Pacific Exposition in Balboa Park. Sadly he died that year.
Here is a picture from the CV Star News of 1934 about G.W. Anderson
Another resident--at 21 Toyon-- was Karl Helm who opened the first automobile service station near 3rd and F and later opened Helm Buick on E Street.
A nearby neighbor, on E street, was Charles Boltz who was elected to the Chula Vista City Council in 1934--with 507 votes.
I have put Steve Schoenherr's full history on my website (www.gillow.com). It is on the Home page, Item #6
One of the best known roles of Leif Erickson was as Big John Cannon on the TV show High Chaparral. A video clip of a trailer scene is below. Coincidently the Toyon bush is a chaparral plant in our area.
