Welcome Paradoxers!
This blogspot will be our new home to share updates on everyone's new cd's, links to music venues, and other activities.
You can also post remembrances, photos, and any other memorabilia you would like to share. It would be great if this could become like an archive for the Paradox -- then and now.
More information to follow as I figure this out. In the meantime, please add your comments and keep the site alive and growing.
Monday, December 14, 2009
"A History" (of Orange County Clubs) Indeed
If you've never seen this site, check it out. It has clubs and their history from even before we were "A 'Gleam' in our parents eyes".
What a great read. It even mentioned Frankensteins in Laguna Beach, that was my first coffee house experience. My brother was a bouncer at The Rendezvous in Balboa and that place used to get really crazy.Great find John.
Rendezvous. Wear a tie. That was it. The beginning of live music and the idea that top40 radio did not play music. Surftones, Chantays, loudness. No lyrics. The came the Beachboys and what the hades is that crud not surf music!!!! Finally Pipeline hit the radio.
A Parently....My parents went there many times in big band days, enough times to know it was wild and crazy place that they weren't sure I should be having that much fun. 1962 Top 40 radio was whitebread and twinkies. Surf music was an ear opener. My first recognition of 12 bar blues with a twang bar.
My Mother was at Rendezous Ballroom in Newport Beach when she was a teenager and Spike Jones asked her to dance. I guess that would have been in the early 30's.
Helen, what a thrill for your mother! The Rendezvous was apparently just as amazing then as it was when I was 16 or so and started going there. Sad to see it go up in flames although I wonder if it would have kept going through the 60s with the British invasion.
Here's a nice history of what is now that big parking lot:
Helen....That means your Mother could have been at dances at the Rendezvous when mY parents were at the same dances. The world was smaller then. But it's still small enough that those folks kids can play together. ...and we do. Yay!!!
Rand, where did you parents go to school? Mine went to the same school my kids and I went to. 3 generations of us. Lathrop Jr. High in Santa Ana and Santa Ana High. My folks were both born in 1916. I said Newport Beach, it was Balboa Beach. Spent a good part of my long lost youth in that hood.
S.A. The arch rival of the Fullerton Indians of Fullerton High School, where my grand parents, parents and my brother went to high school. My folks were born in 1917, my dad in La-Habra.
Dick Dale moved to Harmony Park and that's where I saw him every Friday. Saturday was for the Rendezvous. English Leather, cigarettes and batch. Whew!
All I know is that I miss The Balboa Peninsula that I remember between 1957, when I arrived in this country, and vacationed every summer there just a few blocks from the Fun Zone and the Rendezvous, till we moved to Huntington Beach in 1964. After high school in 72, and a couple of road trips and a short stint in Hollywood, I made Balboa my home until 1979. A lot has changed.
On a side note, I was in the Prison of Socrates one day before they tore out the insides to make way for the BJ's Pizzeria that is still there to this day. I still have some posters and a couple of NGDB stickers that I took off the walls before that piece of coffee house history was demolished.
...Me too Chris...That was my time zone for the place. I could have easily seen you eating Frozen chocolate bananas at the Balboa fun zone. But my Mom was taking us to Corona del Mar, one step south of Newport, in the early 50's. That whole coast, Huntington and south to San Clemente was my surfing run. I left in 67 to Santa Cruz, never to return.
Rand, my fondest memories of early childhood are in Balboa. Yes! frozen bananas, glow in the dark tiki's as prizes from the skeeball winnings at the fun zone, and all the rides at the fun zone, surfing swimming sailing, surf music, all music, the smell of bacon and eggs for breakfast and super early morning fresh hot donuts from the Balboa Bakery on Main St. Lately it has been a tactical nightmare just getting down in that neighborhood for a visit. It is a shame that a lot of the fun history from that area is gone, and it is so beyond overcrowded these days.
That's why I came here. Time lapse. It worked real well for a while, and it's still pretty good in SC.
A favorite pass-time was watching jarheads go over the falls at 17th on a giant summer south swell on red and blue mats. And the tidal surge that flooded over everybodys docks in 62 or something. Grunion. Raybay A stack of bombs at Seal Beach traffic light. Cool place.
Rand, in 1964 my family bought a house in Huntington Harbor, a newly designed series of tract homes on man made islands built out of a marsh. I remember what my brother and I used to call the "Balls", and the Snark Missle just a mile or so north of Huntington Harbor, at the corner of Seal Beach Blvd. and Coast Hwy. I believe the long rows of "Balls" were buoys for underwater mines. The Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station, and Anaheim Landing across the street, was where the napalm, and other war munitions were loaded on ships headed for Southeast Asia ....but I digress. My favorite surf spot was across the coast hwy in Surfside. The south side Jetty of Anaheim Landing was a perfect barrier to a south swell. During storms in Mexico, those swells would roll in hit that jetty and form a peak that could get as big as 25 foot, and you could go either right or left. I was too young and scared to surf those big ones in the mid 60's, but I sure had a blast watching the old guys go. Do you ever go to Mavericks? I went a few years ago to watch, and it was a blast to see how they do it these days.
Mav's is great. Contest times I never go . Crowded. The rest of the time it's the lonely coast and beautiful gigantic waves. That coast has some even better, but unsurfable, giant waves. Rockaway and Cows. I surfed every spot from Huntinton south but mostly far south. Body whomping at 17th was cool tho. Never, never, never the Wedge..Scary mofo.
Rand, you mentioned "The Wedge". You may be a bit young, but do you remember when "Nick the Greek" buried himself up to his shoulders doing a "Header" into the sand there?
I did my own Header at The Wedge! I think that's why my neck is short and stubby. We were fearless and dumb in those day. Mike (Buck) Scott and I regularly ditched school to body surf the wedge. More stupid then style.
I used to own a Goliath made by Borgward.It was a fuel injected 2 cylinder car that only ran on one cylinder. I would have to put it in 1st to go up a level driveway. It had front wheel drive and we convinced ourselves after a night of drinking in Balboa, that front wheel drive should work great in the sand.So....We started at one end of The Rendevous parking lot, I got it up to top speed (35 mph)and ran for the other end of the lot. We went fying off the blacktop and buried that sucker right up to the door jams. Like I said before "more stupid then style".
Drinking and driving Gary? My my. Something very much like that probably didn't really happen to me at Pismo Beach a few years later. Borgward. Ugly name ugly car but made up for with the 2cylinder. I had a lovely Renalt with no carburator but it ran, and then a fat little Opel cadet, with No reverse that Gary, these are good cars for drinking and driving. Nice, slow, safe wrecks.
I never saw The Greek but I was in his surf shop. I remember Corona del mar when I was 4, in 1950. The wedge is a legend to me.
Rand, I think that Nick the Greek was someone different than "The Greek" of Greek Surfboards fame. That would be Bob Boland "The Greek". I owned one of Bob's Greek Eliminator's, a really cool 10 footer with a stepdeck, slightly concave under, and a huge kick, it was a noserider :-). I remember placing a paper doily on the front stepdeck and spraying it with red glow in the dark slipcheck, really really psychedelic. Oh the technology of the late sixties. BTW Bob Boland "The Greek" sells real estate out of his small office on Main St. in Huntington Beach, and has been doing that for probably 30 or more years.
29 comments:
Good one John. Another reference for me to hold on to for our own history.
What a great read. It even mentioned Frankensteins in Laguna Beach, that was my first coffee house experience. My brother was a bouncer at The Rendezvous in Balboa and that place used to get really crazy.Great find John.
I was an official Rendezvous Rat. In fact, I think I still have my Rat Card. I used to go there with Suzi Thompson. Maybe Sherry Miller too.
Rendezvous.
Wear a tie.
That was it. The beginning of live music and the
idea that top40 radio did not play music.
Surftones, Chantays, loudness. No lyrics.
The came the Beachboys and what the hades is that
crud not surf music!!!!
Finally Pipeline hit the radio.
Don't forget the Cindermen!
Plus, I heard Sonny and Cher lip sync at the Rendezvous Ballroom, where apparently they broadcast live during WWII.
A Parently....My parents went there many times in big band days, enough times to know it was wild and crazy place that they weren't sure I should be having that much fun.
1962
Top 40 radio was whitebread and twinkies.
Surf music was an ear opener.
My first recognition of 12 bar blues with a
twang bar.
My Mother was at Rendezous Ballroom in Newport Beach when she was a teenager and Spike Jones asked her to dance. I guess that would have been in the early 30's.
Helen, what a thrill for your mother! The Rendezvous was apparently just as amazing then as it was when I was 16 or so and started going there. Sad to see it go up in flames although I wonder if it would have kept going through the 60s with the British invasion.
Here's a nice history of what is now that big parking lot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVMMOLAZN8g
And a little Dick Dale just for old times sake:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7svj3o055KE&NR=1
Helen....That means your Mother could have been at dances at the Rendezvous when mY parents were at the same dances.
The world was smaller then.
But it's still small enough that those folks kids
can play together.
...and we do.
Yay!!!
And just think.... if your father had met Helen's mother first, you and Helen could have been siblings!
Rand, where did you parents go to school? Mine went to the same school my kids and I went to. 3 generations of us. Lathrop Jr. High in Santa Ana and Santa Ana High. My folks were both born in 1916.
I said Newport Beach, it was Balboa Beach. Spent a good part of my long lost youth in that hood.
Yes Diane, it was maybe the highlight of my mothers teenage years....
It would have been mine! I love Spike Jones.
S.A.
The arch rival of the Fullerton Indians of Fullerton High School, where my grand parents, parents and my brother went to high school.
My folks were born in 1917, my dad in La-Habra.
Dick Dale moved to Harmony Park and that's where I saw him every Friday. Saturday was for the Rendezvous.
English Leather, cigarettes and batch.
Whew!
Newport? Balboa?
i think it's the same sand in most ways.
All I know is that I miss The Balboa Peninsula that I remember between 1957, when I arrived in this country, and vacationed every summer there just a few blocks from the Fun Zone and the Rendezvous, till we moved to Huntington Beach in 1964. After high school in 72, and a couple of road trips and a short stint in Hollywood, I made Balboa my home until 1979. A lot has changed.
On a side note, I was in the Prison of Socrates one day before they tore out the insides to make way for the BJ's Pizzeria that is still there to this day. I still have some posters and a couple of NGDB stickers that I took off the walls before that piece of coffee house history was demolished.
I was wondering if we'd get to the Prison at some point. I worked there, too.
That's where I think I first heard Steve Gillette and, my biggest thrill, hanging out with Big Mama Thornton and her band. They were amazing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77v1e5_PCtQ
...Me too Chris...That was my time zone for the place.
I could have easily seen you eating Frozen chocolate bananas at the Balboa fun zone.
But my Mom was taking us to Corona del Mar, one step south of Newport, in the early 50's.
That whole coast, Huntington and south to San Clemente was my surfing run. I left in 67 to Santa Cruz, never to return.
Rand, my fondest memories of early childhood are in Balboa. Yes! frozen bananas, glow in the dark tiki's as prizes from the skeeball winnings at the fun zone, and all the rides at the fun zone, surfing swimming sailing, surf music, all music, the smell of bacon and eggs for breakfast and super early morning fresh hot donuts from the Balboa Bakery on Main St. Lately it has been a tactical nightmare just getting down in that neighborhood for a visit. It is a shame that a lot of the fun history from that area is gone, and it is so beyond overcrowded these days.
That's why I came here.
Time lapse. It worked real well for a while, and it's still pretty good in SC.
A favorite pass-time was watching jarheads go over the falls at 17th on a giant summer south swell on red and blue mats.
And the tidal surge that flooded over everybodys docks in 62 or something.
Grunion.
Raybay
A stack of bombs at Seal Beach traffic light.
Cool place.
Rand, in 1964 my family bought a house in Huntington Harbor, a newly designed series of tract homes on man made islands built out of a marsh. I remember what my brother and I used to call the "Balls", and the Snark Missle just a mile or so north of Huntington Harbor, at the corner of Seal Beach Blvd. and Coast Hwy. I believe the long rows of "Balls" were buoys for underwater mines. The Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station, and Anaheim Landing across the street, was where the napalm, and other war munitions were loaded on ships headed for Southeast Asia ....but I digress. My favorite surf spot was across the coast hwy in Surfside. The south side Jetty of Anaheim Landing was a perfect barrier to a south swell. During storms in Mexico, those swells would roll in hit that jetty and form a peak that could get as big as 25 foot, and you could go either right or left. I was too young and scared to surf those big ones in the mid 60's, but I sure had a blast watching the old guys go. Do you ever go to Mavericks? I went a few years ago to watch, and it was a blast to see how they do it these days.
Mav's is great. Contest times I never go . Crowded.
The rest of the time it's the lonely coast and beautiful gigantic waves.
That coast has some even better, but unsurfable, giant waves. Rockaway and Cows.
I surfed every spot from Huntinton south but mostly far south.
Body whomping at 17th was cool tho. Never, never, never the Wedge..Scary mofo.
Rand, you mentioned "The Wedge". You may be a bit young, but do you remember when "Nick the Greek" buried himself up to his shoulders doing a "Header" into the sand there?
I did my own Header at The Wedge!
I think that's why my neck is short and stubby. We were fearless and dumb in those day. Mike (Buck) Scott and I regularly ditched school to body surf the wedge. More stupid then style.
I used to own a Goliath made by Borgward.It was a fuel injected 2 cylinder car that only ran on one cylinder. I would have to put it in 1st to go up a level driveway.
It had front wheel drive and we convinced ourselves after a night of drinking in Balboa, that front wheel drive should work great in the sand.So....We started at one end of The Rendevous parking lot, I got it up to top speed (35 mph)and ran for the other end of the lot. We went fying off the blacktop and buried that sucker right up to the door jams. Like I said before "more stupid then style".
Drinking and driving Gary? My my.
Something very much like that probably didn't really happen to me at Pismo Beach a few years later.
Borgward. Ugly name ugly car but made up for with the 2cylinder. I had a lovely Renalt with no carburator but it ran, and then a fat little Opel cadet, with No reverse that Gary, these are good cars for drinking and driving. Nice, slow, safe wrecks.
I never saw The Greek but I was in his surf shop.
I remember Corona del mar when I was 4, in 1950.
The wedge is a legend to me.
Rand, I think that Nick the Greek was someone different than "The Greek" of Greek Surfboards fame. That would be Bob Boland "The Greek". I owned one of Bob's Greek Eliminator's, a really cool 10 footer with a stepdeck, slightly concave under, and a huge kick, it was a noserider :-). I remember placing a paper doily on the front stepdeck and spraying it with red glow in the dark slipcheck, really really psychedelic. Oh the technology of the late sixties. BTW Bob Boland "The Greek" sells real estate out of his small office on Main St. in Huntington Beach, and has been doing that for probably 30 or more years.
I don't travel much so I don't know much about Greeks.
I get my legends mixed up.
Seal Beach Denny.
I remember him i think. A bad guy.
It's all good! Many legends, many years, many subjects. We remember the stuff that moves us and shapes us.
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