Remember back in ’70s listening to songs like Sara Smile, She’s a Rich Girl & She’s Gone? These were all songs performed by Daryl Hall and John Oates, or more commonly known by their stage name, Hall and Oates. I had the opportunity to see them back in the ’70s or ’80s at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, California. It was actually an afterthought to see them, so me and my friend didn’t purchase tickets ahead of time, so we wound up sitting in the nose-bleed seats (the seats towards the back of the venue were actually bleacher bench seats and not individual seats).
Fast forward 30 plus years to August 2012, my wife receives an email from a friend of ours which asked if we wanted to get together to see Hall and Oates in concert at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California on September 22, 2012. My wife responds with a definite yes.
The day of the concert arrives and we prepare to make the 1-1/2 to 2 hour drive down to Palm Springs to meet our friends. We get to our hotel where we will be staying the night after the concert and get ready for dinner. We pickup our friends at their place and we drive to our dinner destination–Lulu California Bistro on South Palm Canyon Drive. Mmmm, great food!
Time to make our way to the concert, so we head over to Indio, which is the next city to the South of us. It takes approximately 30 minutes to get over to the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino and it takes another 10 to 15 minutes to find a parking spot, the parking lot is filled to capacity. After many minutes of driving around, a car pulls out of a spot and we’re there!
We’re inside and the concert is about to start. The band starts playing and the crowd is getting into the music and at about the 30 minute mark during their song, Say it Ain’t So, the audio and lights goes completely out, on the stage, in the audience, in the casino and more importantly, in the bathrooms, where many of the people went during the power outage. It takes about 15 minutes before the power comes back on and it was explained that they were running on backup generators because power went out in the area around the casino.
We’re back to enjoying the concert again and during the song Private Eye, the power goes out again, but for only a brief moment. The band completes the song, but without full stage lights or projection screens.
Despite the disruption from the power outage, the concert was great and it brought back many memories of the past.
Over the years, many music bands have come and gone, but Hall and Oates still survives today and are still actively performing and pulling in good size crowds to their concerts. During the concert, I noticed a yellow sticker on Daryl Hall’s keyboard, but couldn’t read it from where I was sitting, so I searched Google when I got home and it was advertising his, “Live From Daryl’s House” website/show.
I checked out the website and it was great, Daryl invites other musicians to his house and they play a combination of that artist’s songs as well as Hall and Oates songs. There was a session between Diane Burch (who I’ve never heard of before) and Daryl. Diane’s song “Nothing But a Miracle” fast became one of my favorites from the site. I actually like this arrangement better than Diane’s original on iTunes. Check it out at the link below:
Who tooted? If you asked my little niece this question, she would probably deny that it was her and point to her accuser, because in her vocabulary, the word “Tooted” means to pass gas, fart, break wind…need I go on?
However, because of my broad intellect , “Tooted” could mean a number of things and in this particular case, it means to honk, blow, or toot a horn, (see how smart I am). I recall on long road trips with my family, my dad taught me the “secret” truckers gesture that makes them toot their air horns.
Many trucks had air horns that were typically mounted on top the roof of the tractor or cab portion of the big rig. These were no doubt much louder than the wimpy factory installed horns that came on the truck. And there was a cord, cable or chain suspended from the ceiling of the truck, that when pulled, honked the horn.
Well, back to the “secret gesture”. So here’s the scenario, you’re a kid in the back seat of the family car, and as you pass a big rig truck, you look up into the cabin at the driver and make eye contact. When he’s looking, display the “secret gesture” at the driver, and with any luck, he’ll toot his air horns for you. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.
To perform the secret gesture, you bend your arm at a 90 degree angle with your clenched fist pointing up. Then pump your arm up and down. Simple, but effective. You now know how to do it!
Laura Bush knows the gesture and even Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel knows it.
Check out this YouTube video of a new generation of kids on the sidewalk using the secret gesture (sorry their video is so shaky). I’m starting to think that this is not really a secret anymore.
Florida, Puerto Rico & Bermuda all share the Atlantic ocean, but that’s not the only thing they have in common, they each make up the 3 points of the most mysterious triangle in history, The Bermuda Triangle. The more ominous name that haunted me the most when I was younger was the Devil’s Triangle.
As a young person, hearing about a vast area out in the middle of the ocean that made planes, ships and people vanish into thin air was mind boggling. It has been speculated that the cause of all these disappearances could have been anything from alien abductions, rogue waves, violent weather and more.
I know I’m not the only one that has been mystified by the Devil’s Triangle, because there has been so many movies and documentaries created about this phenomena. Rather than me repeating everything in the documentaries I’ve seen, take a look at the National Geographic and History Channel documentaries below to get a good insight about; The Devil’s Triangle!
If you’ve ever been to Las Vegas, Nevada you may have had the opportunity to see the Bellagio hotel water fountain show. There are several vantage points from which you can see these spectacular waterworks. For instance, and most commonly, you can be passing by the Bellagio on foot and stop on the sidewalk to see the show, or if you time it right, you can catch it from high atop the Eiffel Tower across the street at the Paris hotel or in my case, I had the rare chance to see the Fountains of Bellagio from a balcony on the 31st floor of the Cosmopolitan hotel, which is the Bellagio’s neighbor to the South.
Unfortunately, from my vantage point, you could barely hear the music that accompanies the movement of the fountains, so during post production of the video, I dubbed in the same song they were playing, so you could enjoy it as if you were there on the ground floor.
To those observant ones, you may have noticed that I keep pulling off my upcoming post about Computer Generated Imagery due to a bad case of writers block. Plus I’ve been busy with the holidays, work and other things, so I decided to post the links below instead because they were already done.
I recently went on a Holland America cruise to the Panama Canal with my wife and other family members. Here’s a few links to some videos that I shot during that time. I chose these, because they were short snippets of our vacation.
Sorry, I don’t have one of the Panama Canal itself, but I’ll post if and when I do.
Jet set–that was a term coined back in the 1950′s to mean ‘an international social set made up of wealthy people who travel from one fashionable place to another’. If you were one of those persons, then you were a jet setter–but of course, you knew that.
Travel by jet in the 1960′s was expensive by today’s standards. According to USInflationCalculator.com, a flight that costed $75 in the ’60s, would have costed $574 today. If we use a typical cost for airfare today, like $300 back in the ’60s, it would have been equivalent to $2,296 today. Wow!
Flying back in the 1960′s was so different from today. Following are some of my recollections:
- If you were a nervous flyer or just someone that enjoyed smoking, then you could puff to your hearts content anywhere on the plane. Much to the chagrin of your neighboring non-smoker. Eventually they cordoned off a section for smokers only (which was pretty much useless on a plane). Then they did away with smoking altogether on the majority of flights.
- Back in the early days of flying, it was considered a luxury, so people use to dress up when they traveled. Unlike today where casual wear, such as shorts and jeans is the norm (I actually prefer this mode of dress, due to the comfort factor).
- I remember as you walked towards the gate for departure at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), they had these Mutual of Omaha insurance machines that allowed you to purchase flight insurance right from the machine. You put your money in and out comes a policy, right on the spot.
- Back in the ’60s, to check-in for your flight, you basically just walk up to the counter, check-in, drop your bags off and go straight to the gate. There was no pat downs, X-ray machines or taking off your shoes. Plus, if your family or friends wanted to, they could park their car, and meet you at the gate to see you off. Today, you have to stand in one line to check-in, then you cart your bags over to another line to get them X-rayed and possibly searched for explosives. They have bomb sniffing dogs cruising the airports, you are subjected to searches if you set off the alarm going through the metal detector. You have to take your shoes off and have them X-rayed. Oh, and now they have full body scanners, that check you from head to toe…don’t even get me started on this one. Isn’t this a great way to start a relaxing vacation.
- Meals on planes were better back then, plus you usually got a choice of entree and you got real metal utensils. Compared to today… what meals! A bag of peanuts and a sandwhich.
- I remember at the baggage claim area, you had to wheel your bags up to the exit and have an attendant check your baggage claim tags that were stapled to your ticket/ticket holder, against what was on the luggage that you were taking out. This was a nice idea I guess to cut down or eliminate baggage theft, but if sometimes took a long time to get out the door. I’ve never had a bag stolen from baggage claim, so I guess this was a good decision to eliminate it.
If you can think of any other 1960′s flying experiences, please send me a comment!
Airlines that I remember from the ’60s, that no longer exist today: Pan Am, TWA, Eastern & PSA to name a few. The stewardesses from PSA reminded me of Go-Go dancers with the uniforms that they wore.
Pan Am was the largest international air carrier in the United States from 1927 until it’s financial collapse on December 4, 1991, according to wikipedia.com. According to another website, it was stated that after the Laukerbee, Scotland disaster on December 21, 1988, that killed all passengers and crew, this is what caused the demise of the airline.
The subject of this post, “Flying In The 1960′s” has been in my draft set of posts for quite some time, but since I saw that a new television series named Pan Am was coming to our local television network, I decided to get working on it and post it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChzJ1ZvCclo
Following are supposedly true comments that airline employees made over the years. I find some of these hard to believe, so take it with a grain of salt, and consider the source (the web) and enjoy them for their entertainment value:
–On a Continental flight with a very “senior” flight attendant crew, the pilot said, “Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve reached cruising altitude and will be turning down the cabin lights. This is for your comfort and to enhance the appearance of your flight attendants.”
–On landing, the stewardess said, “Please be sure to take all of your belongings. If you’re going to leave anything, please make sure it’s something valuable.”
–”Thank you for flying Delta Business Express. We hope you enjoyed giving us the business as much as we enjoyed taking you for a ride.”
–As the plane landed and was coming to a stop at Ronald Reagan, a lone voice came over the loudspeaker: “Whoa, big fella. WHOA!”
–After a particularly rough landing during thunderstorms in Memphis, a flight attendant on a Northwest flight announced, “Please take care when opening the overhead compartments because, after a landing like that, sure as hell everything has shifted.”
–From a Southwest Airlines employee: “Welcome aboard Southwest Flight 245 to Tampa. To operate your seat belt, insert the metal tab into the buckle, and pull tight. It works just like every other seat belt; and, if you don’t know how to operate one, you probably shouldn’t be out in public unsupervised.”
–In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face.
–If you have a small child traveling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are traveling with two or more small children, decide now which one you love more.
–Weather at our destination is 50 degrees with some broken clouds, we’ll try to have them fixed before we arrive. Thank you, and remember, nobody loves you, or your money, more than Southwest Airlines.”
–”Your seat cushions can be used for flotation, and in the event of an emergency water landing, please take them with our compliments.”
–”Should the cabin lose pressure, oxygen masks will drop from the overhead area. Please place the bag over your own mouth and nose before assisting children or adults acting like children.”
–Once on a Southwest flight, the pilot said, “We’ve reached our cruising altitude now, and I’m turning off the seat belt sign. I’m switching to autopilot, too, so I can come back there and visit with all of you for the rest of the flight.”
–”Last one off the plane must clean it.”
–”As you exit the plane, make sure to gather all of your belongings. Anything left behind will be distributed evenly among the flight attendants. Please do not leave children or spouses.”
–And from the pilot during his welcome message: “We are pleased to have some of the best flight attendants in the industry… Unfortunately, none of them are on this flight…!”
–Overheard on an American Airlines flight into Amarillo, Texas, on a particularly windy and bumpy day. During the final approach the Captain was really having to fight it. After an extremely hard landing, the Flight Attendant came on the PA and announced, “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Amarillo. Please remain in your seats with your seatbelts fastened while the Captain taxis what’s left of our airplane to the gate!”
–Heard on Southwest Airlines just after a very hard landing in Salt Lake City: The flight attendant came on the intercom and said, “That was quite a bump and I know what ya’ll are thinking. I’m here to tell you it wasn’t the airline’s fault, it wasn’t the pilot’s fault, it wasn’t the flight attendants’ fault…it was the asphalt!”
–Another flight attendant’s comment on a less than perfect landing: “We ask you to please remain seated as Captain Kangaroo bounces us to the terminal.”
–After a real crusher of a landing in Phoenix, the Flight Attendant came on with, “Ladies and Gentlemen, please remain in your seats until Capt. Crash and the Crew have brought the aircraft to a screeching halt against the gate. And, once the tire smoke has cleared and the warning bells are silenced, we’ll open the door and you can pick your way through the wreckage to the terminal.”
–An airline pilot wrote that on this particular flight he had hammered his ship into the runway really hard. The airline had a policy which required the first officer to stand at the door while the passengers exited, smile, and give them a “Thanks for flying XYZ airline.” He said that in light of his bad landing, he had a hard time looking the passengers in the eye, thinking that someone would have a smart comment. Finally everyone had gotten off except for this little old lady walking with a cane. She said, “Sonny, mind if I ask you a question?” “Why no Ma’am,” said the pilot, “what is it?” The little old lady said, “Did we land or were we shot down?”
–Part of a flight attendant’s arrival announcement: “We’d like to thank you folks for flying with us today. And, the next time you get the insane urge to go zipping through the skies in a pressurized metal tube, we hope you’ll think of us here at US Airways.”
–Heard on a Southwest Airline flight. “Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to smoke, the smoking section on this airplane is on the wing and if you can light ‘em, you can smoke ‘em.”
–A plane was taking off from Kennedy Airport. After it reached a comfortable cruising altitude, the captain made an announcement over the intercom, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Welcome to Flight Number 293, nonstop from New York to Los Angeles. The weather ahead is good and, therefore, we should have a smooth and uneventful flight. Now sit back and relax.. OH, MY GOD!” Silence followed, and after a few minutes, the captain came back on the intercom and said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I am so sorry if I scared you earlier. While I was talking to you, the flight attendant accidentally spilled a cup of hot coffee in my lap. You should see the front of my pants!” A passenger in Coach yelled, “That’s nothing. You should see the back of mine.”
–A crowded United Airlines flight was canceled. A single agent was re-booking a long line of inconvenienced travelers. Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way to the desk. He slapped his ticket down on the counter and said, “I HAVE to be on this flight and it has to be FIRST CLASS.” The agent replied, “I’m sorry sir. I’ll be happy to try to help you, but I’ve got to help these folks first, and I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out.” The passenger was unimpressed. He asked loudly, so that the passengers behind him could hear, “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM?” Without hesitating, the agent smiled and grabbed her public address microphone. “May I have your attention please,” she began her voice heard clearly throughout the terminal. “We have a passenger here at Gate 14 WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to Gate 14.”
–On a Southwest flight (SW has no assigned seating, you just sit where you want) passengers were apparently having a hard time choosing, when a flight attendant announced, “People, people we’re not picking out furniture here, find a seat and get in it!”
Back in 1996, my wife and I took a week long vacation to Kona, Hawaii. We were there for no other reason except to get some much needed rest & relaxation.
We decided to venture out of the resort for a bit, and we stumbled upon a running race which we soon found out was part of the Ironman Triathlon. For anyone reading this post that doesn’t know anything about the Ironman Triathlon, it is a grueling competition which consists of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike and a marathon run or 26.2 miles. To top it off, the majority of this is done during the heat of the day and in Hawaii, with the high humidity, it could get unbearable.
They had tables setup along the race route that acted as cooling stations for the runners. The runners would run by, grab some water to drink and/or a sponge soaked in water to squeeze over their head/body to cool themselves off.
After all of the runners had passed by, I walked to the middle of the street and picked up a souvenir from the race which was an actual sponge that one of the runners threw down on the ground after he cooled himself off. I know, it sounds gross, but I was watching and he didn’t use it to wipe his face or body, he just squeezed the water out over his head. Plus I washed it in soap and hot water, upon returning to our place.
If you’re a visitor to my blog that’s planning a visit to Los Angeles and/or it’s surrounding cities, you may be interested in checking out one or more of locations that I’ve posted on this blog. Even if you’re a Los Angeles/California native, you may find some of these sites worthy of a visit.
For your convenience, I’ve listed all of the locations that I’ve posted about (to date), that are still around (as far as I’m aware). If you want to read the posts connected with these locations, you can easily enter a keyword in the search field or click on the link that I’ve provided.
2. Vacation Village-now called Paradise Point Resort & Spa in San Diego. I haven’t been there since it has changed to Paradise Point, so if you plan a visit, let me know how it is. Read the post: http://yesteryearremembered.com/?p=447
3. NHRA Drag Racing at Pomona Fairplex – Usually has races in February and November. Don’t forget a good pair of earplugs (I would take the over-ear style too). Visit the NHRA Website for schedule: http://nhra.com/
5. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis House – Los Angeles, Ca – I don’t think you can enter the property, but you can drive by to see the exterior of the house. Read the post for location: http://yesteryearremembered.com/?p=26
6. Marineland of The Pacific – Palos Verdes, Ca – Marineland is no longer there, but you can still visit the property which is now home to the Terranea Resort. You can grab a bite to eat at one of a few different restaurants and look out over the ocean. There is a small self-park lot or a $5 parking lot (the self-park is usually full). http://yesteryearremembered.com/?p=65
Read the post about Terranea Resort reunion: http://yesteryearremembered.com/?p=1674
7. Magic Castle – Los Angeles, Ca – This is an exclusive club, so entry is only allowed if you are a member or have a guest pass from a member. Read the post: http://yesteryearremembered.com/?p=1059
16. Bradbury Building – Downtown Los Angeles, Ca – You are only allowed on the ground floor of the building. Read the post: http://yesteryearremembered.com/?p=19
17. Angel’s Flight – Downtown Los Angeles, Ca – Angel’s Flight was reopened on March 15, 2010. I’ve taken a ride up and down Angel’s Flight since my original post was written. The cost of a one-way ride was 25 cents at that time. Read the post: http://yesteryearremembered.com/?p=4
Ok, was my teaser post a bit misleading? I meant Vacation Village which was a resort in San Diego, not a village, village.
This was a tough post to put together and it’s mainly because my memory is not quite what it use to be. I remember tiny bits and pieces of vacationing here with my family, but I don’t remember a whole lot. When doing my research online, I couldn’t find much information that could be used to confirm or refresh my memory.
One of the things that does stick in my mind was the 70 foot tall wood and metal observation tower that was the main landmark on the property. It had a very unusual design to it, with all of the ornamental iron work at the top of the tower. The tower was situated in the middle of the resort and once you climb to the top of the tower, you were treated to a 360 degree view of the resort, Mission Bay and San Diego area.
Biking was another thing I remember doing there. You could rent bicycles and ride them all around the resort area. I don’t know if they allowed you to ride outside the resort.
We also ate at the only restaurant that was available in the resort. It’s really weird, but I remember having scrambled eggs for breakfast one morning, really! I don’t know why in the world I remember that one detail, but I do.
Okay, I feel compelled to admit something on this blog to all of my readers worldwide (I’m actually just trying to fill this post with words). I’ve never spoken of this to even my closest friends (see what the power of the written word does for me), I don’t even think my wife knows this story. Anyway, being the adventurous/curious type, I went off on my own (I told my parents) to explore the resort and find the beach. I remember walking between a pair of beach cottages (these were rooms right on the beach) and seeing the sand and the water. I was kicking around and walking up and down the beach for several minutes, then I decided to head back to our room. Well, I walked back between the cottages again, but something didn’t look quite the same, I didn’t recognize where I was. I walked back to the beach and noticed that all along the beach were these cottages and they all looked the same to me!
Well, after some time of me walking (running) up and down the beach, jutting in and out between different cottages, I saw my family, because they were out looking for me. Needless to say, I didn’t go wandering off again during that trip.
The original Vacation Village that I remember is gone, but after researching for this post, I found out that Vacation Village is still alive and well in the same location under a new name, Paradise Point Resort (http://www.paradisepoint.com/).
A lot has changed in the past 48 years, the resort has gone from 150 guestrooms and one restaurant to 462 luxurious guest cottages and two unique restaurants, 5 tennis courts, 5 swimming pools, spa and beauty salon and more.
I haven’t been back since the mid ’60s, but I may vacation there again one day just to climb the tower, soak in the memories, walk along the beach and see if I can find my way back to my room.
Has anyone stayed at Vacation Village back in the ’60s? If you have any more details to offer, please leave me a comment.
, “Tooted” could mean a number of things and in this particular case, it means to honk, blow, or toot a horn, (see how smart I am). I recall on long road trips with my family, my dad taught me the “secret” truckers gesture that makes them toot their air horns. 
