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All posts for the month July, 2010

The Green Hornet

Posted by ksquaredno15 on July 31, 2010
Posted in: Entertainment, Television. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a Comment

Green Hornet-KatoWay before my time, The Green Hornet was a radio program in the 1930′s, but in my era, The Green Hornet was a classic good against evil television show that aired, for only one season, from 1966-1967.

The Green Hornet character was a masked superhero played by actor Van Williams who played Britt Reid, a newspaper publisher by day. He was accompanied by his Asian Wheelman, Kato, who was played by none other than Bruce Lee. Kato was the driver for the Green Hornet in a car called the Black Beauty.
Kato, Green Hornet, Black Beauty

The show was a very entertaining for me back then (although pretty corney by todays standards) and the thing that stands out the most, was Kato’s fight scenes. Little did I know back then, that this relatively unknown actor in America, would become one of the most well known martial artists of all time.

The other thing that I remember from the show was where they stored the Black Beauty. Black Beauty was driven into a hidden entrance of the Green Hornet’s apartment and into a garage/workshop and the floor rotated (like a rotisserie), flipping the car underneath it, effectively hiding the car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUe5-e3s_Rs&feature=related

More details about the TV show at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Hornet_(TV_series)
The Green Hornet is back and coming to theaters January 2011:
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thegreenhornet/

The Plunge at the Pike

Posted by ksquaredno15 on July 29, 2010
Posted in: Entertainment, Places of Interest. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Ok, to start off, for those of you that don’t know, the Pike was an amusement park area in Long Beach, California that was around from 1902 to 1979. The Pike was known for the Cyclone Racer, which was a large wooden, dual track roller coaster that was built over the ocean.

Although the Pike is a very interesting place and I’ve probably been there, I don’t remember anything about it except what I’ve seen online, so, on to the Plunge. The Plunge at the Pike was originally called the Bath House in it’s early days. When I remember it though, it was called the Plunge and it was a pool for swimming, not bathing. I remember they had a fountain/platform on one end of the pool that the kids (and I) use to climb on (see photo below).

The Plunge

I lived in the city of Los Angeles back when I was young, and from time to time, my folks would drop us kids off at my aunt & uncle’s place in the city of Long Beach, so we could hang out with our cousins. It was during some of these times that we would go to the Plunge for a swim in that huge pool.

Some great reading about the Pike and the Plunge:
http://www.millikanalumni.com/Pike/PikeToday_9.html

Information about the Pike from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pike

Old time video from the Pike:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkRp8bfO4hM

The Pike is still alive today in Long Beach, although just in name. The Pike today is home to specialty stores and restaurants.
http://www.thepikeatlongbeach.com/

Ditto Machine

Posted by ksquaredno15 on July 25, 2010
Posted in: Lifestyle, Stuff. Tagged: , , , , . 3 comments

Ditto Machine1965 Ditto Machine Ad
Kids in elementary school in the ’60s enjoyed getting copies/handouts from the teacher because they knew, these papers held the scent that they craved so much. As soon as the teacher handed each student a copy hot off the Ditto machine, the students had to fight back the irresistible urge to put the paper to their noses. When they could no longer fight it, it was heavenly…Aaahhhhh!

Before I researched this story, I thought it was the Mimeograph Machine (photo below) copies that I was thinking about, but in actuality, it was the Ditto Machine.
Mimeograph Machine
The Ditto Machine copies are the ones that had that unmistakable purple color and that unforgettable solvent smell. It’s so wonder that all of us baby boomers survived our childhoods.

A side note: The 1982 movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High with Sean Penn, featured a teacher passing out duplicated exam papers and all the students immediately placed the paper to their noses and inhaled. Ha, ha, ha! :) I saw a blog post from someone in 2008 referencing this particular scene, asking why the students did this. Oh, if only they knew.

45 Records

Posted by ksquaredno15 on July 24, 2010
Posted in: Entertainment, Lifestyle. Leave a Comment

45 Record Yellow Submarine
The 45 record is the little sibling to the larger 33 long play (LP) or 78 RPM records. In my era, they were popular back in the ’60s and ’70s, because you could purchase a specific popular song, kind of like iTunes of today, you weren’t tied to purchasing a whole album for just 1 song.

There was a downside to the 45′s. From what I remember, the 45′s came out mainly for the top 40 hits, so if you did like another song from the album that was not a popular song on the radio, chances were good, that it was not available on a 45 record.

The store nearest to my house that sold 45′s, was oddly enough, a Singer Sewing store in a strip mall. For those that don’t know, Singer makes sewing machines and supplies sewing supplies. Why they got into selling 45 records, I will probably never know. Maybe they figured it would keep us kids occupied, while the mother’s shopped in the store.

The record player that we had only had the narrow style spindle, so we had to purchase these plastic adapters (pictured below) that clipped into the large center hole of the 45 records, providing the proper size hole that fit our spindle. I remember that these things would keep popping out of the record while it was playing and the record would spin off-center, wreaking havoc for the needle.

I can’t say that I miss the sound of the pops & scratches from my old records.

45 Record Adapter

Blue Chip and S&H Green Stamps

Posted by ksquaredno15 on July 22, 2010
Posted in: Lifestyle, Stuff. Tagged: , , , , , , . 3 comments

Ahhh, Blue Chip and S&H Green Stamps, my tongue remembers these well. :P
Blue Chip and S&H Green Stamps

Kinda makes my tongue feel all gooey just thinking about them. Bleck!!! Ok, I used a wet sponge too, but you gotta love that your tongue is always at-the-ready for that quick, lick & stick emergency.

This post will refer mainly to the Blue Chip Stamps, because I remember more about these than the S&H Green Stamps, although they were based on the same idea. For those of you that have never heard of Blue Chip or S&H Green Stamps, they were trading stamps from the mid to late ’60s, that you received whenever you bought groceries at the market or pumped gas at the gas station and I’m sure there were other places that gave them out too.

The amount of stamps you received, was directly related to the amount of money you spent at the store. As you collected more and more sheets of stamps, it was time to stick them into the Blue Chip Stamp booklet. Once you filled multiple books, it was off to the Blue Chip Redemption store to trade in your filled books for merchandise. I associate this process with a game arcade, but unlike the arcade, where you turn in 3,000 tickets and you get a plastic ring, you turn in the books for fairly descent merchandise and products that were definitely more practical.

Blue Chip Stamp Booklet

An interesting fact about Blue Chip Stamps: Back in 1972, Blue Chip Stamps purchased See’s Candies, Inc. and since Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. had controlling interest in Blue Chip Stamps, this was another great purchase for Warren Buffet.

For my viewers that have never heard of See’s Candies, they are a California based company that started making chocolates and confections long ago in 1921 in Los Angeles, California. You gotta try them! The 1lb box of Nuts & Chews or the Bridge Mix or the…

See Wikipedia’s description of Blue Chip Stamps:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Chip_Stamps

For a detailed history of See’s Candy and it’s relationship to Blue Chip Stamps, click the link below:
http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Sees-Candies-Inc-Company-History.html

Mago’s-Updated 7-22-10

Posted by ksquaredno15 on July 22, 2010
Posted in: Eateries. Tagged: , . 4 comments

Originally located in Culver City, California, this small restaurant was a popular eatery back in the ’70s & ’80s. Sadly, they are no longer around and I couldn’t find any photos of Mago’s. All I remember is that we use to cruise on over on the weekends to grab a quick bite to eat. I do remember that there was always a line-up at the outside order window, and we use to eat our food standing outside. I don’t even remember what I ate there, but I do know that one of their more popular menu items was the Chashu (BBQ Pork) and Avocado Burrito. I’m very sure that I did not order this, because I do not like avocados.

If anyone has any more details or photographs of Mago’s or any of my other posts, and you want to share with others via my blog, you can email to: info@yesteryearremembered.com Thanks!

Updated information:

The following information was gathered from the Japanese American National Museum website at: http://www.janm.org/exhibits/objectlessons/

Saturday, Nov 8, 2003 (this was the date of the original exhibit)
Mago’s: Feeding a Generation of Japanese American Activists

Mago’s Famous Hamburgers fast food place, founded on Centinela Avenue in West Los Angeles, served as the gathering place for a generation active in the social and political activities of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. The history and life of Mago’s is inextricably tied to the political and social climate of the era. That story will be will be shared in a slide show presentation celebrating Mago’s, which closed a decade ago. Following the show will be a reading by Japanese American patrons who wrote poems upon the restaurant’s closing, and a cooking demonstration of one of the popular fusion foods on Mago’s menu. The Mago’s restaurant sign, 10′ x 8′, is currently featured in the exhibition Object Lessons. 2:00-4:00PM.
2:00 PM

Thanks Ms_CongenialityHI for your comment!