by BruceHancock » Tue Jan 17, 2017 10:28 am
A very interesting topic...and question! I lived in Fresno from about 1955 to 1965. I've always thought of it as my 'home town'. I attended Webster Elementary (1/2 of 4th grade), Morris E. Daiiy Elementary, 5th and 6th, Alexander Hamilton Jr. High, 7th,8th and 9th, and Fresno High, 10th, 11th and 12th. Then to Fresno City for two years. (Anyone remember Richard DeKonning and the architectural drafting 2 year certificate program?). I left for the service for four years in February 1965 and never returned.
One of the first things I did when I got out of the service was attempt to find a job in Fresno. It's where all of my friends still were, although almost all of my family had moved away. However, I found a job in Sacramento first...and that's where I've remained. I often think of Fresno, although I have rarely visited except to drive by the old house on Fedora Street near Thorne. And occasionally I still think of moving back, but in reality I know that I am thinking of a place that no longer exists. What I remember are long bike rides to the San Joaquin River to swim all day - usually skinnydipping - and never see another person. Today, the portion where we swam is a golf course and you can't even get down to the River. And I remember 'dragging the main' on Fulton in my '52 Chevy. It's been a mall forever.
My first 'real' job was at JJ Newberry's as a stock boy the summer following my senior year (1961). I worked six days a week, 8 hours a day for $1.00 per hour. Bought my Chevy with the earnings. Ate my lunch everyday at the lunch counter in Newberrys. It's gone too...although I don't miss it much! I remember a town where a 12 year old kid could ride the bus alone to the downtown library and spend hours reading Ray Bradbury. Or take the bus to the movies on Fulton, and then go next door to Walt Eastman's Hobby shop and browse the tiny space for two hours. Those were another time that don't exist anymore...at least not in Fresno or most anywhere else in California. My brother tells me that the little town he lives in in the middle of Kansas is stuck in 1956 and feels like Fresno when were kids...but even that is probably mostly wishful thinking.
Yes, I've wanted to move back....but back to Fresno in the 1950's. It was a GREAT place to be a kid. Long, long, hot summers that went on forever. We managed with a swamp cooler...or better yet, went out under the trees in the front yard and had a Double Cola after throwing the afternoon Bee paper route (247 and 218). But that's an old man reminiscing - that town and that time is gone.
A very interesting topic...and question! I lived in Fresno from about 1955 to 1965. I've always thought of it as my 'home town'. I attended Webster Elementary (1/2 of 4th grade), Morris E. Daiiy Elementary, 5th and 6th, Alexander Hamilton Jr. High, 7th,8th and 9th, and Fresno High, 10th, 11th and 12th. Then to Fresno City for two years. (Anyone remember Richard DeKonning and the architectural drafting 2 year certificate program?). I left for the service for four years in February 1965 and never returned.
One of the first things I did when I got out of the service was attempt to find a job in Fresno. It's where all of my friends still were, although almost all of my family had moved away. However, I found a job in Sacramento first...and that's where I've remained. I often think of Fresno, although I have rarely visited except to drive by the old house on Fedora Street near Thorne. And occasionally I still think of moving back, but in reality I know that I am thinking of a place that no longer exists. What I remember are long bike rides to the San Joaquin River to swim all day - usually skinnydipping - and never see another person. Today, the portion where we swam is a golf course and you can't even get down to the River. And I remember 'dragging the main' on Fulton in my '52 Chevy. It's been a mall forever.
My first 'real' job was at JJ Newberry's as a stock boy the summer following my senior year (1961). I worked six days a week, 8 hours a day for $1.00 per hour. Bought my Chevy with the earnings. Ate my lunch everyday at the lunch counter in Newberrys. It's gone too...although I don't miss it much! I remember a town where a 12 year old kid could ride the bus alone to the downtown library and spend hours reading Ray Bradbury. Or take the bus to the movies on Fulton, and then go next door to Walt Eastman's Hobby shop and browse the tiny space for two hours. Those were another time that don't exist anymore...at least not in Fresno or most anywhere else in California. My brother tells me that the little town he lives in in the middle of Kansas is stuck in 1956 and feels like Fresno when were kids...but even that is probably mostly wishful thinking.
Yes, I've wanted to move back....but back to Fresno in the 1950's. It was a GREAT place to be a kid. Long, long, hot summers that went on forever. We managed with a swamp cooler...or better yet, went out under the trees in the front yard and had a Double Cola after throwing the afternoon Bee paper route (247 and 218). But that's an old man reminiscing - that town and that time is gone.