Nostalgia Question from 1972 (La Mesa, Cypress, Monterey: homes, elementary school, military)

[bigsurluvr]

Originally Posted by Hawk J

Barbara Kelly is singing on this site. It is so terrible what happened to her. She deserved so much better in life...Rest in Peace, Barb.

Barbara_Kelly_If_They_Could_See_Me_Now | LighthouseAvenue.com

Friends and I used to go to The Warehouse almost every Saturday night (in the mid-late 70's). Loved Barbara Kelly and her band (since we were regulars we got to know them pretty well). Was sad when she left to go to SoCal... and was heartbroken when she was murdered.

[Barovelli]

Originally Posted by bigsurluvr

I think it was The Jolly Rogue and maybe later just The Rogue? I loved eating there!

Across from the forever in pink Harbor House was Cerritos. Here's a family relative posing in the "boat" that sat outside. Knew I had this picture and thought that the Cerritos name was in it.



Jolly Rogue was over by Wharf 2.

[bigsurluvr]

Originally Posted by Barovelli

Across from the forever in pink Harbor House was Cerritos. Here's a family relative posing in the "boat" that sat outside. Knew I had this picture and thought that the Cerritos name was in it.



Jolly Rogue was over by Wharf 2.

Ah, yes, Jolly Rogue was by Wharf 2... I think Cerritos might've been before my time there (great picture!). I arrived at Ft. Ord in early January, 1976.

[Salpointe59]

I was stationed at Ord many times for training. Basic, Infantry School, NCO Academy, I won the 6th Army Championship in Combat Rifle or Light Machine Gun 8 different years and went to panama as the 7th ID Scout Platoon Sergeant.
I was at Infantry school when a bunch of us decided to go to a late showing of the movie Psycho when it was at the Alvarado? It scared the bejesus out of me. I remember as a 17 year old getting my first pass to Monterrey and going to a donut shop a block or so from the theater, the glazed doughnuts were to kill for.
Nowadays I stay in the Navy hotel for pennies because I stayed the Army until retirement. I recently brought a son of mine to stay there because he is a trainer with the Dodgers but had never been there. We ate at the Fisherman's Grotto.

[CaliMemories]

I went to Monte Vista Elementary in the late 60s. I remember wandering all over the woods around Colton Jr High (We lived close by). There was a big rock quarry in the woods. We used to climb down to the bottom and investigate the rusting cars that teenagers had pushed off the cliffs. On weekends we would walk about 5 miles, through Deer Flats park, down through the Presidio to get to downtown. Yes, we also got into those old canneries on Cannery Row. I remember all the old canning machines, boxes of old labels that would go on the cans, missing floor boards where you could see the waves hitting the rocks below. There was a head shop on Cannery row, and later a pillow theater where you would lie the carpeted floor and watch movies while the incense wafted through the air. Dennis the Menace park was the go to place. That and the wharf. Spent countless Saturdays tearing around the wharf, checking the crab nets every 30 minutes or so; catching sand dabs. Such good memories. Ace's Pizza in New Monterey was great. I joined the Monterey Bay 49ers Pop Warner football team their first season. The County Fair was always exciting as a kid.

[J.R.P.]

Came across this forum and it has many things I remember and some I don't. I have some burning questions that have bugged me a long time though.
Also born here, (the old CHOMP hospital in carmel before they moved it to the top of hill - sadly, it still sits haunted for decades last time I checked),. I don't venture over the hill much these days.

Anyone recall the bowling alley downtown Monterey across from the san carlos hotel? If so, what year did they close it? I found a reference online that in the early 40's, it was once a furniture store which would explain the extremely high ceilings. It was unusual for a bowling alley. I've never seen anything like it since. I also ran across a reference to it at the library looking at old news paper film and a story mentioning troublesome teenagers hanging around there during ww2. Some things never change, lol.
I used to look through holes in the papered-over windows all the time wishing I could go inside. It was as if they'd closed for business the final day and promptly covered the windows, locked the doors and left it to sit for the next several decades. Shoes, balls, cigarette machine, soda fountain,....all covered in dust. A newer building sits in that spot on the corner these days. I think they tore down the old one in the 80's? I can't even find a name. The marquee on top of the building simply said, "BOWL", as I recall.
I was going to ask if anyone remembered the drive-in theater behind the fairgrounds before posting here but finally ran into a local a few days ago who also went there as a kid. It was called the Park Drive-In. My friend tells me that right next to it was a trailer park. It closed in 1965. The golf club house sits in that spot now and the parking area next to it was the trailer park.

Last question is a long shot; I heard a story about the area around the old bath house pier. Growing up, our next door neighbor told me they had old movie film of a small/tiny amusement park or boardwalk in that area that had burned down long ago? Anyone know or hear stories of such a thing? It would have been in the 30's or 40's,? During the 70's, after a rather large storm, the beach in that area had eroded greatly and it exposed a large section of a burned structure of some kind, (similar to skating rink flooring or strips of wood running in a pattern - like a pier? ),. I recall seeing a few pilings for the bathhouse pier sticking out of the water for many-many years and only recently realized what I'd been looking at all that time as a kid. One can still see the remains underwater on google satellite view if they look in the right place at the correct years.

Sure hope someone remembers something here. I've got more but I'll save them for another time. Don't want to wear out any welcome. Thanks for the pictures above and colorful memories.
Cheers.

[Barovelli]

I'd pass by the bowling alley building on my way home from Colton Jr High in the 70s and wonder why we had a bowling alley that was never open. I watched a lot of downtown get torn down and built up, but that bowling alley never had the luck. It was never torn down, just that brick facade added and it was a computer store, I'd say about 1980 ish. Remember being sent there to get a copy of Excel 5, signed off $600 of the company's money for it.

[J.R.P.]

Originally Posted by Barovelli

I'd pass by the bowling alley building on my way home from Colton Jr High in the 70s and wonder why we had a bowling alley that was never open. I watched a lot of downtown get torn down and built up, but that bowling alley never had the luck. It was never torn down, just that brick facade added and it was a computer store, I'd say about 1980 ish. Remember being sent there to get a copy of Excel 5, signed off $600 of the company's money for it.

Thought they tore it down and quickly built-up a generic office building on the site. The building was in really bad shape after sitting so long. I remember the computer store as my work partner, (we both worked as computer techs at the time out by the airport), went there to buy his first apple. It was on the corner as I recall. He spent all that money on it only to store a few cooking recipes, (to prove he could), and play chess once in a while which I kidded him about, lol.
I too watched downtown destroyed, (my word for it),. Mayor coyle, (spelling?), got rid of a lot of it starting in the mid 60's? They put in the tunnel and removed 2/3 of Monterey's downtown over the next decade. A lot of the cool stuff. I remember sitting in the Alvarado cafe eating our meal and watching them through the window, ball and chain the block across the street. There was a cool shooting gallery/arcade next to wells fargo that was demoed. The original plan was to build a modern shopping center or close off the downtown - bring in a large anchor store, (that stuff was the up and coming thing to do back then in cities across America),. Then the del monte shopping center was built and the convention center was the plan. The old buildings were considered a blight and there were certain areas that were admittedly seedy. But imagine if those sections were still there today! We have one of the tiniest old downtown's I've ever seen in California for a city it's size. Did they really need the tunnel or parking garages? Maybe. But I've talked to many locals who remember downtown before the tunnel and everyone hated to see old monterey torn down the way they did.
As for the bowling alley, would still like to know what year it closed. I grew up seeing it closed - never open and always wondered,...what-if. It was like a kind of un-noticed landmark downtown if one ever thought to look at it - and then - gone.
Cheers and thanks for reply.

[gmobile234]

Does anyone remember the name of the bar in downtown Monterey where Charlie Musselwhite used to play in the 70's. something like Blue dog inn?

[Hawk J]

Originally Posted by J.R.P.

Thought they tore it down and quickly built-up a generic office building on the site. The building was in really bad shape after sitting so long. I remember the computer store as my work partner, (we both worked as computer techs at the time out by the airport), went there to buy his first apple. It was on the corner as I recall. He spent all that money on it only to store a few cooking recipes, (to prove he could), and play chess once in a while which I kidded him about, lol.
I too watched downtown destroyed, (my word for it),. Mayor coyle, (spelling?), got rid of a lot of it starting in the mid 60's? They put in the tunnel and removed 2/3 of Monterey's downtown over the next decade. A lot of the cool stuff. I remember sitting in the Alvarado cafe eating our meal and watching them through the window, ball and chain the block across the street. There was a cool shooting gallery/arcade next to wells fargo that was demoed. The original plan was to build a modern shopping center or close off the downtown - bring in a large anchor store, (that stuff was the up and coming thing to do back then in cities across America),. Then the del monte shopping center was built and the convention center was the plan. The old buildings were considered a blight and there were certain areas that were admittedly seedy. But imagine if those sections were still there today! We have one of the tiniest old downtown's I've ever seen in California for a city it's size. Did they really need the tunnel or parking garages? Maybe. But I've talked to many locals who remember downtown before the tunnel and everyone hated to see old monterey torn down the way they did.
As for the bowling alley, would still like to know what year it closed. I grew up seeing it closed - never open and always wondered,...what-if. It was like a kind of un-noticed landmark downtown if one ever thought to look at it - and then - gone.
Cheers and thanks for reply.

Howdy, J.R.P.,


I remember, we enjoyed many a meal in The Alvarado Cafe. For dinner they had reasonable priced meals. There were 3 or 4 different choices for meals. It came with a drink, bread, soup or salad, & dessert, if i remember correctly.
Across the street we used to play pool in "Louie's Pool Hall" & "The Owl Club". Fun times. I remember 6 of us pals got a tattoo in the tattoo parlor by the pool hall.


Later years, sometimes we would go at night to catch crab on the wharf with a bicycle rim net & fish for Jack Smelt. We would drink a few beers. We had good times & happy memories of years gone by.


We did our bowling at Monterey Lanes & Cypress Bowl (played Snooker there).
Take care pard.