MEMORABILIA

CHS BRICK - our oldest son bought this at one of the reunions
Johnies Fry Bag after the Prom: View 1 View 2
Lighthouse YMCA Sock-Hops
Major Letter Award Certificate

The fabulous fifties.....Now that was a time - There were burgers and shakes at the old five and dime, and remember the sock hops? The "stroll" was the dance. Ah, the juke box, the bobby sox, drive-in romance.....The girls all wore poodle skirts, saddle shoes, too. For guys? Letter sweaters and short flat-top 'do's. There were 3d flicks, quiz shows, and pink hula hoops, and dice hung from mirrors of cool, souped-up coupes. There were black and white westerns with cowboys like Gene, and doo-wop made room for the rock and roll scene. Those great "golden days" have returned once again! And you've still got the magic you had way back when, Your love is a classic that always will last..... from fifties to sixty, now that is a blast!

The original Lighthouse YMCA branch was built in 1954. Frequently referred to as the Lighthouse on the Desert, the Y was located on the southeast corner of east 5th Street and Dodge Boulevard. Dr. Charles Newcombe and his wife Margaret had donated a large corner lot with a spacious two-story house on the crest of a small hill. This was near the beautiful El Conquistador Hotel, which was on the land occupied later by the El Con Mall. The residence was set back about 200 feet from East 5th Street and there was a very small swimming pool. The Lighthouse YMCA was very family-oriented and in the years to come constructed a larger pool, bathhouse and remodeled the house to better service the youth and families in the area. Several Sock-Hops were held here in '55 thru '58.

I loved the Lanz dresses in high school but they were too expensive for me to buy so I made a couple of "look-a-likes" from simplicity patterns. Oh, yes, and I had to have crinolines under my skirts and dresses. My two sisters and I would dip our crinolines in pure blue colored starch and I don't think we even watered the starch down much; we wanted them stiff. We would hang them on the clothesline, by the hem, still dripping starch, no wonder grass never grew under our clothesline, there was just a slightly pale blue patch of dead weeds all in a narrow row under that line. I can still remember looking out to see all 3 crinolines drying "stiff" as boards in the Arizona sun. They were so stiff and full they could stand up by themselves.

Hey, that was the style! I'm sure the starch company loved us.
crinolines ------------and Lanz dresses: Submitted by Patricia Young

Sally Anderson's Memories of her dad's store: I also remember that when I was very young I would catch the bus at my corner and go downtown and get off at my dad's store. Andy Anderson Ltd. on Pennington. I could walk all the way around the block and stop at McLellens and have a cheese sandwich at the counter and continue on past another dime store? and on up Stone Ave back to my dad's store. I remember a shop on Pennington called Greta's and of course Cele Peterson.