Hal Linker reminisces, part 1
A reader named Hal Linker, and his wife, Hadla, found this blog recently and left a comment in the "Things That Aren't Here Anymore" thread. And what a comment! It may be the length of two, or three, or even four of my columns, full of memories of our various cities.
Rather than bury it back there in that thread, I'm going to run it here up front, serialized in manageable chunks over a week. Or two. Or three. We'll see. Take it away, Hal:
David,
I'm a bit late with these comments but just stumbled onto this blog when Yahoo-ing "DiGangi's." My wife and I were just remembering how great their grinders were. We were shocked to see something came up on the search. So, sorry if we're beating a dead horse.
My family moved to Chino (from Bellflower) in 1956 when I was just a tot. My dad had a dairy farm. Chino had very little in the way of civilization at that time. It was a prison town. Getting groceries in the 1950s was a weekly family event for which we all got in dad's DeSoto and headed for the Market Basket on East End and Holt. It was like going into town for supplies / vittles.
At that time Chino had nothing close to a supermarket. This would change in the 1960s when Alpha Beta opened a location on Central and Walnut (now defunct -- torn down and converted into offices -- though some of the adjacent buildings still stand -- including the old Alphy's Restaurant which is now a medical building, but prior to that, had been a restaurant called Bailey's).
Next time: record stores.
Our family moved to Diamond Bar in 1961. There were no markets there either. We too made the weekly journey to that same Market Basket store of which Hal Linker speaks. Sometimes we'd also shop at the Alpha Beta store at Holt and Fairplex (f.k.a. Ganesha Blvd, f.f.k.a. Bellvue.) For general household merchandise we frequently shopped at the long-since closed UniMart store on Valley Blvd just a few blocks west of Alpha Beta on Holt. Unimart was one of the early pioneers of the membership discount stores.
David -- thanks for refreshing this blog thread!
In 1951, the closest market to our house on South College in Claremont was Crossroads Market at Arrow and Garey, which is now M&I Surplus (or at least was last time I looked). I recall they had a large rack of John Birch literature right by the checkout lines.
Hal and Hadla Linker had a travel show on TV in the '50s or '60s (Passports to Adventure), but I'm confused by the comment that Hal says he was a tot in 1956. Was it his parents?? If so, how'd he find a wife with the same unusual name as his mother??
Belated best wishes on all your various anniversaries and birthday recently -- in addition to all its other merits your blog is among the most festive on the web!
[Any excuse for a party! -- DA]
My wife worked at the Alpha Beta at Central/Walnut, then continued with them when it moved to Central/ Philadelphia. We met when she worked there as a checker.
1973: The Upland Plunge, walking home in the smog after swimming all day. The pollution so bad you couldn't take a deep breath without it burning your lungs and throat. Parents dropped the kids off for the day and the kids walked home. No yuppie parents hovering over their children applying layers of sunblock. We had no sunblock.
Mountain Liquor, on Mountain and Foothill by Mr. Steak, was owned by a grouchy German guy, but you could buy a bag full of candy for a buck. Chicko Sticks, Cup o Gold, Snichers, Hersheys, Three Musketeers. We called him or his wife the penny pinchers. We had no idea how expensive it would become to live in the USA.
My dad liked Betsy Ross restaurant, it was so American and decorated in the American flag colors, today it would be considered politically incorrect. Orange groves everywhere, building forts in the deepest part of the orange groves, playing in the rock pile was a part of life, using your imagination.
There were no homeless, just one mythical hobo we never saw, the hobo was the only boogeyman to be somewhat intrigued by.
We had sidewalks and curbs to play on. When the street lights came on that was our cue to go home. My mom bought our house for $15,000 in Upland.
Walter Cronkite presented the news with dignity each night at six, dad had the televison; forget changing the channel, no remote. The news wasn't filled each night with murders of children and innocent people in gang crossfire, pedophiles and MTV was not invented yet. Culturally, emotionally, economically, we are living in a small tiny reflection of that innocent time period that is gone forever.
[Other than the smog, it sounds kind of nice. Seriously, this is one of the cooler, most poetic comments this blog has received. Thank you, Amy. -- DA]
Re: Bob House comments regarding Hal and Hadla Linker and Passports To Adventure.
I'm real happy somebody caught the fact that I am using an assumed name for multiple purposes -- believe me, the Linkers never had a dairy farm. Bob House knows his stuff!! The Linkers were parodied (along with Evel Knievel) by The Firesign Theater, especially on their 1974 comedy album "Everything You Know Is Wrong," which I make reference to when signing off from my enormo-mail.
P.S. If the Broadside was on Holt, then what was Walter Mitty's called during the 1960's???
Hal and Hadla
[From now on I guess I'm going to have to refer to you as "Hal Linker," not Hal Linker. -- DA]