A friend of my Mom and Dad's lived I building like that.  Wonderful view of everything from the bridge almost to Treasure Island.  She was independently wealthy.  She would invite my brother and I over after school to play board games.  She was a spinster lady.  Mom said her friend was related to Jack London.

The San Francisco skyline was beautiful then.  Then they word not allowed it up with the Transamerica building and the TV tower on Mount Sutro.  My mother loved San Francisco and would have wept if she had lived long enough to see the Transamerica tower.  And if you ever called it Frisco in her presence you were in for a severe tongue lashing.

A place my brother and I and friends used to play was the empty lot at the end of Larkin Street.

It was a steep bluff that ran all the way down to Van Ness.  We spent a lot of time there playing soldiers since it was during WW2.  Our play would stop whenever a warship came in thorough the Gate.  We would sstare at it until it turned out of sight towards Hunters Point or Alameda.

It's gone now.  Two or three condos occupy the lot.

My brother and I had the run of San Francisco.  It was a different time and a different place.

I wrote a series of stories about Leon and I during those years for my grandkids to read,  Now my great grandson is reading them

Noel

18 hours ago, W2DR said:

He invited me to squadron party at his house. And then he  introduced me as an Air Force F-104 pilot. Nobody talked to me the rest of the night.

Ha ha!  I bet that was something.  Sounds like he was a real character.  Some of those guys are.  My dad knew an 82nd Airborne paratrooper, who had dropped into Lebanon in 1958, among other places.  Once, he parachuted onto the 18th green at a pro golf tournament in Kansas City.  He was promptly arrested, but none other than Arnold Palmer bailed him out.  Arnie saw him chute in, and Arnie being an aeronautical-type of guy got a kick out of the stunt.

And I admit that I have flown under the Golden Gate Bridge in FS.  In fact the last bridge I flew under in sim was over the Duoro River in Portugal, in the Simworks Solutions T-37 Tweet, so not as high-powered as an A-4.

22 hours ago, HighBypass said:

So, forgive me if this wasn't the case, the way I read that is that John was more than capable of piloting an A-4 well, but the Navy didn't or couldn't fire (court-martial?) him for being a naughty boy?

Naw, he was dead in the water for any further promotions, so might as well punt and go fly with the airlines. 

I have to tell you.....this thread reminds me of so many things in the past. I met Arnie once. The company I worked for donated a lot of computers to his children's hospital. I was the guy in charge of all that and Arnie called me one day and invited me to lunch. What a treat. On another note, while his club at Bay Hill didn't have corporate memberships in those days (I have no idea if they do now) Arnie arranged for our company to have one. One day I went to the driving range there to hit a few balls. It was really busy but I finally found a spot.....right next to Arnie. I hesitated to go down there but I finally decided to..... why the heck not, after all, I knew him. I was hit my driver really bad as usual and Arnie was striping them out 250+ yards. All of a sudden I realized their was a guy behind me who was hitting the ball 20-30 yards farther than Arnie. I turned to look and saw this guy in a blue tee shirt, turquoise baseball hat, and pink bermuda shorts. His legs were so skinny I thought they were his arms. Good playing club member I thought. I learned later in the locker room bar that his name was Payne Stewart.

4 hours ago, birdguy said:

The San Francisco skyline was beautiful then.  Then they word not allowed it up with the Transamerica building and the TV tower on Mount Sutro.  My mother loved San Francisco and would have wept if she had lived long enough to see the Transamerica tower.  And if you ever called it Frisco in her presence you were in for a severe tongue lashing.

I love The City. And many times I, too, have chastised folks for call it 'Frisco. I wish I could have grown up there. My wife went to school there. At one time, early in our marriage, we lived there. I was working in the financial district when the Transamerica  Tower was built. We used to walk down there at lunchtime just to see what was going on. I still remember the five "teflon" pads installed under the foundation that were supposed to keep it from swaying during an earthquake. I'd give almost anything to be back there again. But, I know, The City is very different now. There are parts of it I probably wouldn't even recognize. My last office there was in a building at 161 Berry St. (on the China Basin Canal) as part of a redevelopment project.The last knew that building is now $million+ condos. God, How the times have changed..........Doug

Edited June 16, 20205 yr by W2DR

Growing up there was a privilege.  

When my daughter and I visited my old neighborhood very little had changed.  Helen Wills Playground (A block from our house) had more adult fitness stuff there.  But the blocks of houses were still the same.  Polk Street, the shopping street, still had all the original buildings but different tenants.  The old Royal theater (we used to get in free because my friend's dad was the manager) is now a furniture store and several blocks down the Alhambra Theater is now a fitness center.

The summer prior to that I went out to visit my brother.  I had also arranged to visit my old grammar school, St. Brigid's.   I was asked to speak to the 7th and 8th grade classes.  That was unique opportunity and a privilege.  I was 84 then and the 8th grade class was about to graduate and go on to high school.

I was walking down the street and got to a corner where I had sold newspapers.  A Chinese gentleman and a young girl were passing out election materials and tried to hand some flyers to me.  I told them I was from New Mexico and couldn't vote in their elections.  The gentleman asked me what someone from New Mexico was doing in that neighborhood.  I told him, "I grew up here 75 years ago."  We must have stood there and talked for a half hour.

They say you can't go home again...but sometimes you can get pretty close.

Noel

Edited June 16, 20205 yr by birdguy

Great memories Noel. Over the years I've learned that you can make your mind to take you home again. I grew up in a three room house on a dirt road. That street is now paved and full of $500K-$1M houses. But my mind will always take me back to those wonderful days when I was so young and life was so simple. I really feel sorry for those folks who cannot dream of nor remember the past..............Doug

PS: I lived near at Alanta for a while and was there for the 1996 Olympics. The first tickets to be offered were only available by telephone. One lady called and ordered four tickets to some event. When she was asked where she lived she gave an address for some city in New Mexico. The person on the other end of the line told her that to buy any tickets she's have to call the international number.

 

Edited June 17, 20205 yr by W2DR

10 hours ago, W2DR said:

You being a San Francisco guy I just have to share this with you. Back a lot of years ago we met a couple while on vacation in Mexico. Henry and Betty Ann Preen. We hung out together a bit. Henry taught us how to snorkle and it was an all around good time.

Just one last anecdote. We met Henry and Betty Ann at dinner on October 16, 1977. We were staying at a resort call Pamilla in Cabo San Lucas. As I said in another post, I was raised in a three room house on a dirt road and back then wasn't the most sophisticated guy in the world. And here I was, sitting across the table from a lady who was old Philadelphia main-line money. What the heck could I say to start a conversation. So...I said...isn't it too bad about Bing Crosby. She looked at me at asked what was too bad about Bing Crosby. I replied that I felt badly because he'd died two days earlier. She then turned stone-white, threw her napkin on the table, and rapidly fled the dining room. So here's what I didn't know. The Preen's had come to Cabo on a sailboat. They had been at sea for 10 days and had not received any news. They had no Idea Bing Crosby had died.

There is a small chapel on the hill at Palmilla. The Preen's were married there. Bing Crosby sang at their wedding. Ever heard of putting your foot in your mouth?........Doug

Our most prized possessions when we grow old are our memories.  Youngsters haven't collected many yet and are busy building a repertoire of them.

My brother is in a long term care nursing home now.  He's in a bad way and has just turned down chemo for a rare type of blood cancer.  But when we talk it's always, "Do you remember.....?"  And we reminisce and laugh.  If you have someone close you have shared a part of your life with you have a treasure.  My wife and I have been married for 57 years and we have a lot of memories to share.  We are fortunate.

Noel

Indeed Noel. I met my wife 63 years ago. She picked me up at the county fair when she was 12 years old (true story). We grew up in the same town, went to the same high school, and have many friends in common. We've been married for 55 years now and often talk about the "old days" and share the memories. I can't imagine life any other way........Doug

Edited June 17, 20205 yr by W2DR
kant spel

To you gentlemen of a certain advanced maturity  I would say this. ..I’m quite envious, you lived through and were young in what were some of the most interesting and exciting times to have been alive,the 60s 70s and 80s.

Much better than being youthful nowadays in these bland uniform times and having another 60 years or so of wading  through the politically correct purgatory that is modern life.

Hang in there Jon.  Much of your purgatory can be avoided or ignored.  And many of us had the same attitudes you have about the present when we lived through the 60s and 70s and 80s.  Your life is what you make it.  Your today will become your 'good old days' when you're our age.  Remember, we lived through Korea and Vietnam and the Nixon years.

Noel 

My, haven't we come a long way from flying under a bridge.  We are off topic but this is what I meant when I have mentioned several times these threads are conversations.  And memory jogger will bring uyp a rely that will drift off topic.  That's what's wonderful about hangar chat.

Noel