Blog 163  Old Memories!

Remember When?  The Sunday newspaper recently carried several items that recalled memories from back when.  Here are a few.

Who remembers the Alligator Garder?  It was located on Broadway just north of the Witte Museum and the Pioneer Hall.  There was a pit with alligators in it and a performance with some handling.  Dim memory tells me that they also had occasional rattle snake handling and would kill and cook one and pass around bites.  They claimed fried rattlesnake tastes like chicken.  I took their word for it!  If anyone recalls either of these, please add a comment.   The newspaper announced that it closed fifty years ago!

Also closing fifty years ago was the San Pedro Drive-in Movie.  It was originally located on San Pedro and Rector Streets but moved out farther north.  It was the largest of the drive-in movie theaters in town.  Before it close, it had switched to soft*-porn X-rated movies.  It amused me that you could dive down Highway 281 and glance over and see the screen from the highway.  The last Drive-in movie in town was the Mission Drive-in..  Interestingly, a New Mission Drive-in was built and operates at Brooks City Base.  I tried to get some information online but with so many pop-up ads, I gave up.  For those who moved away years ago, Brooks City Base was once Brooks Air Force Base and home of the foremost burn center in the US.  To ward off the base closure when military bases were being realigned and many closed, the city of SA entered into agreement with the DOD to mange the property.  The base closed anyway, but giving new life to the large land area was in place.  After closure, the facilities were redeveloped into a mixed-use area of manufacturing, housing, retail, and business operations.   The area is thriving today.

Who Knew?  If you rode the city bus to and from school, the drop-off and boarding point was between the main campus and a triangular island  across a very short, maybe forty yards long two-laned street.  The island was surrounded by a five- or so-foot hedge.  I suspect none of us knew what was inside the hedge. I also suspect none of us knew that it was called Thespian Island or why. 

I have mentioned before that the city passed two bond issues that allocated $50 million for renovations at the school.  Much of it was for foundation work under the cafeteria, the gym, and the Administration wing (the Spanish wing in our time).  Some of the funding was designated for better traffic control, and who knows what else.  Part of the what else was the rejuvenation of Thespian Island.

That resulted in narrowing the two lanes to one, expanding the existing island and relandscaping.  Who knew that behind the tall hedge was a long-inoperative fountain!  The fountain was a gift to the school by classes from the Drama Department.  Hence the name of Thespian Island was chosen after the drama students.  Here are photos of the island today.

A Neighborhood Change:  The day I recently drove down Donaldson Avenue toward our school, I found speed bumps regularly placed.  The same was true as I left the area via Club Drive.   This ubiquitous nuisance is just proof that with powerful cars, drivers cannot restrain themselves from speeding.  Teenaged drivers around schools are the guilty cause of the bumps, but with speed bumps everywhere, we adults are guilty of speeding as well.

One Other Memory:  That same Sunday newspaper also reminded that the first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki ending World War II eighty years ago! I suspect very few of us can recall the news of the actual devastation when it happened.  My memory is when the news broke that the war had ended, our family dashed to our 1940 Ford and drove downtown.  In the heavy traffic pedestrians were out hugging and cheering, and people would jump on the running board of our very slow-moving car and lean in the window and express joy, then jump off.  Every horn was honking.  We had no idea of the impact the development of the atomic weapon would have on the future of the world.

As Porky Pig would say,  “Th-th-that’s all, Folks.”  See you next time.