College Park East in Seal Beach, CA in 1966 - Model 21-D
From the appearance of the original photo print, I can tell that it was taken using my mom's Olympus Pen-D half-frame camera. Photo taken circa late Summer of 1966 when our house was freshly landscaped and only a few months old. We moved in during August of 1966. That Japanese black pine tree in front of the large window still exists today albeit a bit larger now.
A bit of College Park East (CPE) life back then:
At this point in time, this side of Elder Avenue was the furthest south to which College Park East was yet built; it was all clear and unbuilt from here to the San Diego Freeway (I-405). The tall concrete sound wall that separates this neighborhood from the freeway was not yet erected. This meant that we could stand on the 2nd floor balcony of the house and see the traffic whizzing by on the freeway.
Mailboxes needed to be curbside at first, so they had to be on the parkway as apparent here. By the time the subsequent blocks or units of homes were constructed, parkways were no longer included. This meant that sidewalks on later homes would be right next to the curb. Only the first units of homes, those that are located in the northeast portion of College Park East, have the benefit of parkways between the sidewalk and the curb.
At the time we moved in during August, 1966, Lampson Avenue in Seal Beach consisted of only two lanes, one in each direction. Shortly thereafter, two additional lanes were paved, allowing two lanes in both directions, its current configuration.
Also at this time, the Los Angeles-based Helms Bakery was still in business, so their delivery trucks would make their routes through the neighborhood in those earlier years. Similarly, Adohr Farms delivered milk and other dairy products.
Because my parents both worked, my mom made arrangements with the Helms Bakery truck driver to leave a loaf of bread on top of the clothes dryer in the garage whenever she placed the Helms sign in the window. She would leave money on top of the dryer for this. This, of course, meant that we would leave the garage door unlocked on those days.
Unlike the rest of Seal Beach, College Park East and College Park West were served then by the Los Alamitos School District for grades K through 6 and by the Anaheim Union High School District for grades 7 through 12.
To register me for school, my mom and I drove to the old Laurel School building that faced Florista just east of Los Alamitos Blvd. I was rather disappointed in that I had the impression that this deteriorating site was going to be the school that I would attend that fall. The buildings and the land seemed to me to be in a state of disrepair - the large, painted word "Laurel" in script form on the side of the pink-painted building was beginning to peel off and the baseball diamond on the southwest corner of the lot (where Katella Avenue intersects with Los Alamitos Boulevard) appeared to be neglected. It was only after my mom suggested that we drive to see my new school within Rossmoor that I realized (with relief) that the Laurel School was simply used for administrative purposes.
That first year of 1966-67, elementary students from College Park East were distributed among several schools in the Los Alamitos School District, transported by bus. All who were 6th Graders attended Francis Hopkinson Elementary School in Rossmoor. All 5th Graders attended Rossmoor Elementary School, 4th Graders to Benjamin Rush Elementary, etc. The other schools in the rotation were Los Alamitos and Thomas Jefferson Elementary Schools, both located on Bloomfield between Katella Ave. and Ball Rd. For some reason, neither Jack L. Weaver nor Richard Henry Lee Schools, two other schools within Rossmoor, were in the mix for College Park East students, or at least the bus on which I rode never stopped there. In retrospect I wonder if perhaps there might have been another bus, say for Kindergarteners, who may have had shorter school hours. I do not know. The school bus that I rode served all of College Park East.
The buildings for Benjamin Rush Elementary School no longer exist; only its site, Rush Park remains. Rush School appeared to be nearly identical to Hopkinson School nearby. The appearance of Hopkinson as viewed from Kensington is how Rush appeared as viewed from Blume.
Our bus driver for elementary school that first year was Jerri Sawyer. I can still picture her now, her auburn hair neatly pinned up, dressed in a clean white buttoned shirt with sleeves rolled up and with dark slacks. She was so consistent and reliable, always coming to a complete stop at every stop sign and railroad track crossing*, looking in all directions before proceeding. By observing her drive the bus, I learned how a manual transmission was operated, coordinating gear selection using the floor-mounted stick shift with clutch pedal modulation in order to start moving from a dead stop. Then in the second half of that school year, that bus was replaced with a brand new GMC that was equipped with an automatic transmission.
We as students riding on the bus were pretty well-behaved but still rather talkative. However, she was serious about maintaining order on her bus. I remember just a couple of times when she parked the bus and then came down the aisle with a serious look on her face in order to give a rider or two a serious 'talking-to.' She was always there to pick us up at Fir Circle; I don't recall even one day on which she wasn't our bus driver. The bus route was always thus: Hopkinson-Rush-Rossmoor-Los Alamitos-Jefferson.
Junior high and high schools that served College Park East and College Park West were part of the Anaheim Union High School District then. That first year, my sister along with other junior high level students from CPE attended Oxford Jr. High in Cypress, years before that campus was converted to The Oxford Academy High School. I don't recall with certainty, but I suspect that the first high school students from College Park went to Western High School in Anaheim as Los Alamitos High School did not start until the 1967-68 school year. That first year of Los Al High was held at the site of McAuliffe Middle School now. Only the Class of 1970 attended at that location for that single school year. Then from the 1968-69 school year forward, Los Al High students attended the current campus on Cerritos Ave. at Los Alamitos Blvd. That same year, junior high students from College Park East began to attend Pine Jr. High instead of Oxford. Pine Jr. High is now known as McAuliffe Middle School. The junior high school was renamed as McAuliffe in memory of Christa McAuliffe, the New Hampshire school teacher who perished in the Challenger Space Shuttle accident.
Despite being in Orange County, the telephones in College Park had 213 as the Area Code as did the rest of Seal Beach. Ditto for Rossmoor and Los Alamitos. In Seal Beach, Los Alamitos and Rossmoor, the phone numbers began with 43 or 59. This was because these areas were serviced by the General Telephone Company out of Long Beach rather than by Pacific Telephone. When the 213 area contracted circa 1991, the Area Code for these areas changed to 310. Then after another area contraction circa 1997, the phone numbers in these areas changed to the current 562 Area Code.
*There was still a railroad track that crossed Bloomfield at that time. It was located along the north side of Los Alamitos Elementary School. That track crossed Los Alamitos Blvd., too, near Catalina St. at that time. The track is gone now but the subtle rise of Bloomfield at this location reminds me that it was once there.
College Park East in Seal Beach, CA in 1966 - Model 21-D
From the appearance of the original photo print, I can tell that it was taken using my mom's Olympus Pen-D half-frame camera. Photo taken circa late Summer of 1966 when our house was freshly landscaped and only a few months old. We moved in during August of 1966. That Japanese black pine tree in front of the large window still exists today albeit a bit larger now.
A bit of College Park East (CPE) life back then:
At this point in time, this side of Elder Avenue was the furthest south to which College Park East was yet built; it was all clear and unbuilt from here to the San Diego Freeway (I-405). The tall concrete sound wall that separates this neighborhood from the freeway was not yet erected. This meant that we could stand on the 2nd floor balcony of the house and see the traffic whizzing by on the freeway.
Mailboxes needed to be curbside at first, so they had to be on the parkway as apparent here. By the time the subsequent blocks or units of homes were constructed, parkways were no longer included. This meant that sidewalks on later homes would be right next to the curb. Only the first units of homes, those that are located in the northeast portion of College Park East, have the benefit of parkways between the sidewalk and the curb.
At the time we moved in during August, 1966, Lampson Avenue in Seal Beach consisted of only two lanes, one in each direction. Shortly thereafter, two additional lanes were paved, allowing two lanes in both directions, its current configuration.
Also at this time, the Los Angeles-based Helms Bakery was still in business, so their delivery trucks would make their routes through the neighborhood in those earlier years. Similarly, Adohr Farms delivered milk and other dairy products.
Because my parents both worked, my mom made arrangements with the Helms Bakery truck driver to leave a loaf of bread on top of the clothes dryer in the garage whenever she placed the Helms sign in the window. She would leave money on top of the dryer for this. This, of course, meant that we would leave the garage door unlocked on those days.
Unlike the rest of Seal Beach, College Park East and College Park West were served then by the Los Alamitos School District for grades K through 6 and by the Anaheim Union High School District for grades 7 through 12.
To register me for school, my mom and I drove to the old Laurel School building that faced Florista just east of Los Alamitos Blvd. I was rather disappointed in that I had the impression that this deteriorating site was going to be the school that I would attend that fall. The buildings and the land seemed to me to be in a state of disrepair - the large, painted word "Laurel" in script form on the side of the pink-painted building was beginning to peel off and the baseball diamond on the southwest corner of the lot (where Katella Avenue intersects with Los Alamitos Boulevard) appeared to be neglected. It was only after my mom suggested that we drive to see my new school within Rossmoor that I realized (with relief) that the Laurel School was simply used for administrative purposes.
That first year of 1966-67, elementary students from College Park East were distributed among several schools in the Los Alamitos School District, transported by bus. All who were 6th Graders attended Francis Hopkinson Elementary School in Rossmoor. All 5th Graders attended Rossmoor Elementary School, 4th Graders to Benjamin Rush Elementary, etc. The other schools in the rotation were Los Alamitos and Thomas Jefferson Elementary Schools, both located on Bloomfield between Katella Ave. and Ball Rd. For some reason, neither Jack L. Weaver nor Richard Henry Lee Schools, two other schools within Rossmoor, were in the mix for College Park East students, or at least the bus on which I rode never stopped there. In retrospect I wonder if perhaps there might have been another bus, say for Kindergarteners, who may have had shorter school hours. I do not know. The school bus that I rode served all of College Park East.
The buildings for Benjamin Rush Elementary School no longer exist; only its site, Rush Park remains. Rush School appeared to be nearly identical to Hopkinson School nearby. The appearance of Hopkinson as viewed from Kensington is how Rush appeared as viewed from Blume.
Our bus driver for elementary school that first year was Jerri Sawyer. I can still picture her now, her auburn hair neatly pinned up, dressed in a clean white buttoned shirt with sleeves rolled up and with dark slacks. She was so consistent and reliable, always coming to a complete stop at every stop sign and railroad track crossing*, looking in all directions before proceeding. By observing her drive the bus, I learned how a manual transmission was operated, coordinating gear selection using the floor-mounted stick shift with clutch pedal modulation in order to start moving from a dead stop. Then in the second half of that school year, that bus was replaced with a brand new GMC that was equipped with an automatic transmission.
We as students riding on the bus were pretty well-behaved but still rather talkative. However, she was serious about maintaining order on her bus. I remember just a couple of times when she parked the bus and then came down the aisle with a serious look on her face in order to give a rider or two a serious 'talking-to.' She was always there to pick us up at Fir Circle; I don't recall even one day on which she wasn't our bus driver. The bus route was always thus: Hopkinson-Rush-Rossmoor-Los Alamitos-Jefferson.
Junior high and high schools that served College Park East and College Park West were part of the Anaheim Union High School District then. That first year, my sister along with other junior high level students from CPE attended Oxford Jr. High in Cypress, years before that campus was converted to The Oxford Academy High School. I don't recall with certainty, but I suspect that the first high school students from College Park went to Western High School in Anaheim as Los Alamitos High School did not start until the 1967-68 school year. That first year of Los Al High was held at the site of McAuliffe Middle School now. Only the Class of 1970 attended at that location for that single school year. Then from the 1968-69 school year forward, Los Al High students attended the current campus on Cerritos Ave. at Los Alamitos Blvd. That same year, junior high students from College Park East began to attend Pine Jr. High instead of Oxford. Pine Jr. High is now known as McAuliffe Middle School. The junior high school was renamed as McAuliffe in memory of Christa McAuliffe, the New Hampshire school teacher who perished in the Challenger Space Shuttle accident.
Despite being in Orange County, the telephones in College Park had 213 as the Area Code as did the rest of Seal Beach. Ditto for Rossmoor and Los Alamitos. In Seal Beach, Los Alamitos and Rossmoor, the phone numbers began with 43 or 59. This was because these areas were serviced by the General Telephone Company out of Long Beach rather than by Pacific Telephone. When the 213 area contracted circa 1991, the Area Code for these areas changed to 310. Then after another area contraction circa 1997, the phone numbers in these areas changed to the current 562 Area Code.
*There was still a railroad track that crossed Bloomfield at that time. It was located along the north side of Los Alamitos Elementary School. That track crossed Los Alamitos Blvd., too, near Catalina St. at that time. The track is gone now but the subtle rise of Bloomfield at this location reminds me that it was once there.