DO YOU REMEMBER THESE?

We thought it may be fun to see just how far back we can remember as to what Anderson Township and Anderson High School was like oh so many years ago. Do you remember.............

• I remember when I was young and single, didn't have two ex-wives or three kids, child support payments that would stress Bill Gates, did have good hearing, vision and all of my teeth, did have knees that actually worked in both the down and UP directions (without all the funny noises), and could sleep more than 6 hours at a stretch without needing to get up and pee. I also remember when sex was largely safe and didn't come with the warning that begging is no longer considered a cute form of foreplay. Ah, the good old days. Just shoot me... please.

• Golden Point (fast food place near Asbury Road/Beechmont Ave intersection)

• Forest Hills Drive-In

• When Frisches HAD a place in the back where you could park and eat in the car?

• Anderson Elementary School

• Larry's Grocery

• King Kwik

• When convenience stores were called Pony Kegs

• Van Leunens

• China Town

• Sandy's Drive In Resturaunt

• Zantigo Mexican Food

• When Beechmont Mall was a cow pasture

• Referring to phone numbers as BE1 instead of 231

• Candles & Such - Candle store in Beechmont Mall

• Beechmont Roller Rama

• Ontarios

• Movies at drive-in's were not rated in 1967. Caused quite a stir when many Anderson Township parents took their kids one Saturday evening to see a new movie at the Forest Hills drive-in. The movie was called "The Graduate". Lot's of young boys got quite a lesson from "Mrs. Robinson" that night. Lot's of parents had some serious explaining to do to their kids too.

• The laundry mat next door to the Golden Point restaurant... had an early, mechanical "video" game where the kid held a toy gun and would shoot at western bad guys in the windows of a miniature western town. It cost a nickel to play. Scot Long, a class of '74 member, worked at Golden Point part time after school. The amazing part is that Scot would "run" home after work every night. No big deal? Scot lived on 4-mile road!!!! No wonder that guy can still run like the wind today! That's probably a 7 or 8 mile run!!

• When the only "department" store in the area was McAlpins in Cherry Grove.

• The Scotts "five and dime" in Mt. Washington.

• Daily Donuts at the corner of Beechmont and Salem.

• Jerry's Restaurant

• The "farmers market" open vegetable/fruit store on Salem, next to Dunkin Donuts.

• The Sohio gas station at the corner of Beechmont and Salem. Great place to get a part time job pumping "ethyl." Was owned by a guy named Ernie who looked and sounded a lot like "Tennesee Ernie Ford." Jobs there paid $1.35 an hour to start in 1972.

• Riding dirt bikes (motorcycles) on I-275 when it was a construction site "dirt road!"

• Anderson Township Sheriff, Larry Oaks, chasing all the dirt bike riders who tried to get to I-275's "dirt trails" via Forest, Asbury and Markely roads. Larry was probably the most well known cop in Anderson Township... at least by every teenager who went to Anderson. He gave us more breaks than we deserved. Great Guy!

• The old Markley Road graveyard, stories of "Nancy the witch," and the 200 acres of woods surrounding Maddux Elementary. Great dirt bike riding trails!

• When Mr. Maddux was alive and acting principal at Anderson Elementary. His oil painting hangs in the lobby of Maddux Elementary today.

• Dodge Ball!!!! We all played it... we all loved it.... kids today haven't got a clue.

• When going to the "mall" meant a trip to Kenwood.

• Cranking the old jalopy up as fast as she would go to jump "Myrtles Tit" (hump in the road on Ayer... very dangerous!)

• The Bob Felser and Wayne Holland "Big Fight" behind Beechmont Mall in 1973! (huge audience... Wayne won... sort of)

• Keith Young... best motocross rider in the class of '74... Riding first a CZ, then eventually riding a Penton motorcycle! (They don't make them anymore)

• Mark Gough... second best motocross rider in the class of '74; HareScrambles champion, 1973 (Yamaha)

• Mr. Baker.. every kid's favorite "family values" teacher but more important, a professional photographer on the side. He photographed a LOT of Anderson high graduates wedding ceromonies years later (including mine!)

• Driver's training was free and taught by the high school! The speed limit was soon thereafter dropped from 70 to 55. I always wondered if our class had something to do with that change in the law.

• Pamela Comprone... taught "creative writing" in 1973. So incredibly beautiful that young men would "pray" to get into her class each semester. One of those few teachers who would take the class out on the front lawn in the spring.

• Saturday night dances held at Guardian Angels across from McNick High School.

• Seat belts on most cars were an "option" and rarely used by anyone.

• Sneaking out behind the bushes in the front of the school to catch a smoke between classes.

• "Cigarette checks" by various teachers in the restrooms. They'd usually just confiscate them.

• "Office skills" such as typing... taught in the "white building".. quite a walk from the high school to those classes!

• Junior High classes (7th & 8th grade) held at Anderson Elementary building... shop classes (wood/metal working) held at rear of school.

• First year ever for Maddux Elementary and kids from the class of '74... 5th grade, 1966.

• Sitting in the balcony seats of the Anderson Elementary theatre/Gym, circa 1963/64, watching 35mm films including Disney's Fantasia!

• Lunches, including a carton of milk, at Anderson Elementary in 1962 was 35 cents! Moms would often tie the change in the corner of a handkerchief so boys wouldn't lose their milk money. Lots of boys carried a handkerchief back then.

• And going waaayyyy back... crossing guard duty at Anderson Elementary, 4th grade, when a religion class was held at the Methodist church across the street! Imagine... a public school sending kids to a religion class once a week at the neighboring church!! You'll never see that in todays "climate". We had to cross forest road for this and one kid each week got to wear the orange "waist-belt" and carry the stop/go crossing sign. Very big honor!

• Hornschmeir's grocery at corner of Beacon and Sherman (Shermer?). You could collect pop bottles and turn them in here for 2 cents each. Great way in the summer in to get enough money for a Barqs creme soda and a candy bar. Lots of people just tossed their pop bottles out car windows into the roadside "gutters." By the time you walked from home to the store, you had more empty bottles than you could usually carry. Circa... 1961.

• And even further back to the very beginning... Mrs. Eyles kindergarten class at Anderson Elementary, 1961. She had the class make houses, glued to construction paper, out of empty 1/2 pint milk cartons. You stuck a fat pencil as a telephone pole in a blob of playdoh next to the little house. As soon as you could recite your address and phone number, you got to attach a piece of string (phone line) from the pencil (telephone pole) to the "house". Very stressful test but we all learned our addresses and phone numbers. Shared that same class with George Beitenhaus and Ken Ayers, among others. This was the true beginning of the class of '74. Very few of our class actually "served" at Anderson from kindergarten thru grade 12. Quite a tour of duty! Lunch (snack) was a couple of cookies and either white or chocolate milk. It cost 5 cents.

• The old church at Brook and Salem... and the old apartments that lined the street next to the church. All gone now.

• There is a beautiful home at the corner of Brook and Salem. Large, white victorian style. In the early sixties, that house was almost completely obscured by trees, bushes and overgrowth. It looked very, very haunted. More interesting to the kids who grew up around that area, there was an old Trolly car, abandoned and sitting behind that same house... hidden behind large trees and brush. How it got there or where it came from, no one ever seemed to know. It was a great "haunted house" around Halloween.

• I imagine many folks had forgotten about the balcony theater at the old elementary school. That was an amazing piece of architecture and not something you'll likely ever see in a modern school. Of course, the reason for it was that it also served as the community theatre for local performers in the 1940's and 50's. It was the place to see a "show" before there were any movie theaters or drive-ins around Anderson Township.

• How about Woolworths at Beechmont mall? Favorite high school kid hangout when cutting class!

• I remember sneaking out of class in the White Building, going to McDonalds to get burgers and fries, and trying to get back into class without getting caught.

• I remember going out to the phone booth in front of the school, and calling into the office to get “your child” out of class for a dentist appointment.

• I remember the Home Ec class sitting outside the school in the grass while we learned about personal hygiene.

• Foxmoor Casuals in the Beechmont Mall.

• I remember the dress code in Junior High. It was pretty tricky trying to get up those steps without getting called back down to put on one of their “loaner” skirts.

• I remember the boys wearing wigs so that they did not have to cut their hair.

• I remember Cotton Day.

• I remember elephant bell bottoms.

• Does anyone remember the spring floods? We'd go down to the end of Asbury or Five Mile and look at the things that would float by. There was usually a roof or two visible. We always thought that it was unfair that the kids who lived along the river didn't have to go to school!

• Who remembers "Bubbles" being streaked at a choral concert?

• The Fallout Shelter in Anderson Elementary's Art Room

• I remember slang books, with who is the cutest girl, who is your favorite band? free pages.

• I remember white slips in the Jungle High office

• I remember DTs from Mr. Bartholomew

• I remember swats from the big woman French teacher in the Jungle High.

• I remember swats from Principle Strorer

• I remember swats from Bunch/Craft in shop (Son, get your head out the buzz saw)

• I remember Ben Ellis telling me I was gonna get suspended (I got out of it)

• CJ Hyde had a 1957 VW with Johnny Bench autograph on the headliner inside

• Riding double with Terry Johnson on his Yamaha 350 to Anderson, and riding a wheelie as we crossed Beechmont from the mall to Forest.

• I remember Stroh's 3.2 beer

• I remember what a rest room looked like after a pipe bomb went off

• I remember twin bridges on senior skip day.

• I remember the band Red Bone at Kings Island grad night.

• I remember the class of 73's group of Seniors barrelling down Forest Ave., blaring their horns enthusiastically--and the butts hanging out the windows of those cars as they blasted past!

• I remember when we really believed we could change the world - end hunger, provide adequate medical care and safe and affordable housing, educate people, even ensure human rights. And our legacy is.....

• Handy Pantry across from Dunkin' Donuts

• I remember getting "screwed" out of senior skip day, which should have been the Friday after graduation rehearsal - "you don't have to come back to school tomorrow" - was bad news for anyone who planned on skipping that Friday

• Using the trail behind Clermont Springs Dairy to go and get ice cream on hot summer days!

• I remember Jill Sauls walking around the Police station with a clip-board getting everyone's name, phone #, and parent's name for the cops after getting busted on sr skip day.

• Driving like a bat out of hell on Lawyer Road

• Kimmy, Jody, Jill, and Booger…”So Queer!”

• Stairway to Heaven…”Our Song!”

• Rugged Ron Woyan.

• Discovering, in 9th grade, that Mr. King raised rabbits to eat them.

• Realizing that Mr. Ferris, "Greg", was totally cool. Mr. Siemer hated Greg, which proved he was cool.

• The enthusiasm and dedication that made Mr. Wesp the best teacher at Anderson.

• The first performance of West Side Story at Anderson in 1974.

• CPO jackets. Not really sure what the "CPO" stood for, but they were jackets that looked liked regular shirt

• Mr. Hebling at Coney in his speedo

• n earlier post indicates a memory of "CPO Jackets". The author wasn't sure what the term "CPO" meant. CPO jackets were popular from the 1930's thru the early 1970's and are still available today. The jackets were designed by the Navy for military enlisted personnel and were first issued in Navy Blue with large Navy symbol Buttons. The "CPO" stands for "Chief Petty Officer". The jackets look more like a heavy shirt than a jacket and were/are made of either wool or cotton, usually with large chest pockets and typically no lower pockets for your hands. Hand pockets were not necessary as it considered "un-military" looking to walk around with your hands in your pockets. The civilian market began producing these in the 1940's, often in plaid colors. The "big-brother" to the CPO jacket was the officers P-Coat. Now you know!

• I remember making floats for the homecoming game and Elton John's Madman across the Water album.

• Checkers Auto Care Center across from Cherry Hill Plaza

• Go-cart track and rental across from Nordyke Road

• Liberal Food Market next to Fashion Fair

• UDF next to Clermont Springs Dairy trying to run it out of business - they lost and Alfred/Tootie Spitzmiller won out

• When Prilla Road was a dead-end road

• When Pamela Road was a gravel/rock road with many holes through to Beechmont

• Basketball inside the Seminary gym near Nagle Road

• Jerry's restaurant (Frisch's ripoff) next to Sohio at Salem/Beechmont

• Beer drie through behind Daily Doughnuts

• Putt-Putt golf course

• Sled riding down Apple Hill

• Sled riding at Stansbury Park in Mt. Washington

• Hamburger Heaven in Mount Washington

• Circus held where Beechmont Mall was built

60 Second drive-in across from UDF and the pharmacy on Beechmont. Taking a bus to Anderson Elementary, back to Maddux and then all over again in the afternoon while living one block away. The bus literally went right by my house but they wouldn't let me off! (no sidewalks built when the school opened early so EVERYONE had to ride.) GPOH and their huge carnival every year. The old cinder track. The "swoosh" the door of the bus made when it opened. Albers in Mt. Washington. Raisin bread (with the delicious icing on top) from the Mt. Washington Bakery.

What do you remember? Let us know and we'll add it to this section of the website!