Friday, July 30, 2010

Good Ol' Summertime

First of all, thanks to the more than five-hundred of you who visited my first post. I'm amazed at the response. Your comments are terrific - funny, memory-jogging, and an all-around good discussion about drive-ins - the hub of our teenage social lives. What would we have done without those places to hang-out? Our lives wouldn't have been the same if we hadn't been cruising back and forth between the Triangle and Charlie's with Al's and the Chatterbox conveniently located in the loop. In addition to the good food, checking who else was hanging out was equally important!

If you think of a comment you want to add about drive-ins, by all means go back to the drive-in post and click on comments at the bottom of it. The option to add comments (on all topics) will always be available. We'll be picking up new readers as we go along so keep adding comments as you think of things to say. No topic is finished so go back and read them too.

Continue to spread the word about the blog. I hope we can recruit people from other high school classes from the 50's and 60's. When you visit the blog, be sure to leave comments. As I said before, the comments section is where the action is.

Since we've had our share of heat waves this summer, let's talk about where we used to go swimming - the town pool, lakes, rivers. Which ones did you like and which ones did you not like? Did you go tubing or canoeing or boating? How about Sliding Rock? Back when we were teens, there were no lifeguards, safety features, or dressing rooms. I've heard lots of good stories about Sliding Rock so I know there's plenty of material out there.

A special thanks to those who emailed me. It was great to hear from you! Contact info is on the first page if you want to suggest a topic or just say hello.

I look forward to hearing about everybody's swimming experiences.

Go Blue Devils!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Drive-Ins and the Best Drive-In Food

Growing up in Brevard in the 50's and 60's was a unique experience in a unique place. Years before "Happy Days" rocked onto our TV screens, we lived the real thing. In our small town, everybody really did know everybody else. We had a compact business district where we could buy everything we needed to survive, a bustling economy that provided good livings for many families, and more than enough activities, fun, and mischief to keep kids and teens busy.

This blog is created to collect the memories of those of us who grew up in Brevard. If y'all are like me, you talk and laugh with friends about the places we went and things we did but nobody takes time to write down stories that are too special to be forgotten. We've changed and the town's changed - our memories are the testament of what it used to be like.

I plan to post a new topic often with some thoughts of my own to get the discussion rolling. At the bottom of each post, you can click on "Comments" and add your own recollections to mine. Instructions on how to comment are included if you haven't tried it yet. It's easy and fun once you get going. Make sure to leave your comments under the appropriate topic of interest - it'll be more fun for other readers if the comments are all on the same topic and make them easier to find if you want to reread a post or add a comment at a later date. Also, it'll be more fun if you identify yourself by name and BHS class year or the years when you lived in Brevard.

My first topic is "Drive-Ins and the Best Drive-In Food." Drive-ins were not only places to eat, they were integral to our social lives. Whether it was for an after school Coke or an evening out with friends or a date, a stop at one of the drive-ins was a given. In my teen years, the drive-in hang-outs were the Triangle, Chatterbox, Al's, and Charlie's Chicken Kitchen. When I was much younger, I went with my older sister a few times to Sam's Drive-In at the intersection of the 4-lane and Old Hendersonville Highway and to another one in Pisgah Forest, possibly called McCall's. I hope some of you can fill us in on these earlier spots.

Three things all drive-ins had in common was a loud jukebox, a crowded parking lot, and inexpensive food cooked to order. In this first post, I open the conversation with the question - What was your favorite drive-in and why? Or your favorite drive-in food and what made it special? My personal choice for food is the hot dogs at Charlie Owenby's Chicken Kitchen. A hot dog was just a hot dog until Charlie topped it with his special chili. Add a few chopped onions, a little mustard - the best hot dog ever!

This blog is intended to be fun and to record our recollections in one location where we can all read and enjoy them. Please don't report anything that's hurtful or slanderous. This is about being a kid and teenager in Brevard.

I need for everyone to spread the word about this blog - email your BHS friends, send it out on class email lists, anyway you can think of to get people involved. And urge them to leave comments to share with all of us. This involves audience participation, folks. It doesn't work if you read other people's thoughts without leaving your own!

Be sure to click on Comments directly below the end of this post and read what others had to say - this is where the action's going to be! When you finish reading the comments, leave your own. I want to hear from everybody!

Go Blue Devils!