Memories

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Hide & Seek	(Dave Brunner) Okay what about those summer nights when all the kids on the street would get involved in Hide and Seek till nearly 11:00? The Kleimans had the best deep ivy to hide in, you'd never be found even in broad daylight...
Kick Ball	(Dave Brunner) I used to love the kick ball games we would have, not so much the palm trees on either side that would pop the ball and ruin the game but the cul-de-sac was the best place to have a ball game of any kind, with the long street to knock the ball up and the ivy boundries on both sides, soft ball games would usually last until the ball either went down the wash or into the bottomless ivy and get lost forever... amazing how ivy can eat nearly any size ball and never give it up isn't it?
Giant Trikes	(Dave Brunner) Remember the tall trikes we'd ride down the street? what an upgrade from the small tricycles we used to have... I remember coming down the Taylors driveway, hooking down the sidewalk and holding on for dear life trying to make the corner around the Lynches house without hitting the fence with the rose bushes growing on them. I remember Steven trying to make the corner into our driveway and turning over right into the palm tree,.... ooooh that must have hurt... he had several puncture wounds in his stomach.
Helms Doughnuts	(Dave Brunner) Remember the Helms Man would come by in that cool panel truck bringing warm doughnuts? I have never seen anything like that since but thought that was such a great idea, the back doors would open and he would slide out the long trays full of yummy fresh doughnuts??? wow!
Hey Ice Cream Man!	(Dave Brunner) Probably the best part of any kids day in the summer time is when we'd hear that familiar sound of the ice cream mans truck music playing as he'd come down apperson toward our street,... every kid would run home for a dime or quarter and line up on the street to place their order of either icecream or candy....
Houdini Made Simple	(Dave Brunner) I remember going to the mannings house and learning how to become a "Houdini" by allowing Martin, Randy and Bo Hungus to hog tie Steven, Mike and I in their garage while they went in the house to wait,... hmmm was that a tricky way to get rid of 3 little kids for a while?
Tyco Racing	(Dave Brunner) The longest electric car track in history was built a couple times all around the living room and down the hall and all around in either the Taylors or Mannings house, what fun trying to keep the cars on the track while the racing was going on, everyone had to get the same type of track so they would be compatible to add on.
Airplane Flying	(Dave Brunner) Okay the coolest place to fly a gas powered airplane must have been on our street at the cul-de-sac,... all us kids would line up on the curb while the "big boys" would gas up their planes and fire them up,.... round and round in circles until they would either run out of gas, or get dizzy and crash... now that's entertainment...
Freeze Ball	(Dave Brunner) Summer time was the best time for kids to play anything but the best game of all time must have been "freeze ball" in the Taylors back yard... what a perfect place.. a brick wall to keep the ball in, the kids would scatter until the one who was "it" would retreive the ball and call "FREEZE" we'd stop in our tracks and try to hide behind our 'SHIELDS" of trash can lids to hopefully deflect the ball away and run like mad to the other side of the yard before we'd have to freeze again... Games like that you can tell your kids about but they never really get it and it's too hard to duplicate for them to try it.... too bad!
Trash Man	(Dave Brunner) For some reason the trash man seemed to have the neatest job,.. I remember some of us would follow him as he made his trip down and back up our street watching him load the back of the truck just waiting for him to cycle the compactor.... tell me again, what was so neat about that???
City Sewer	(Dave Brunner) Remember when they tore up our street to put in city sewer lines? what a mess that was for a while,... but always a good thing as I remember what seemed like every year the Quattrocchi's sewer would back up and ooooh what a smell when the weather was hot... The old neighborhood was surely the best memories I have of my childhood, never to return again, impossible to re-create wonderful to re-live through reading the stories that everyone has been posting on this website, ... please keep this going, I'm loving it...
Arrows	(John Taylor, Jr.) Dave's memory on airplane flying reminded me of another "activity" we did in the street. I remember several of us once got some bows and arrows (real arrows, with metal tips). Someone would shoot the arrow strait up in the air, while the rest of us would hold a slab of plywood (approx. 2' X 2') above our heads. The object was to see which one of our pieces of plywood the arrow would hit on the way down. I'm sure this little game went unsupervised by any adults - hard to believe our imaginations could come up with something so stupid - I cringe when I think what my reaction would be if I saw one of my kids doing that today.
The Band	(Larry Kleiman) My whole life just flashed before me reading the "memories." I'll try to list only a few so as not to bore anyone. First of all, thank you for being the best neighbors and not kicking my band and me off the block, as we learned to "play" guitars and "sing." I'm sure the last 2 years of Free Enterprise were better than the first 2! I never became a rock star, but I did have some songs published, and won one of the first "LA Song Contests" on Channel 11's P.M. Magazine with Mary Hart the host. Harry Chapin (Cat's in the Cradle, Taxi) selected and sang the song - I wrote the lyric and he wrote the music.
Baseball	(Larry Kleiman) Baseball collecting was fierce competition. Fortunately, I was a Dodger fan, Gary a Giant fan, Billy an Angel fan, and Martin a Yankee fan. Speaking of baseball, we had the best games, whether at the end of the block or at the top. Either way, we went through a lot of dimes chipping in to replace the many broken windows from all the line drives. We were the best block team in the city - I bet we coulda beat anyone's butt!
Pitch and Catch	(John Taylor, Jr.) Larry just reminded me how much playing baseball was a part of the block. Not just the normal game (breaking the little triangle pane on our garage window so many times), but also other "games" we made up. What did we call it when we would hit the ball to a group of kids, who would then roll it toward the bat in the hope of bouncing it past the batter and getting to hit next? The most "imaginative" game was something Larry and I called "Pitch and Catch" - we would stand in his back yard and throw the ball back and forth, taking turns as pitcher and catcher. We could imagine ourselves through a whole 9 inning game, full of hits, runs, great catches and outs, all just by tossing the ball back and forth to each other.
Halloween	(Larry Kleiman) Halloween meant setting up a haunted house at the Mannings and scaring all the little kids. The best one was when it fell on a Saturday night, and we could spend all day setting up and making the eerie recordings. Does anyone remember the block party we had? It was pot luck, following a swim party at THE pool at the Q's. It might have been July 4th?????
Skateboards	(Larry Kleiman) The evolution of the skateboards was also memorable. First, a loose board on some skates, then the nailed-down version (we sat down of course), and then the smaller boards on which we stood (Martin and Johnny were great riders, but Bobby was the biggest daredevil).
Birthday	(Larry Kleiman) My best birthday ever was my surprise 10th. It was the April right after Kennedy's assassination, and the Beatles had just appeared on the Ed Sullivan show. We put mops over our heads, plucked some rubber bands, and pounded on desk lamp shades, and sang "OOOOOOOOOOOOOhhhhhhhhhh" in a high pitched voice (She was just 17........).
Drive-in	(Larry Kleiman) The drive-in was tops. I can still remember Ann Margaret doing that wild dance in tight peddle pushers and a yellow blouse, singing "Bye, Bye, Birdie ....." at the beginning and ending of the movie - my first movie star crush. Too bad the trees finally grew up and blocked the view.
Survivor	(Larry Kleiman) It was terrific living next door to the Taylors because Clea was always baking some delicious treats and bringing over a generous portion, and John Sr. was the handy dandy man. I still say to this day that if I ever became stranded on a desert island, I would hope to have John by my side, because he would know how to be a REAL SURVIVOR, and besides, he would get us out of there in no time.
Dreams	(Larry Kleiman) I still have dreams about the days living on Langmuir as if it were yesterday. There will never be another Langmuir!
Best Friends	(Marianne Quattrocchi Grant) My first memory of Langmuir was the day the kids from across the street came over to meet the new kids who had must moved into their favorite kite flying spot, and there she was, Linda Taylor. It was love at first sight and from that moment on we were Gidget and Patty Duck and the Bobsey Twins all rolled up into one great, big, wonderful, best-friend ball! So it began, or journey into "The Langmuir years".
The Vacant Lot Club house	(Marianne Quattrocchi Grant) In those days almost every neighborhood had a vacant lot and ours was no exception. There always seemed to be construction going on, which supplied an abundance of scrape wood. It didn't take long to put that scrap wood into use. A day or two, some hammers and nails from our father's garages and voila!, a club house! Linda and I were in charge of refreshments, which met lemonade and cookies. That is until Clea fired me from the kitchen because I ate most of the cookie dough. I still love cookie dough! (Guess how thrilled I was when they made cookie dough ice cream)!
Patti's wash day	(Marianne Quattrocchi Grant) OK boys, anyone remember waiting for Patti Brunner to wash her vet in her bikini and hiding in the bushes to spy on her? I do!!! I hear Patti still has the vet - You go girl!!!!!!!!!
Firetruck	(Carla Quattrocchi Grant) Do you remember my dad and Patti Brunner dressing up as Mr. and Mrs. Claus and bringing the firetruck to Langmuir for the kids to see? I think I have a picture of that to send.
Evelyn's Help	(John & Clea Taylor) Remember the big decorative rock in the Manning's front yard? One day when Steven was running around as he always did back then, even though he wore those famous leg braces, he fell down and hit his head on that rock. Evelyn had just come home from work and was wearing a pretty pink suit. She picked Steven up and came running to our house, carrying him and his face was covered with blood. At first sight, it looked like he had severely injured his eye, since the whole eye was bloody. As it turned out, he had a bad cut just barely above the eyebrow and you know how a head wound bleeds. He had some stitches and was fine but I never did know how Evelyn's pretty pink suit came through it all. Anyway, thanks Evelyn for being there to come to the rescue.
Muggs' Fudge	(John & Clea Taylor) Whenever we think of the best fudge in the world, it has to be the recipe that came from "Muggs" Quattrocchi. I remember when a group of us got together at our house and Muggs taught us how to make that delicious fudge. From that day on, it has been a favorite with our family and something that I make every year for Christmas. Our son, John, has a friend that loved that fudge when he was a teenager and always asked me to make it for him. When he would come home from college, he would come over to see if we had some fudge for him. After he was married, he asked for the recipe so his wife could make it. That recipe has made a lot of people happy!!! Thanks, Muggs.
The Gang	(Carla Quattrocchi Grant) I have so many fond memories of the Langmuir days. I remember skate boards, go carts, the drive-in movies, neighborhood parties, all the wonderful people who lived on the block. I loved being right across the street from school and being able to come home for lunch. I loved going all through school with the same kids and seeing them again at a ten-year high school reunion.
Women's Influence	(Carla Quattrocchi Grant) Some of the women in the neighborhood had profound influence on me. I always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom like Clea (of course, I've worked all my life, but it was a nice thought). Mrs. Morris was always so classy (remember the nude boy with the horse above the fireplace? I loved that painting). Evelyn taught me how to cook a couple of dishes and Beverly Vernon showed me how to make decorator icing for cakes. To this day I use that recipe for wedding cakes (I make about 4 every year). Thank-you ladies! I recently returned to L.A. for a business trip and to visit my older sister, Christy. I made a stop by the old neighborhood and as I drove passed each house I quietly whispered to myself, "Manning, Taylor, Kleiman, Morris, Brunner, Crietz, Goldsberry, Lynch, Lunch, Winchester, Vernon /Bianco and last, but not least Quattrocchi. The trees are bigger, but everything else looks so small. How big our world was back then.
Pancakes	(Carla Quattrocchi Grant) Linda and Vicki both mentioned my dad's chocolate chip pancakes in their memories. I want everyone to take heart that the old recipe is still alive (and very well) in my house. I have raised four children, two grandchildren and all of their friends on the same warm, gooey, feel-good breakfast food. I made them just today for my 17-yr-old son!
Martin	(Carla Quattrocchi Grant) I moved into the Langmuir house when I was 5 years old. On the first day of Kindergarten I could spell out my address (Langmuir is no easy task) and my last name ("nuff said there). The next year the House family moved away the first love of my life (Martin are you out there?) moved in. The Manning's and the Quattrocchi's would spend the next 15 years swimming, water skiing, and growing up together.
Diving Board	(Carla Quattrocchi Grant) Vicki remembers the diving board episode and her recollection is accurate except for one piece. The diving board was "hot" so the boys stashed it up in the hills behind McGoarty park for about a week. Later on the boys cajoled my dad into fetching the diving board in his pick-up truck. As he drove the new board home, he kept saying, in his best Hogan's Hero's impression "I see nothing, I know nothing�" A bitter-sweet note about the diving board. When I was 21, my folks were out of town and I had a couple of friends over for a swim. (By now I was living on my own and returned home only occasionally to do laundry and swim). One of the boys dove off that board and broke his neck. He died two weeks later, paralyzed from the neck down. The back yard and the pool was never the same for my parents after that tragedy.
Skinny Dipping!	(Carla Quattrocchi Grant) I'll close on a more up-beat note. I remember Marianne and Linda skinny-dipping in the pool on hot, summer night. I stole their close and called the boys over to spy on them. Such squeals you never heard before! I laughed and laughed and laughed. You know, they weren't always very nice to me. Revenge can be so sweet.
	(Steve Taylor) Here's a piece of musical memorabilia that for me, rates right up there with John Lennon's underwear: a business card of the "Free Enterprise." Since we lived next door to the Kleiman's, I was fortunate enough to get the best sound as Larry's band practiced. I really felt special when I was occasionally invited inside the garage to watch them play. To me, they were as cool as the Monkees. Hey, I still like the Monkees . . . and I still have a fond memories of Langmuir's most famous band, the Free Enterprise.
Christmas & Babysitting	(Vicki Brunner Davey) Christmas was always exciting and I've never heard of another neighborhood who went from house to house on Xmas morning to visit everyone...and finished with the best ever chocolate chip pancake feast. Those Quattrocchi's were the best! The pool was a great place to play, and I seem to remember the big kids (Johnny, Martin, Jimmy and David, and I don't know who else, but probably not the girls...yeah right) breaking the diving board one year. Hmmm... how in the world did they get that fabulous new board? Funny thing that the diving board from the high school went missing that same week??? I also remember Carla babysitting my brother and I and letting us stay up late to watch Mission Impossible. Once when we were hanging out (literally) in the tree in front of her house she was teaching us how to blow bubbles with probably ten pieces of Bazooka in her mouth when one of the boys (Steven?) thought it would be funny to pop it. Well let me tell you...Carla didn't think it was funny as she was trying to get it out of her hair! That was probably the hugest bubble I've ever seen!
Hide & Seek	(Vicki Brunner Davey) Hide & Seek on summer nights was always a big hit. We could stay out sooooo late! and where else would you be able to do that safely? The only not-fun part was that us little kids could never find the big boys (Johnny & Martin, et al). It wasn't until years later when Tom, Randy, Lauren and Darryl were older and assumed their big brother's roles that we realized they were climbing the trees and hiding on rooftops. No wonder we couldn't find you!!! I remember basketball in the Manning's driveway, pogo stick contests and handball tournaments at our house, major dodge ball games with trash can lids as shields in the Taylor back yard, and hit-the-bat. Remember Mike Price's pet crow named Hector? Or his pet monkey?
Barf Card	(Vicki Brunner Davey) I remember my brother and Carl Vernon playing with toy cannons and army men in the Vernon's garage and the cannon really shot little cannon balls. One day they were playing and Carl's German Shephard Cindy got scared or sick from the gun powder fumes and threw up on their card game of "war"...funny how they played both games simultaneously. From then on the 4 of clubs has always been known as the barf-card.
Friends	(Vicki Brunner Davey) Along with Paula, Shirlee Au was always my best friend and we still keep in close contact today. It's amazing how good friends are always close to your heart even when you're not able to stay as closely in contact as you'd like. I remember that I loved Paula so much that I wanted to have her name. We both got pixi haircuts, and we would play on her swingset forever and sing the song from that old Disney movie "Tomasina". Whenever either of our parents went on vacation, they always brought back two of every gift... one for her and one for me. My best friend!
Peppy's	(Vicki Brunner Davey) Peppy's Pet Shop...oh yeah! Pixie Stix were also my favorite. Sorry John, but I wasn't really into baseball cards. I did love to look at the animals though, and went through a few guinea pigs, and my mom bought me a pet cockatiel for Christmas one year.
Drive-in	(Vicki Brunner Davey) Remember the "big-ear" that our dads got and set up in our back yard to try and listen to the movie? Well, we solved that one later on. We bent the wire fence between our house and the Morris' into a hammock, and as we reclined we would holler for someone to turn up the volume. Some generous soul in the back row of the Edward's Drive-In would accommodate us and we had great seats...and sound! My brother must have watched Raquel Welsh in 4million Years BC a million times! Her and that fur bikini were a big hit for him and his friends! My mom remembers when Psycho was playing and the screams at the shower scene would wake her up at night....I still never have watched that movie!
The Beach	(Vicki Brunner Davey) I remember hours of playing Barbies with Jodi, "big" Vicki, and Paula. I always loved Schluva! I remember when Vicki invited Paula and me to her beach house one time and we all wore our white go-go boots and sang with Nancy Sinatra the whole way...These boots are made for walkin'. Larry's band was awesome and sometimes we were lucky enough to be invited to listen.
Babysitters	(Vicki Brunner Davey) I remember my awesome babysitter Linda being chased around the house by her brother Johnny, and Paula and I were always traumatized because they were so big and ran so fast, and we were convinced that he would really hurt her...did he? Jimmy and David Winchester had a great go-cart (also occassional babysitters). I seem to remember them buzzing around the neighborhood until the police showed up, and when questioned, no one on the street could remember seeing anything! Remember Georgia around the corner? She babysat for us too. She was a major Beetles fan and had Beetles posters all over her room. She ironed her hair, and her dog's name was Ringo. She was cool. Does anyone remember Roger the Racoon??? He would come into our house and play with my mom's hair while she worked on her mosaics.
Skeezix	(Vicki Brunner Davey) I remember Pat singing and playing his guitar, Mugg's great hugs and jolly laugh, and John Taylor calling me Skeezix all my life (and so named my dog). Clea was a second mom to me and we had lots of sleepovers -- at their house. :-) and Fred and Liz were always fun to visit. How about the big rock that the Mannings put in their front yard so no more people would crash their cars through the ivy? Their dog MoJoe was great.
Driver's Test	(Vicki Brunner Davey) Did you know that I took my driver's test at 16 years old in my mom's corvette? Yep. And I passed too, but that old guy giving me the test sure did look nervous. I remember how surprised he was when he got in the car and saw me. I just said... "buckle up please".
July 4th	(Vicki Brunner Davey) Fourth of July was always awesome at Sunland Park. I loved living in our neighborhood, having horses nearby, being able to go to the beach, a pond, lake, or river, or to the snow within an hour. The best neighborhood ever. Thank you all for helping to make our childhood so very happy and meaningful!
Skating	(Vicki Brunner Davey) Paula and I used to try and wear our roller skates all day long -- the ones with the metal wheels. If we had to use the bathroom we were in trouble because we weren't allowed to skate in the house, so we'd crawl down the hallway to the bathroom being careful not to hit the walls with our wheels. Going down your driveway and the Lynch's driveway was the scariest because they were so steep. We never quite made it all day long, but loved to try.
Pat & Muggs	(Linda Taylor Madison) Seems that most of my years on Langmuir were spent across the street, at the Quattrocchi house. Of course, Mary Ann was my age and a made-to-order best friend on the block! I can't begin to name the adventures we had together. Everyone always had fun when Muggs was around. What else could you expect from somebody with that name? To top it off, she even had a fun sister named Jinx!! But I wasn't the only kid who enjoyed the Quattrocchi's. I know that several of you remember the Saturday-morning chocolate chip pancakes served up by Pat! He was a great cook and loved sharing this fun breakfast with the neighborhood kids! That was WAY before anybody had ever heard of chocolate chips in pancakes! Guess Pat was just ahead of his time! One big attraction at the Quattrocchi's was their swimming pool, and did it ever attract crowds of kids! In those days, swimming pools weren't so common, and we were really lucky to have one in our neighborhood -- not to mention the family there who welcomed everyone over to swim in it! That was the first place I ever saw the now-familiar sign, "We don't swim in your toilet, please don't pee in our pool!" I always hoped it did the trick! Our house was always open to all of the kids, but the place to hang out really shifted in the summer! Pat and Muggs, thanks for putting up with all of us for so many years!
Going Away Party	(John & Clea Taylor) John and I just recently celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary. For several of those happy years together, we were fortunate to live and raise our family in the best neighborhood with the very best neighbors that anyone could ever have. Langmuir Avenue in Sunland, California has a special place in our hearts with so many happy memories for both of us and for each of our four children. One of the memories that we will never forget is a going away party that all of the neighbors gave to us when we were leaving to spend the summer near Washington D.C. where John worked on a special project for Lockheed. Linda was eleven years old, Johnny was nine, Paula was almost five and Steven just barely three years old. We were going to drive across the country and you can imagine what a trip like that would entail with a family of those ages. Our great neighbors had a party for us at the Goldsberry's home. They presented us with the best gift that was a real lifesaver for us and helped us keep our sanity on that long drive. They knew how many days it would take for us to make the drive and they gave us a special package for every day of travel. In the packages were all kinds of little travel toys, games, and treats to keep the kids happy. Each morning as we were all ready to start another day of travel, we would open another gift and it was so much fun to see what they would have that day. That took a great deal of thought and planning, not to mention expense, to prepare all of those packages and we appreciated it so much. We were also presented with a money tree with a lot of 'green leaves' to use for whatever we needed. Expressions of love and friendship and thoughtfulness like that really show what kind of neighbors we had on our street. Is it any wonder that they will always have a special place in our hearts.
The Wash	(John Taylor, Jr.) I don't think that's the official name, but one fond memory I have is the cement ditch running behind the north boundary of our neighborhood. At the end of the street, between the Goldsberry and Kreitz homes, was a drainage place, with a manhole cover on top too heavy for us to lift, and a slot in the curb we could squeeze into (we're talking childhood, here). A few times, I crawled through the narrow passage, which passed under the Goldsberry property for about 75 feet, and came out the wall of the wash. Of course, this kind of action was necessary, to retrieve any softballs that sailed into the drain.
Satellites & Skateboards	(John Taylor, Jr.) In the dark of one late night, I remember a gathering of neighbors in front of my house, looking up into the sky, watching a satellite go by. I think it was the first U.S. satellite. But there was one other thing I saw that night, which would be much more important over the years. Freddy Goldsberry came gliding up the street on a 18" long piece of 2x4, under which he had nailed a metal skate. I remember him demonstrating it to everyone, and turning the board upside down to show how he attached the single skate. It was the first of many in our lives. Because of that night, I always thought Freddy invented the skateboard.
	(John Taylor, Jr.) Perhaps this should be filed under "Peppy's Pet Shop," since baseball card packs took nearly every nickel I had until the much-sought-after Sandy Koufax card popped out. I got the card, but I recall that Larry got to meet him and had a picture to prove it. Still got that picture, Larry?
	(John Taylor, Jr.) The reverse side of the Sandy Koufax baseball card. Thought you'd enjoy reading the stats!
	(John Taylor, Jr.) The early sixties celebrated 100 years since the Civil War. Here is one of the Civil War cards we collected. Again, many nickels and stick chewing gum at Peppy's. I remember vividly the day Dave and Jim Winchester were packing for their move from our neighborhood - not as much for the sadness of their leaving, but for the delight when they sold me their near-complete Civil War card collection that day!
	(John Taylor, Jr.) The reverse of the Civil War card. For reference and nostalgia, when my family went on a trip through the Civil War battlefields a few years ago, I actually carried my set of Civil War cards with me.