CLOVIS--- MAIN STREET, SNOW, AND CONEY ISLAND CAFE

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    "WE CAN'T GO BACK....EXCEPT THROUGH OUR MEMORIES!"---W.D.

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"HITCH-HIKING ON CAR BUMPERS"....from John L. Sieren, CHS CLASS of '51
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Back when Clovis got snow just about every year, and in an amount you could measure, and about the time we were "juniors" or "intermediates" (church-wise), there was a fine man in our church who loved kids! This was Warren Cottle. He would get some 2x4's, nail them together to look like a ladder, hook it onto the back of his pickup, get a couple of kids on that make-shift sled and drive us around town, turning fast corners! We slid all over the place---particularly when turning corners!

Another memory is when the Brakes had a '35 Plymouth with a '46 Dodge engine in it, a few times when it snowed, Levi would drive down the snowy street, and see how many times it would spin around before it hit the curb.

One last thing, and this has to do with "dragging Main Street." When we were in high school, almost all cars had rear bumpers. When it snowed, sometimes we would be at Standridge Drug, next to the State Theater. We would stand out in the street a little bit, and when a car came by---one with a rear bumper---we'd catch up to it, grab the bumper, squat down, and let it drag us the five blocks to First Street. Then we'd go to the other side of the street and catch a ride back.

You did not want to do this when it was slushy---for two reasons! One, the car might spin its back tires and coat you with ice, and the other reason was---that since the street was paved with bricks, if it were slushy, you could catch a shoe on a brick and become a statistic!

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"SLEIGHING DOWN MAIN STREET IN A MORTAR BOX"....
      from Robert Stebbins, CHS CLASS of '51
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I remember getting a ride down Main Street behind a car when there was enough snow. Someone, can't remember who, got hold of a "mortar box" (if that is what you call it.) Anyway, it was used for mixing concrete by hand. It was about 8 feet long, 4 feet wide, and had sides about 10-12 inches high. The bottom was made of tin and the rest was wood.

It may have been Jackie Boddy or Elgin Spahr who had a little two-door Austin. Well, they found an old studio cushion, put it in the mortar box, and hooked it to the back bumper of the car. It made a great tow, was comfortable, and provided lots of fun, as long as the snow lasted!

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    "RUNNING DOWN TO THE CONEY ISLAND CAFE"

           from Wylie Dougherty, CHS CLASS OF '53

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    During our junior and senior years, Jimmy Ray (now James), a buddy of mine, and I used to run from CHS at Eighth and Main to one of three places for lunch---Eugene Field, La Casita, or Coney Island Cafe. Each were about seven blocks away. We had to run to beat the little kids to the lunches at the grade schools; the lunches there were about thirty cents, if my memory serves.

    Our favorite was the Coney Island Cafe, down just south of Grand on Main Street. Our lunch there consisted of a bowl of chili, doused liberally with Louisiana Hot Sauce; topping that off, we had a big twelve ounce bottle of Pepsi with a nickel package of Tom's peanuts poured into the Pepsi! It cost us about thirty cents or so...but it was a repast WORTHY OF MEMORIES!!

    Going back to school, we sometimes looked in the window of Bud's Gun Shop and admired his gun selections, and said hello to my brother who worked there.

    We can't go back....but we can through our memories!

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MIL'S PLACE
1/06/13
Sent from my iPad