Al Peffley

ADDENDUM MEMORIES -

As my friend Phil Lampman said last week,..."being a former denizen of Lou's Drive In", I remember going to the Spanish Castle to attend PNW and national band events before the trajic accident of the young girls running across Highway 99 and being hit fatally by a truck in 1966, and thus ending the Spanish Castle's use as a ballroom as we knew it in the early to mid- '60's.  Pat O'Day at KJR arranged for and managed many band events there as this KJR graphic below shows: I still remember the Castle's neon lights around its roof.

Phil Lampman is still trying to recontact with Dick Gerber, the well-known guitarist of the Statics (last known to live in Tokeland, WA.) I also knew Karl Peters (RIP), the Statics' drummer (Karl's in the back row with glasses in the 1963 PR photo below.) Phil lampman and Dick [now Richard] Gerber were good friends since they were in grade school. I knew Dick from attending south end dance gigs, car cruising encounters, and meeting him at local private parties. Dick sometimes played for tributes in Tacoma and costal/Pacific County jazz bands after his retirement. Dick Gerber was well known in south Seatlle for his 1955 canary yellow Chevy Nomad equipped with MT mags and his '57 Corvette cars. His brother was also a musician.

The Joers' Blockhouse Restaurant was located right next door to the Spanish Castle off of Pac Highway 99. It was a popular home-cooking,  "knife & fork place" to eat (as my former father-in-law was fond of calling it.) It is also long gone. My parents frequented both places in the 1950's. They loved to dance.

I would often meet Ron Joers [I called him "Ronny"] at Lou's in Burien. We would then go to Pizza Haven on 153rd and Ambaum at least once a month for a late supper after getting off of work. Ronny loved their chicken and black olive pizza. I was told Ronny died in his sleep (RIP) during a late night beach house fire at Alki after I went to Naval Air boot camp at NAS Memphis, Tennessee. By 1973 the remodeled Blockhouse restaurant was run by his mother after his father also had passed. Ron was a true gentle young man and a great friend. He is missed. A Walgreens and a Shell station now occupy the two historic Pacific Highway 99 locations. The Des Moines History Museum has a few items and photos from the Spanish Castle days to view.

Tim Jones (Jones)

Those are some good memories and photos of the Spanish Castle.  I only attended the Castle once, and it was rocking. Think it was the Statics playing that night. 

Great photo of the Statics with Merrilee Rush and Tiny Tony. 

I attended a Statics gig in the parking lot on Ambaum across from the bowling alley. It was the first time I heard a Hammond B-3 organ with a Leslie speaker. Anyone know what year that concert was? 

Good days and good memories. 

Tom Nixon

The Gerbers were on my Times paper route when we lived near Sea Tac airport. I lived on 14th south and they were a block over on 13th. I must have been around 14 and my buddy Charlie Rose that lived across the street from Gerbers, got us an invite from Dick to attend his bands practice in his folks basement. Only memories are how loud the drummer was, they had this cool Wurlitzer juke box that didn't require any coins and a really cute dark haired girl that was there. I've always wondered if that was Merrilee? Dick Gerber was always teasing us young kids about "going all the way" with our girl friends and other stuff that was way over my head. 

Al Peffley

Merrilee married Neil Rush and they formed the TURNABOUTS band after they left the Statics. Gerber moved on to play with a new PNW band. "Angel of the Morning" was Merrilee's national hit (see hyperlink below). Both the Statics and the TURNABOUTS also played in the Target Ballroom that was a converted indoor archery range  [ thanks, Bill] building located at 5 Corners. The old Target location became a Highline School District Admin. Services site the last time I visited around 160th in Burien. My memory of "the Target" was that many fights broke out during weekend band night gigs there, and especially when the Statics played there in the mid-'60's. Tiny Tony was certainly no wall flower entertainer in the day. The attendees from the Government-managed Rainier Avenue and White Center Housing Projects usually started the fights with the Burien and Des Moines boys over some girlfriend attending the dance who was flirting with local boys. Band members would quickly remove Merrilee from the building when crowd troubles started at the Target Ballroom. I am sure that influenced Neil to form the TURNABOUTS. The violence was bad PR. I never remember seeing out of control fights inside the Spanish Castle when the Statics played there. They had better security during teen band night events. I attended three Paul Revere & the Raiders shows at the Spanish Castle before we graduated in 1964; all of them were excellent dance entertainment events.

http://nwmusicarchives.com/artist/rush-the-turnabouts-merrilee/

Ronald Goodmansen

Was at the Castle once to see Jerry Lee Lewis.  Can't remember much about it.

Al Peffley

Tom,

Your parents' house on 14th So. and the Gerbers' house on 13th must have been sold for the *1968-planned Second Runway Expansion and Main Runway lengthening airport changes. Did you then move over to Normandy Park? You must have lived only about five or six blocks away from Bruce Bliven's 9th Ave. So. house next to Miller Creek in the day. The Statics also practiced in the basement at Sue Nye's house on 9th Ave. So. Her older brother knew some Statics band members. I remember visiting Bruce in about 1962 or 1963 when they were practicing at the Nye's house down the street. Bruce and Sue were in the HHS Class of '62. Bruce and I have been close friends since the late '50's. Our parents and Betty Reece's family all had cabins on Mason Lake. Now Bruce and we have adjoining Wallowa Mountains view property over in Enterprise, Oregon. It's a lot further than Mason Lake, but just as beautiful to take in. Bruce lives there full time, while we are planning to build a small, second home over there (if the economy settles down.)

Al

Note* - 1 Sept. 2022 Revision about SEATAC expansion and area homes buyout.

Virginia Wolfe (Scheffer)

Hey Al, a bit of, it's a small world....my nephew, Dan, is married to Bruce Blivens daughter, Amy.

Al Peffley

Yes Virginia, Dan and I have visited during Bliven family BBQ events at Bruce's house several times over the years. Dan & Amy work(ed?) for UPS and FedEx, I believe. Bruce has four children (three boys and a daughter) with Kathy and at least two step children with Nancy. both prior wives died of cancer (RIP). Bruce's grandson, on Nancy's family side, is a Naval Air P-8 Poseidon patrol aircraft (ASW) pilot. Brad, Bruce's oldest son, was a very close friend to my deceased son, Rob. Blake (Amy's youngest brother) and his family have left Seattle and also recently moved over to Enterprise, Oregon, near his dad. Brad and Brent still live in Washington, to my knowledge.

Virginia Wolfe (Scheffer)

Well Al, it is a small world afterall!  Last time we saw time all, we went to Hawaii to celebrate Dan's 50th!

Al Peffley

Bruce was born in Hawaii. I remember seeing photos from the family trip.

Virginia Wolfe (Scheffer)

Hawaii is one of our favorite places, next to Florida, of course! Ha

Al Peffley

After doing a little research, the Target Ballroom was created inside of the indoor archery lanes building, like Bill told me, and not the Highline Lanes Bowling Alley (another example of the "Mandella Effect"? - LOL!)  Even a person who used to work there in the day confused the two buildings. I did not realize how many bands actually had been featured there during the 1960's.  We lived not far from the Burien Tavern on Ambaum from 1946 to the early 60's (on 9th Ave. SW) -- we called it the "knife and gun club" because of all of the fights and shootings that broke out there on music weekends in the late '50's.

There are some interesting comments about the Target Ballroom and the Burien Tavern (a well known roadhouse in the early days of Burien when the horse/electric trolly tracks were still running down Ambaum from Seattle to 152nd SW) on this pnwbands website page:

http://pnwbands.com/target.html

I have been to and lived briefly in both Hawaii and Florida. I prefer the individual freedoms and diversity of places to "play" ( swimming, car & boat racing events, etc.) of Florida over the unfriendly and more restrictive) Hawaiian culture of today. I was deployed to both NAS Barber's Point and Jacksonville ("JAX") air bases. I worked on NASA/USAF Manned Space programs and Air Force/Army/SOCOM weapon system programs, respectively, for both Boeing and LTV Aerospace in Florida. The con side of Florida is the excessive humidity and barracudas and poisonous jelly fish along the eastern Florida shore diving areas (not to mention the hurricane season.) Both states have sharks near the popular swimming beach areas. I don't skin dive anymore, but still have some residual diving gear. I got my NAUI certification while at HCC just before going on active duty into the Navy. Hanauma Bay State Park in Hawaii is a wonderful place to dive and see tropical fish, as long as you stay away from the sharp coral reefs during high wave action and during shark sighting warning times. Sharks are really dangerous for swimmers on the Gulf side of Florida beaches (like the Suger Beach swimming areas.) Body and board surfing is popular in both states. I body--surfed in Florida only at Daytona Beach during the right incoming tide times. i wouldn't be able to do that in my '70's with this degraded body condition - LOL!

Hanauma Bay State Park, Hawaii, Aerial Photo

Virginia Wolfe (Scheffer)

Al, you are bringing up all kinds of memories from younger years. I thought I was deprived as a teenager.  Not so much, I went to all those places.  Lots of fun, until the fights started.  Yikes! 

Lynn Britton

Al, you are right, Hanauma Bay is an amazing place.  I was first introduced to it in the late 60s when I went to visit Kip and Linda Martin while he was stationed in Oahu in the Navy.  After discharge they remained there and worked for Kaiser Permanente.  We went there several times when I would visit in the following years.  It was always the same and always beautifully different, depending oon the time of day and year.  We also went to Bellows AFB several times where they also had a wonderful beach area.

Steve Morris

Wow! Nostalgia, ahoy! Thanks to Al and others that posted good stories and pictures. Saw the Wailers at the Castle and even caught one of their last performances at The Cove for a HHS Class of 63 reunion. Buck was the last one to go and I miss them all.

I used to live on Des Moines Way across the street from the Olympic Bowl and could hear the Statics practicing on Mondays. I used to walk by Randy Bennett's house on the way to HHS and always admired his beautiful green Ford. My buddy Skip Morehouse filled in with the Statics when Merilee was pregnant and you bet there were some interesting stories! Keep on rockin' in the free world!

Steve Morris

Our classmate Dave Scott and his family all live in Weed, CA. They've lost 100 homes there recently. I haven't heard from him but I sure wish they're all okay. 

Al Peffley

The Mill Fire in Weed, CA did not happen because of "Climate Change" on the West Coast. An outbuilding of the saw mill's veneer plant in town caught fire. This fire sounds like it was human-caused. Two women, ages 66 and 73, died as a result of the fire (RIP). Please pray for all of the people who lost their homes in the area, those who were sent to burn patient hospitals with injuries, and the families of the deceased. The Roseburg Wood Products mill was located within Weed. The State is responsible for draining the Shasta Reservoir to unreasonable low levels and not maintaining public lands properly to abate fire spread hazards around Weed (poor brush land and water release stewardship practices.) The County does not have a large fire department. They are lucky the Weed Airport is there to stage the fire fighting incident reponse crews and fire fighting equipment. Earlier this year (in March) the Reservoir was fuller than I have seen it in decades... Hopefully, the Scotts' family and real estate properties are still intact and OK. I don't remember how close to town Dave's residence was.

Wildfires have been so prevelent around Weed that a CDF converted Grumman S-2 chemical retardent drop tanker aircraft is displayed at the Weed Airport. i flew once as a crew member in one of the Navy's ASW S-2 Trackers out of NAS Los Alamtos, CA in 1967. Ironically, our left engine caught on fire over Weed, CA on that Naval Air flight in 1967!

Here is a photo of the retired, CDF-converted #94 Grumman S-2 Tracker that is (or was) displayed at the Weed Airport next to the I-5 Freeway; a former Navy Air Crew consisted of a pilot, a co-pilot, and two enlisted ASW weapon system operators (one of them was also the enlisted aircraft crew chief). These S-2's were carrier-launched aircraft in their Naval Anti Submarine Warfare (ASW) duties day. This aircraft is displayed as a memorial to a Navy veteran CDF pilot who lost his life during a fire incident mission ground terrain crash in a CDF converted S-2 tanker aircraft with the same fleet tail number (if I remember the story of this bird correctly).

The CDF still uses these aging and updated (turboprop engines update) fire response S-2 retardent drop tankers. The remaining CDF S-2 fire retardent drop tankers fleet is now based in Southern California.

David Scott

The "Mill Fire" in Weed started to the north east of us about 3 miles. We are on the west side of the I-5. The wind took the fire north into the community of Shatina. Our son and his family evacuated but are back now with no damage. They live on Big Springs Road the main road in and out of Shastina where many homes were lost.  A real tragedy. Our only inconvenience was no power for 4 days. I guess our sub-station melted down.

Al Peffley

Hello Dave,

We are glad to hear from you on the fire statis and that your family is OK. Buildings and cars can be replaced, but not people. God bless you.

Al & Bon

Steve Morris

Dave and family -

So glad to hear that you and your family are all safe! Must've been pretty exciting - and not in a good way. You guys stay safe and hope to run into you again sometime soon.

Al Peffley

I met a fellow Naval Aviator at a model train show today that was wearing a VP-4 Squadron baseball cap. He was reassigned to NAS Whidbey Island before he left the Navy in the late '90's (NAS Whidbey was my last duty base before discharge from the Navy in 1973.) He told me that NAS Barbers Point was decommissioned as an active Navy VP Squadron base in 1999. This will prove to be a detriment if the Pacific becomes a hotbed of naval warfare threats. Even if the P-8's patrol "reach" will span the distance gaps, the response timelines will be longer to engage a dispersed hostile threat to American soil & forward-deployed US/Allied Forces naval forces fleet assets...this is bad national strategic planning by Congress and the Pentagon, in my experienced Naval Air patrol operations and force assets assessment opinion as a retired operational system concepts analyst for Boeing Phantom Works. Imagine the mission flight lengths the crews must endure from Whidby to patrol blue water stations beyond and around the Hawaian Islands? I guess we have forgotten the strategic surveillance  and deployment mistakes that we made before the fatal WWII Pearl Harbor attack. The P-8A of today does much more than just anti-submarine warfare (ASW) missions.

I have never been to the DoD Bellows Reservation area on the other side of the island, but we landed at Barking Sands on the western-most island one time during a BMD missile intercept testing event (not to swim but to stay away from the test range area during a ASW patrol mission.) Hawaii is an interesting state to tour.

USN P-8A Poseidon ASW Patrol Squadron aircraft during flight testing in 2015.

Gregg Wilson

                        OUCH!

Anyway, back to a highschool dittie (compliments of Grant Anderson):

              "Tittle mouse gives the hard shit finish.

                                  Tittle mouse!"

Bill Engelhardt

Ken Becker

Happy Birthday, Bill Engelhardt. You don’t look a day older  

Tim Jones (Jones)

Kinda weird seeing Mike and Alan, two television icons now old duffers.