The "Spirit of Eddie."

High school has usually been the defining years of what the rest of your life will be. In San Francisco, you were pretty much bussed everywhere, and your high school was generally assigned to you by a combination of your grade average in JUNIOR high, and how far you might live from there.

Richard did pretty good in school, despite being one of US, and went to Lowell, along with George, Wayne & Randy. Ed & Billy went to Polytechnic, Sonny's dad had passed away, and their family moved back to Oakland. Paul Padilla & I ended up at Galileo.

It pretty much broke up the OLD "rat pack" because there was no time to "plan" during the day, what we were gonna do that night. But maybe it was for the better..........we were 15, heading for 16 and 17, so it was time to start "maturing."...................right.

Let me set the scene..........Galileo High is situated in the North Beach area of the city about 2 miles from Chinatown. If you've ever been to the city, and taken a cable car ride down to Fisherman's Wharf, the end of the line is down by the Ghiardelli Chocolate Factory. Galileo is about a block & a half northwest up the hill there on Van Ness St.

Joe DiMaggio attended Galileo. So did O.J. Simpson, and the "Bazookaman" one year behind O.J. I KNEW O.J., as he TOO lived on Potrero Hill. We didn't run in the same circles after school, but we knew each other by name at the time.

Galileo also overlooked Aquatic Park, San Francisco Bay...........and from the 3rd floor of the school, you had an excellent view of Alcatraz. We had a lot of bums in that school, and I've often wondered if that's why so many were sent to Galileo, so we could look at "the Rock" and it would make us want to be better citizens!

Well......in any community you've ever lived in, there's always an "Eddie Haskell" living there too. The little "wise guy" from "Leave it to Beaver" even lives on today in 2010. One of OUR little "spirit of Eddie's" was Tony Granada. You name it, he'd done it, or was PLANNING on doing it. Thus far, he'd always managed to stay a "jump or to ahead" of the cops.

The OLD "hooligans" scattered to the logistical winds of the city, it just seemed natural to mingle-in with new ones. At best, Tony was the rude & crude version of the "Fonz." But he wasn't as cool. And he was a thief, (not that it was anything new to ME or Paul), but where our old bunch snatched a few candy bars and hubcaps back on the "Hill"--------Tony had broken into places and committed a little burglary from time to time!

At school, he'd snatch things he couldn't even use! I mean, what would a guy who never did homework, need with a stapler & paperclips from a teacher's desk? I think to HIM, it was important to grab at least SOMETHING on a daily basis, just to "keep in good training."

ANYWAY..........as we were all coping with tougher classes now, and such...........John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Everyone was shocked, angry and saddened. Everyone but Tony. He was ecstatic, because there would be no school for the next few days as the nation mourned. That would also mean a lot of businesses closed for a day or so---------------nobody around watching their wares, while we were all glued to the television sets. You KNEW that Tony wouldn't be glued to HIS!

We all wonder occasionally, whatever happened to this person, or that person...........

Sometimes when I'm watching COPS or 48 Hours, I get to wondering where Tony is today, serving time somewhere? Shot DEAD?..........might even be a CONGRESSMAN somewhere, where he can steal LEGALLY! Who knows.

But those early 60's years were also a frustrating time. Teen hormones were in full bloom, the girls were a lot prettier than you remembered them being, back in the elementary school days when they all had the "cooties". At the same time, we were old enough now to get our "learners' permits" to finally be able to drive.

The cars back then were to DIE for! When we were stealing candy bars, all the guys used to dream of having a 55 Chevy, a 40 Ford coupe, or a 57 Oldsmobile with those cool-lookin' chrome ROCKETS on the fenders! When you were waiting for the school bus, and some 19-year old came rumbling by in a hot rod with those glass-packs "barkin'", slicked-back hair and a chick sittin' beside him---------------------oh man, that was "REALLY BOSS" (a teen slang back then).

Well, if you lived in neighborhoods that most of US did, you couldn't scrape up enough dough for a dirt bike, let alone a 63 Stingray, or one of those great GTO's that had just come out. You could listen to the "Beach Boys" singin' about them all day long, but if you grew up poor, it was out of the question, unless you were upright and ambitious enough to get a JOB...............and no self-respecting "hooligan" would do THAT. It was always "better" to hang out on the streets with your buddies, your Brylcreamed combs and your blackjacks, and just be "cool."

That always "impressed the chicks"..............right ladies?

Well...................when we were Seniors (which in itself was a miracle, but I think a lot of teachers GAVE us just enough grading to pass, so they wouldn't have us again NEXT year)............we were allowed to go "off-campus" to eat lunch.

Tony & I are sitting on the long concrete steps of Aquatic Park looking out across the bay. he says, "Hey man, Polytechnic's having a dance Saturday night, wanna go crash it?" "They ain't gonna let US in without activity cards" I said...............

"BUT".........I've got a couple of old friends who GO there, and they can probably engineer something. We both agreed that was the thing to do. Most of the girls at Galileo KNEW us, and wisely didn't trust EITHER of us.

But NONE of the chicks at POLYTECHNIC High knew us..................hee-hee-hee..........

I called Billy & Ed. They didn't have dates either but they were going, and they knew a few others who WEREN'T planning to go, and would lend THEIR activily cards for a buck each.

Saturday night. Tony meets the 3 of us outside the gym at Poly. HE has a car. I never remember him having a car, didn't ask him where he got it, and probably didn't want to know anyway. He's got a backseat full of blankets, a little beer, and well..........we had already planned our own "after-the-dance" activities..............no need to go into that here.........

But FIRST you have to have the GIRLS. We eased into the dance with our "borrowed" cards, but had no real luck all night. How any Polytechnic gal could turn down all of this "Galileo Charm" was beyond US!"

The dance wound down and people were starting to leave. We went outside and waited............then, as if Alladin & his Magic Lamp had "poofed" in our direction, here they came..........4 of 'em together...........oh yes......1,2,3 and 4. The math was PERFECT----One for EACH of us! They weren't the prettiest ones there as I recall, but "nobody's ugly after dark' as they say these days.

Since it was obvious that nobody had asked any of them out, (because they were travelling together), they'd just naturally be GRATEFUL that 4 of us "knights in shining armor" had come along to rescue these damsels in a dress----------uh, I mean damsels in DISTRESS.

They were about to get into a little Volkswagen Beetle, when we walked up, and Tony starts "chattin' em up a little, suggesting they go out with US for awhile. (We might have had a little better luck if his car hadn't been parked so close to theirs, and if he had thought to load those blankets in the TRUNK, where they couldn't be so readily seen!) Idiot.

No dice. They were going home.

"They ain't goin' NOWHERE" Tony whispers to us. "Just do like I do!"

He got up behind their little car, grabbed the left side of the rear bumper, motioned the rest of us follow, and we EACH got a piece of bumper, left-to-right, standing side-by-side, and on-cue, lifted the rear-end off the ground! I was standing next to Tony, Ed was next to me and Billy was on the right side.

It's not a problem for 4 in-shape high school seniors to jointly hold up the back end of a Volkswagen. Now, for the record, the girls DID asked us nicely to put it down and leave them alone.

"We WOULD" of course, just as soon as they agreed to go out with us. A couple of them started to panic, but the one who was driving did NOT. She cranked it up, put it in REVERSE, and the RPM's started coming up, those rear wheels going faster and faster.

We're standing there huddled together, holding the back of this car off the ground, drive wheels a rearward BLUR now, toward US. We didn't DARE put it down now...........we'd have been run over, (not that an early Beetle would kill you if it ran over you, but it would sure as heck mess up your day!)

We were all young and strong, but couldn't hold it up forever, and we were now starting to breathe the heat & exhaust. In short order, it was US "begging" to be left alone!

The girl behind the wheel let off the gas pedal, engine went back to "idle", she stepped on the brake pedal so the wheels would stop, then she looked out the window and screamed back toward Tony..............."NOW PUT US DOWN YOU A--HOLES!!!"

As if on cue, the 4 of us dropped it immediately and scattered back to the sides. They quickly backed up, turned it around and headed out the gate.

That was probably the last time any of us every listened to any of Tony's bright ideas! Not too long after that, Tony stopped coming to school. Nobody ever saw him again and his phone had been disconnected. I keep thinking I'll see that "little spirit of Eddie Haskell" on C-SPAN one of these days.

A curious thing though, at Galileo. I never remember any gang fights there, as we sometimes had on Potrero Hill. I think it was due to the mixture of cultures. Situated in North Beach, there were a lot of Chinese and Italians going to school there. There were black kids, hispanic kids, a bunch of us knuckleheads from the Hill, and some from out in the Marina District. Ethnic-wise, there was so much of EVERYTHING, that there wasn't enough of ANYTHING, to form any "dominant groups," and eveybody pretty much got along.

I think I saw more after-school-fights in JUNIOR high, than I ever did at Galileo.

By this time though, if you wanted to fight, all you had to do was enlist. It was the summer of 1965 and Vietnam was starting to heat up.