PICNICKERS SHARE TALES OF OLD SIMI; LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL CLASSES OF '24-'52 GATHER FOR EVENT.Byline: Don Holland Daily News Staff Writer When dozens of longtime residents gathered Sunday at Strathearn Historical Park, it was a day for lazy conversation, picnicking with friends and remembering a quieter time in Simi Valley's history. Chuck Taylor, who lived in Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. from 1944 to 1978, came from Mississippi for a reunion of Simi High School classes graduated from 1924 to 1952. The Sunday picnic, organized by the Simi Historical Society, was one more chance to get together with friends, take another look around the old stomping grounds stomp·ing ground n. A customary territory or favorite gathering place. Also called stamping ground. and talk about the changes. ``When I was growing up, there were about 2,000 people,'' Taylor noted about his years at Simi Valley High School Simi Valley High School is a secondary school located in Simi Valley, California which was established in 1920 as the first high school in the valley. It nestles in the Santa Susana Mountains and is adjacent to the San Fernando Valley, part of the city and county of Ventura. , which graduated him in 1947. Now, he pointed out, more than 100,000 live in Simi Valley. Longtime resident Juanita Stovall fondly remembers the small town where everybody knew each other. ``Everything revolved around the church and the school,'' Stovall said. Those were the days when Bert Stevens was the only sheriff's deputy in town, and seven families shared a telephone line - the old party line. In some early telephone service, an operator connected all calls and had an inside line to every last snippet A small amount of something. In the computer field, it often refers to a small piece of program code. of small-town gossip. ``If something was going on but you didn't know what, you'd crank the phone and ask the operator,'' Stovall said. Jess jesse, jess a leather strap placed around each shank of a hawk used for hunting, for the attachment of a leash. Brown, a graduate of the Simi High class of 1952, remembers the area before it was rocked by the housing boom. ``Where they used to have little shacks, they're building $300,000 homes now,'' said Brown, 70, of Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. . ``What used to be the wrong side of the tracks is now the right side of the tracks.'' The small-town atmosphere is gone for good, he said. ``Now you go somewhere, and you don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. anybody, and you don't even know where the streets are,'' Brown said. ``I'd say it's still a good place.'' CAPTION(S): 2 Photos PHOTO (1--Color) Visitors walk to a picnic Sunday for longtime Simi Valley residents and Simi High School graduates from 1924 to 1952. (2--Color) Ruby Taylor Stevens, 85, right, born in Simi, and Linda Varble Claire chat. Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News |
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