Where were you in '62? When WE were American Graffiti.
Where were you in '62?
When WE were American Graffiti.
Article for Keystone Motor Car Club-----------------
In the small,town I lived in as a teenager, we drove the "main drag" from the Dairy Queen on the North end of town to the South end which was the A&W. Downtown was alive with the sound of Rock and Roll music
from car radios all tuned to the same WSAT station. Russ McIntyre was our local "Wolfman Jack". From my upstairs bedroom I could listen to Dick Biondi at WLS in Chicago. Stores were lit up or open and people went "window shopping" by walking around on the downtown sidewalks, saying hi to each other and looking in the windows.
If we didn't have a car, or not proud of what we had, we would find a parked one on the main drag across from the S&W cafeteria..........and lean against it as if it was ours and yell out greetings to the kids who drove by. Robert Myers had a light blue 55 Chevy with no front bumper. Mayfield drove a jacked up in the back 1940 black two door Ford and they also had after school jobs to pay for it. I don't recall what the rich kids living on Fulton street did.
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Al's Nighthawk was "Mel's Drive In" to us. It was in an old ice cream place on Highway 601 with a dirt parking lot, but he sold pizza. It was the same "Original Crispy Pizza" pre-fab crust that was sold at every drive in movie I ever went to. It was rumored that Al also sold beer without checking ID's.
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Years later I went to my high school reunion, and Friday night we gathered at THE NEW AL's NIGHTHAWK.
Al had sold out and moved a few blocks toward town. Al had not changed. The pizza had not changed. The parking lot was paved.......
In high school, John Bulla had been a bit of a hero, since he had once driven a dirt track stock car, and people were talking about it and he was re-living his glory days in his memory. John couldn't join us for Saturday at the Country Club Dinner since he was a truck driver and had to work the next day. He may not have had the $35 for the dinner.
Looking back, the kids who raised hell in high school had grown up, got married, had kids, bought a house and were now raising hell as partners for life.....and they were laughing about old times.....because Al really DID sell beer to teenagers!
I learned something about life from that........you never go back to your first reunion or even the first 5, 6, 7, 8 or so. You give time for life to level things out......and plenty of people have nothing left to brag about 10 or 20 years later. Nice guy that I am, I was not going to destroy the high school hero by mentioning what I had done since high school. Some people peak early.
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Saturday dinner at the Country Club they passed around the microphone and I was one person who knew how to use a microphone. I thanked them all for being the inspiration that had propelled me to greater things.
It is true that a lot of people never move far from where they were born. In that small town becoming a member of the Country Club may have been the biggest thing they would ever do.
We went to IHOP after the dinner. I sat half way down the long table. Wealthier on my right, less well off on my left. In the days of knights and kings they always had an elaborate salt shaker that separated the commoners from the noblemen. Commoners were "Below the salt". I thought to myself that on that night, it was the syrup selection that divided my reunion class. Across from me a classmate talked about their experience collecting some autographed racing memorabilia.
There was no need for me to tell anyone that I had been to Daytona many times or anything else that I've done.
I am still the nice guy and will not destroy the dreams of someone else.
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They say that you cannot go back there again.
You cannot go back there, because "there" isn't "there" anymore.
Life is a strand of pearls, and once we move to another one, we cannot go back.
Let's remember the people and the memories the way they were back then.
We should never go back there again.....and destroy the memories of when WE were American Grafitti.
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Oh, and Wolfman Jack?
He was a real DJ before American Grafitti.
After American Graffiti, he hosted the Midnight Special on TV for many years.
The blonde girl on the painted sign behind the current stage at Old Town Kissimmee was "Little Darlin".
After the Midnight Special, Wolfman Jack opened the Rock and Roll Emporium at Old Town Kissimmee.
Two years later Wolfman Jack went to Rock and Roll Heaven.
The building is gone. Wolfman Jack is gone.
You can forever hear his recorded voice during the Old Town Saturday night Cruise.
But only if you can go back there........
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From the past.......
Little Darlin's Rock N Roll Palace
Old Town, Kissimmee
"Little Darlin's" opened in Old Town in Kissimmee in 1986. In 1991 it became known as "Wolfman Jack's Rock'n'Roll Palace".
It closed in November of 1992.
Wolfman Jack, American Grafitti cars and other songs....
American Graffiti (1973)
Joyce Wnuk
Published on Oct 9, 2016
A couple of high school grads spend one final night cruising the strip with their buddies before they go off to college. (under settings, try .75 for sound speed)