You know you are from Hollister if …
Any locals who are on Facebook likely have seen the
”
You know you grew up in Hollister, CA if …
”
page, which as of midweek had more than 2,000 members and there were nearly 5,000 posts.
For all of its time-wasting qualities, social media does sometimes fulfill its social role as in this instance, when it allows people to share or jog memories of days gone by.
You know you are from Hollister if …
Any locals who are on Facebook likely have seen the “You know you grew up in Hollister, CA if …” page, which as of midweek had more than 2,000 members and there were nearly 5,000 posts.
For all of its time-wasting qualities, social media does sometimes fulfill its social role as in this instance, when it allows people to share or jog memories of days gone by.
It’s interesting how many of our recollections are shared by others, in varying levels of detail. Many of them look back on high school days in the 60s, 70s and 80s, when Hollister was even more insular than it is now.
Entries on the page, like these that follow, certainly stirred up memories in me:
High school typing teacher Mr. Dilley, whose lessons on the old electric machine gave me skills that I’m still using as I write this. I still remember the hand-held microphone that he used during lectures and how he would scrape it against his chin to make a scratching sound. It makes me wonder what idiosyncrasies my students will remember about me 25 years from now.
A few people said they still feel the need to apologize to their San Benito High School teachers for the grief they caused. I remember those teachers and I know what those people are saying. Will the students that cause me grief feel badly about it later? I hope so.
Some people recalled swimming at Bolado Park and having fried burritos at A&W downtown. Others remembered when the shopping center that now houses Kmart and Taco Bell was an empty field and there was a drive-in theater on Cushman Street.
A number of people remembered the parties at the water tower on Quien Sabe Road. Some remember sliding down the side of Park Hill on cardboard. One guy said you definitely are from Hollister if you owned, lived next to or saw a walnut orchard every day.
Many people simply said they were glad there was an outlet to remember “the good old days” and a few suggested turning the idea behind the page into an actual “Old Hollister” reunion or picnic. One thing about th is town is that people may talk ill about it and try to get away from it after high school, but for many of them it still is the source of the best days of their lives.
If you’re not on Facebook and you want to share some “You know you grew up in Hollister, CA if …” remembrances, shoot me an e-mail and I’ll run some of them in a future column.
Adam Breen teaches newspaper and yearbook classes at San Benito High School and is a reporter for The Pinnacle. He is former editor of the Free Lance. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] and you can follow him on Twitter @AdamPBreen.
