1957: Sneaky Utilities and Help for Housewives

A look back at Lemon Grove, 54 years ago this week.

Call for Election: Lemon Grove School Board members Frank Armstrong and Palmer Svalstad represented the town in the Grossmont High School District Board decision to build a junior college on an 82-acre plot just east of El Cajon. A Feb. 1 election of a new college governing board was needed before bond posting could start, eventually leading to building construction at a cost of 14 cents per $100 assessed valuation.  

Of 30 people attending the meeting, 20 called for an election “immediately” while 10 called for “more study” of wider boundaries and broader tax basing. Svalstad was in the “immediately” camp, while Armstrong sided with the negative vote.  

For the record, the election didn't occur until Nov. 8, 1960, and the first meeting of the Grossmont Junior College Board was held on July 1, 1961. The first classes convened on Sept. 11, 1961 on the Monte Vista High campus. The actual college campus was still six years away. 

Top Banana Goes Nuts: Vernal Wilkinson, 10, Edgerton Drive, and James Stevens, 45, Circle Drive, were kicked by a runaway horse while watching the Mother Goose Parade in El Cajon. Nine others were also injured and numerous spectators scattered as “Top Banana” ran wild in the streets.

Young Wilkinson recovered from a kick in the head, while Stevens had a flareup of an old football back injury. 

His owners, Leroy Bertschman, El Cajon, and Robert Bradley, San Diego, were charged under the State Agricultural Code, which makes horse straying on public thoroughfares a misdemeanor. The number of horses in largely rural East County in 1957 almost equalled the human population, hence the importance of regulations for equines keen to kick over the traces.

Fighting Back: Roy Nielsen sued Helix Irrigation District for $21,865 when work on a 4-million-gallon storage tank next to his property at Olive and Costa Bella forced him to endure sandblasting “for days,” ruined new paint work, necessitated installation of a sprinkler system to keep down blowing dust, and caused him “pain and suffering.”

His attorney, Kenneth Barwick, called the suit ”inverse condemnation”—when a citizen sues a public agency. No word at press time on the outcome.

Over the Top:  Lemon Grove's United Fund campaign, chaired by Mrs. Frank Armstrong, was the first in the county to top its $2,000 quota. Contributions totaled $2,312,52 or 104 percent of the goal.  

United Fund supported 100 health and welfare charities.  

“We did it with a lot of help from local businesses and clubs,” said Armstrong.

The second phase of the fund drive kicked off on Dec. 1 amid the sound of church bells, ships' whistles, roaring lions in the San Diego Zoo (how'd they get the felines to roar on cue?) and the county air-raid siren.

Silver Savings:  The Lemon Grove Boosters Club, comprised of local merchants, kicked off the holiday season in solid silver fashion: They offered $500 in silver dollars to the lucky winner of a coupon stipulating that all $500 must be spent in Lemon Grove stores (how'd they make that happen?).  

“Nothing to buy, nothing to guess, need not be present to win,” sang the ad. Dec. 23 was the magic day to announce the winner. Participating stores offered discounts up to 50 percent, free photographs of the winner's family, a turkey from Food Basket, 3205 Imperial, and a rump roast from Piggly Wiggly, 7825 Broadway.

Looking Good: Lemon Grove's numerous specialty stores wooed holiday shoppers with words like “chic” (Lowe's Toggery),  “snappy” (Lane's Men's Store), “outrageous figure flattery” (Williams of Lemon Grove), “the fashion-minded Dad” (Lane's Men's Store), “handsome cowpoke” (Acme Boots), and “cute little party feet” (Children's Bootery).  

McMahan's Furniture, Broadway at Olive, took on tonsorial splendor with a no-money down electric hair clipper replete with shears, barber comb, attachment for butch and crew cuts, and “How to Cut Hair at Home” booklet—all yours for 50 cents a week layaway on the $9.88 cost.  

“Hair cuts 1¢ each,” exulted the ad. Plus, remember those unbreakable molded nylon combs? Jeepers, you got one of those, too.

Christmas Revelry: Clara Sonka of Sonka Bros. Store fame (today, Grove Pastry Shop) was slated to conduct a Dec. 13 workshop, “The Art of Wreath Making,” for the Lemon Grove Women's Club in their Olive Street clubhouse.

The 75-voice Helix High choir was booked to warble carols while guest Rev. Donald Cooke of Lemon Grove Methodist Church was scheduled to give the Christmas message.  

True to the mores of the time, all of the women were identified by their husbands' names (“Mmes. Louis Lechien, Frank Armstrong, Paul Harvey, Hal Crow, Vol Latson”) while single women were known by their given names (“Miss Ruth Bell”). 

A Hot Oven Is A Hot Oven: In a three-quarter page ad, SDG&E urged shoppers to change to a modern electric range: “Yes, Ma'am, you can prepare tender, juicy meats automatically when you cook electrically!”

The ad vowed that an electric range would free the Mrs. from “hot oven slavery,” keep walls and curtains clean, provide simple controls that even a child or a husband could master, cut down on food waste, and help all humanity live better lives through electricity. Wow!  

But on the front page of the edition, readers learned that SDG&E had applied in November to the Public Utilities Commission for a 2.26 cents per 1,000-cubic-feet of gas and would apply for a second rate increase by Dec. 31. Cost to Lemon Grovians?  Another 15 cents a month.

Neck and Neck: SDG&E's request for more moolah was bested by Pacific Telephone's plea for 35 cents more on one-party lines, 10 cents on two-party lines and 5 cents on a four-party line. So, while the party line neighbors listened in on your conversations, you were helping Pacific Telephone increase revenues by $12 million a year. Yet, somehow, according to district manager Bill Collins, those with a flat rate, two-party line would pay $3.35 a month instead of $3.25, excluding those pesky taxes. The Public Utilities Commission spent a reported 2.5 hours studying the application.

Compiled by Helen Ofield, president of the Lemon Grove Historical Society, from newspapers archived at the H. Lee House Cultural Center.