Friday, March 5, 2010

Growing Up Geeks

Signal Hill, CA -- As a high schooler in the 70s, Citizen Band radios were the craze. I had a CB radio with a towering antenna along side the house. Movies like Smoky and the Bandit, Convoy and Corvette Summer were only a few out of nearly a dozen flicks that featured CB radios with cool truck drivers sporting clever handles and talking in code.

Back then, my buddy Dean also had a CB and an even taller, more conspicuous antenna. Yep, we were the neighborhood geeks and proud of it!

The bulky CB radios eventually gave way to cell phones, Facebook and texting. However, as this photo suggests..., it appears that some adults never grow up; they continue to compete for the largest antenna in their back yard. Then again, the town they live in is called Signal Hill.

Happy Skywatch Friday.

6 comments:

Eleonora Baldwin said...

What was your breaker? ;)
Have agreat weekend

Ciao

Unknown said...

My handle was "Ski Jumper" and my buddy's was Waffle Stomper."

Anonymous said...

Great shot, very nostalgic to look at. In the SFV those were everywhere back then, and still are in some areas.

Thanks for the visit. You should try to get to the Poppy Reserve this year, the scenes are astounding.

Pasadena Adjacent said...

I've been up this way. More shocking then the towers is to discover gated communities atop Signal Hill. I used to love cruising that area back in the punk era of oil derricks and wild looking weed-scapes.

Last time I was here, I went to the park and caught the Tongva beating away on drums with the sun setting. That was cool.

Brenda's Arizona said...

Are the towers for real - part of the houses?
My husband was "Big E", his mom was "Lady Bug". I was "BJo". We sound like rapper names now!

Unknown said...

The towers were actually there well before the homes were built. Signal Hill's name actually has nothing to do with the antennas; native Indians used to use the hill to send signal fires.

The homes were built a few years ago around the antennas as well as a few working oil derricks. During the 1920s oil boom, there were over 100 derricks on the hill. Locals affectionately referred to derrick-covered hill as "Porcupine Hill."

Today there is a park on top with great views of LA, Long Beach and the one of the largest sea ports in the world.