Today, as adults, we live in a stress filled environment and when we see photos such as these, we begin to reflect on our lost innocence. The magical aspects of life from Santa Claus to Cowboys and Indians are gone. If you feel the same as I do, sing my guestbook or send me an Email.
When you look at these faces, what do you see in them?
Does anybody remember the Twilight Zone episode "Walking Distance" where a man walks into his old neighborhood and sees himself (as a young boy) and his father of his past in the front yard of the house that he lived in as a kid and realizes that he has mysteriously been brought back to the past? Suddely he remembers all the wonderful things about his childhood. Well, I would like to experience that. And if I confronted my past self, I would give him this advice: "Enjoy your youth while you can. You won't understand now, but one day you will!"
Below is an updated list of what I know of the whereabouts of the people in the photos and lists.
1. Ronny Davis (yours truly) and his parents left the Neenach St. neighborhood and moved to Arkansas in November 1970. My parents divorced and I moved to Sikeston, Missouri with my Mother in 1976. The long journey of life currently has me being 45, single, and currently employed with Cardinal Health-Pyxis Products in the Kansas City, MO area.
2. The Rogers (Kenny, Elizabeth, Richard, Tommy, Billy, and Mary) moved from Sun Valley, California to Pennsylvania in 1969. They came back for a visit in the mid 70's. Thanks to this website, I was able to reconnect with Elizabeth Rogers. Her family are scattered throughout the United States. After the Rogers moved, the Chastain family moved in their house. Their parents divorced with their father staying in Pennsylvania and their mother moving to North Carolina. Kenny Rogers is currently doing camera work for the drag racing circuit in Pennsylvania. He grew up to be a huge guy and he even did some WWW heavyweight wrestling stints; Elizabeth Rogers lives in Mar Vista, California and runs a research support operations headquartered in Santa Monica, CA; Richard Rogers lives in Ohio where he works for a pump company and he travels quite a bit; Tommy Rogers lives in Florida with his wife and they own and operate a health/fitness/physical therapy clinic in Daytona Beach; Bill Rogers does camera work for ESPN and ABC and handles the PGA circuit. His home is currently in Philadelphia; Mary Rogers lives in Greensboro, NC close to her Mom.
3. Casey Mosier is in his 40's and I am still in touch with him via email. We were great pals back in the sixties. We seem to have a competition going on as to who got the great toys first. He seemed to beat me out everytime. He ended up with the Mattel Strange Change Machine before I did. See my toy page for toys WE JUST HAD TO HAVE.
4. Charles Mosier (Casey's brother) may be living in the Lancaster area. He is married with one child. The Mosiers left Sun Valley, California in the mid 70's.
5. Toni Downey is married and an inside source has told me that she is now known as Toni Allen. She has since moved away from Neenach St. Her father continued to live there until he passed away last year. The thing I remember about her was that she was part of a large family with lots of older brothers. They consisted of Mike, Phil, Patty, Johnny (who babysitted the Rogers kids), Ricky (who taught Elizabeth Rogers how to ride a bike), Kathy, Antoinette, Toni, and Crissy. Toni's whereabouts are unknown but Elizabeth Rogers did hook up with her at Venice Beach in the 80's.
6. Bradley Hoshiko lives in the Modesto, California area. I do not know the whereabouts of his sister Carrie Hoshiko. The Hoshikos lived directly behind Ronny Davis (me).
7. The whereabouts of brothers Raymond and Eddie are unknown. Thanks to Elizabeth Rogers, I now know their last names...Manglers...yes...that's right...Manglers
8. Lori Kelly moved from the Neenach St. neighborhood in 73/74 to Saugus. Sometimes she was referred to as "Lorne Greene" since her Mom wanted to name her after Lorne Greene. Her current whereabouts are unknown. She had a little brudder that everybody called "Doodlebomb". However, thanks to email from Trish Chastain and Elizabeth Rogers, I found out that his real name was Jarvis.
9. Michael Powell was living on Peoria Street with his parents (Betty and Johnny) in the late 70's. I paid a visit to them in February of 2001 and found out that he has since moved to Arizona and he is an Electrical Engineer. From what I learned, the last big quake in LA prompted his move to that area. The rest of Betty and Johnny Powell's kids (Bennie, Brenda, and Andy) still live in the Southern California area. Phyllis Powell (youngest daughter) passed away in the late seventies due to a car/ pedestrian accident.
10. Chris and Jay Chastain were one of the last kids to remain on Neenach street. I remember going back to the area with my Dad in 1978 (I was living in Missouri at the time visiting California) and walking down Neenach Street at night and pitch dark and seeing two teen blond headed boys climbing the tree in their front yard. I thought about saying "Chris...Jay...Is that you?" but due to the 8 year hiatus, darkness, and sudden abruptness of the situation, I decided not to say anything lest they think I was some kind of stalker. Their parents left that area when the Lockheed facility moved out of Burbank to Kennesaw, Georgia (circa 1991). I reconnected with them thanks to this website. I actually didn't know that Chris and Jay had a younger sister (Trish) and, according to her age, she must have been born about the time we left California. Chris lives in North Carolina and Jay lives with his parents in Powder Springs, Georgia and he manages a chain of restaurants called Jason's Deli. Toni Downey babysitted for Trish.
11. James (Jimmy) West reportedly runs a tattoo parlor in the valley. Jimmy West lived next door to Ronny Davis. I always heard a rumor that his Dad was the drummer for the surf rock guitar group The Ventures but I've never been able to verify this.
12. Mark, Shane, and and their Mom, Carol, were friends of Ronny Davis's Mom (Mary Sue Davis). Their last name was Brucewitz (spelling may be off). Their whearabouts are unknown.
12. The Wolfs lived on Redbank (one street over from Neenach St). There were three sisters whose names were Jackie, Penny, and Candy. There whereabouts are unknown. I learned from an inside source that there brother, Chuck/Chuckie, died of leukemia while in high school. Some actually thought that I had a crush on Jackie (or was it Penny?).
That is the latest information I know. If any of this information is faulty or incomplete, let me know. Just hearing from you will be splendid!
LATEST NEWS! (1) David Rice was a kid that lived on the corner of Peoria and Neenach Street. He had a brother by the name of Jimmy (and a sister but her name escapes me). Their omission on my part was that I didn't actually remember them, but due to correspondence from Trish Chastain and Casey Mosier, his facial features are coming back to me now, and if it's the one I suspect, many apologies to his mother because I believe he was the one that I stole a Creepy Crawler spider from. Sadly, he passed away from colon cancer on Jan. 14th 2003. His passing is just a reminder how time ravages us all. And one day, when time takes us all, we'll all be back on Neenach Street again. (2) Does anybody remember Brian Christen who had the alligators on Rialto? (3) Does anybody remember "Big Marty" Martone and his desert turtles? (3) Does anybody remember the Vela's on Neenach? (4) Rumor has it that Robert and Marty Henry still live on Amboy Street which was the street that connected Peoria with Neenach. (5) Does anybody remember the Wulstein's (Ricky and Melody) by Fernangeles Elementary School? (6) Does anybody remember "Glenn and his motorcycle"? (7) I have since been contacted by Michael Goto thanks to Classmates and this website. He is living in Sacramento and he works for DST Output.We were school chums at Fernangeles.
One last pose for old times sake.
A MAP OF THE NEENACH STREET AREA
Other persons I am currently searching the wherabouts of: Mr. Kornfield, Mrs. Klarin, Mr. Echols, and Mrs. Kornfield (Fernangeles Elementary School Teachers)
