Polytechnic High School

Dottie and I went to Polytechnic High School in Riverside.  In my diary I wrote, “A big school and all spread out.  Do not like the school.”  Thank goodness the bus ride wasn’t as long as the one to Central High School.  We had combinations for our book lockers and our physical education lockers.  I sometimes had dreams that I couldn’t remember the combinations or remembered the wrong one.  It was hard making friends, but eventually Dottie and I did.  We went to Poly from November of the tenth grade until November of our senior year.

For some reason I don't have too many memories of Poly.  Here are some that I do have:

- It was big--a huge campus and lots of kids!

- I worked in the library instead of having study hall.  I liked it very much.

- When I was bored in class, I would peel the polish off my fingernails and put the pieces in my textbook.  I tried to take the polish off each nail in one piece.  By the way, the color was usually pale pink or white.

- I went to the junior-senior prom.  I wore a yellow dress.

- I took a year of Spanish, but didn't do that great.

- I took driver's education and got my learner's permit.  The car that we drove had buttons on the dashboard to change gears (park, reverse, drive).  I don't remember what kind of car it was, and I couldn't find anything on the Internet.

- In biology class, we dissected an earthworm and a frog.

- This shy teenager didn't like showering after PE class.  We undressed in our area, then walked to the shower, which had water spraying along both sides of a hallway-like area.  At the end, we grabbed a towel to dry off and went back to our area to dress for our next class.

- Dottie and I went to several football games with neighborhood friends.

  In September 1962, Dottie and I sat in one of those photo booths to get this picture.  I'm on the left.  Click on photo to see a bigger version.