05/11/10
Where do you live now? Walker Pass
How many years were you in the desert? 35
Are you willing to help with pictures? Might have some
Are you willing to help with stories? Not really
Comments:
Just wanted to set the record straight on the Walker Pass Lodge burning. Unfortunately the Lodge was not insured and the owners were quite devastated when the fire occurred. The final cause was attributed to old wiring. They really had no money to rebuild and to rebuild up to Kern County code would have been even more prohibitive. They still have the property and the mobile across the street. We really miss the place and would have loved it if they could have rebuilt.
05/05/10
Where do you live now? Arcata Ca
How many years were you in the desert? 23yrs
Are you willing to help with pictures? no
Are you willing to help with stories? yes
Comments:
where is 702B Essex cir, China lake,ca my house used to be on the corner of Essex and lexington.did they all get demolished?
Let me know.do u have a picture of the area,now?
thank u kathryn Olsen
05/04/10
Where do you live now? Canyon Lake, CA
How many years were you in the desert? 22
Are you willing to help with pictures? Yes
Are you willing to help with stories? Yes
Comments:
I lived in China Lake from 1956 to 1977.
I really loved living there.
There was so much to do. In the summer, it would rain and fill up the gully from Nimitz past Landry and by the Bank of America building. We would get in the water and float down past the bank.
The Officer's Club pool was always a great place to be. I remember they would have big plates of French Fries that only cost 30 cents.
I liked riding my bicycle everywhere and it was actually safe. Today, my kids can't ride too far out of our community because of the crazy people grabbing kids.
I was a teenager when I got my first motorcycle and I could ride it out of my back gate, down the alley and into the desert.
The schools were good schools, not like the ones that we have today where we have to find a good charter school to get our kids an education.
My friends and I would go to B mountain and hunt for lizards or just climb up the rocks. It was a lot of fun.
As I look back, I couldn't wait to get out of that little community. Today, I wish I had stayed and had my kids grow up there. Only my house on Nimitz street is gone and most of the people live in Ridgecrest.
The wildflowers are simply beautiful and there are so many places to go out there. I used to go to Grapevine Canyon and Sand Canyon to hike and see the scenery.
One of my friends and I climbed Mt Owens in a day and set up a ham radio and listened to people talk in Las Vegas. It was fun. Getting down was a little shaky since we had to scramble down rock slides.
All in all, it was a great place with many things to do like hiking, fishing in the Lone Pine Creek and the Owens. But you had to drive to get to those places.
I think of Ridgecrest as the gateway to the Sierra.
Thank you for this site,
Bard Monson
| Stephen and Terry Compton | Email |
05/03/10
Where do you live now? Soledad, CA
How many years were you in the desert? 20+years (1978-1999)
Are you willing to help with pictures? Yes, Sims, Porter in Rocketown
Are you willing to help with stories? Yes
Comments:
I lived in Ridgecrest from 1978 on. In 1979 I married Terry Thorpe (Breckley) and we moved to China Lake wiht Cathy (5) and Kelly (3). I went to work for China Lake Police Department.
In 1979 I became a Police Office for Ridgecrest and we moved into Rocket Town, four house east of Ridgecrest Elementary School (Name Changed after Faller's F86 crash) August 13, 1979 - U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Theodore "Ted" Faller lost his life when his QF-86 Sabre suffered an engine failure moments after takeoff. Ted managed to bring the stricken aircraft down in a vacant lot 600 yards south of the Ridgecrest Heights Elementary School, later renamed Faller Elementary.
[We also lived on Porter and Sims]
My some Ken Compton (current Army CID Agent) was born in Ridgecrest and the three children have many friends from High School still living in the area.
We did all fo the things familys do on base recreation and city recreation programs.
Terry worked for the Kern County Municipal Court and I worked for the City as a police officer, and worked up to Support Services Manager to Assistant City Mgr/Support Service Director. Terry and I left the community when I took the position in 1999 as Assistant City Manager/Finance Director for hte City of Indio CA. We talk all of the time about the "City in the Desert".
I attended and taught Police Science courses at Cerro Coso Community College for several years.
Now may years later as Kids have grown and gone off to other wars (Some not coming home) we miss the area even though I rode the family into the community around 12oo midnight on a friday evening. Lots of Street Lights!. Boy was the next morning an awakening.
05/03/10
Where do you live now? Crescent City, CA
How many years were you in the desert? 6 years
Are you willing to help with pictures? Do not have any.
Are you willing to help with stories? Do not know many.
Comments:
I graduated mid term from Burroughs in 1961 and joined the Army. It was funny to hear President Kennedy came to China Lake. When he came to Germany, I was put on guard duty. Oh well. After the war, I was saddened to hear my class mates Ralph Folkes and Timbo Rezzerdini had been killed in Vietnam. We had classes together and also played basketball and ran track. They were too good to end that way. After an auto accident, I worked my way through college at SDSU and ended up as a Microbiologist in Clinical Laboratories. Now I am retired and live by my other love, the Pacific Ocean.
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