Fast Times at Clairemont High
By John Barrientez
Most of you who graduated high school between 1970 and 1990 are familiar with Cameron Crowe’s classic book and screenplay made into the movie “Fast Times and Ridgemont High”. There has been much written and claims made about what high school “Ridgemont High” was fashioned after. I suppose it could be any number back in the 70’s, but I am here to tell you that it was in fact based on our own Clairemont High on the corner of Balboa Ave. and Clairemont Drive.
I graduated in 1974, a couple of years before Cameron Crowe did his “undercover” work that provided the inspiration for the characters and stories in his book. Mr. Crowe, to this day will not divulge the school that he attended as a faux student to get the inside info for his book. Those of us who were there during those years happen to know the real life Jeff Spicoli, Mark Ratner, Mike Damone and Mr. Hand. Mr. Crowe says most of these characters were a montage of different people but I believe that some of them were actual real life individuals.
Many of us, who were there and lived it, do agree upon one thing though, that his book and the subsequent screenplay and movie truly captured the essence of the time. That’s what this story is about, some real life people and situations, which hopefully also capture the soul of this precious period in my life.
Of course, as Cameron Crowe did, I will have to change the names to protect the innocent, although none of us were all that innocent.
My first year at Clairemont High School was in 1972. At that time I was hanging around with the “Spicoli” dudes. Our regular routine that summer was to ride our “Goofy Foot” skateboards down Balboa Ave., then down Garnet Ave. and then head north to Marine Street. Our days consisted of body whomping the shore break all day trying our best to get a decent ride without breaking our necks. “Bill and “Ted” were the true locals there and you had to get a head nod to body surf there. “Territorial” is an understatement for protecting surf locations in Pacific Beach and La Jolla back then. But there was much more respect given back then, rarely did it come to fisticuffs. There was the occasional drug use at the beach but not epidemic quite yet. The weed back then was 10 bucks for a 3 to 4 finger lid, often depending on the amount of seeds and stems. Of course, the THC levels were so low it would take 2 to 3 fattys to get a good buzz. At the end of the day, we would head up to La Jolla liquor store on the corner of La Jolla Blvd. and Marine
St. to buy a loaf of fresh baked bread for 25 cents then the long skateboard ride home across Pacific Beach and up the hill to Clairemont. Sometimes we would ride out to Wind ‘n Sea and bum a ride from one of the old dudes... usually a 20 something surfer burnout….our heroes of the day.
There was a party every Friday and Saturday night back then, and even some during the week. It amazes me how we were able to communicate without modern technology to the extent of getting 100 people to show up at an address with just a couple hours notice.
Sometimes we would even have parties at non addresses like “South of the Hilton”, “Under the Bridge” or “Black Mountain Road” Most of the good parties were in PB. To this day, every street in Pacific Beach and Mission Beach remind me of an epic party. The parties in Clairemont were ok but you could usually count on a fight or some kind of hassle from the cops. It seems like the drug use in Clairemont was a little more rampant and there was a small contingent of “hard” locals that liked to cause problems.
My second year at Clairemont in 1973 was again a year of great parties and drugs but it was a year mostly about the music. .I started dating “Karen” this year and I was introduced to a whole new group of friends, most of whom had gone to Cadman Elementary and hung out together as a group all through high school. Every Friday night we would score a lid, a couple bottles of either Boones Farm Strawberry or Spanada and head up to Cadman Park overlooking Mission Bay. We would catch a mild buzz and talk crap about geeks and jocks. This is the year that most of us really got into the music scene. The San Diego Sports Arena was the place, really the only indoor venue to see a great show. The awful acoustics at the Arena were a non-issue back then. It was all about the scene. That year we saw Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull and the Allman Brothers. Dating “Karen” came with some great perks, besides the obvious. She had some very hot girlfriends that knew some of the local roadies that helped set up the shows at the Sports Arena. We were often able to get backstage passes but when we didn’t, the girls had to “sweet talk” their way in. There is a scene in the movie “Almost Famous” when William Miller is trying to get through the backstage door; I almost had a “window pane” LSD flashback when I saw that scene. It is so right on, right down to the hideous yellow sport jacket worn by the fat guy guarding the door. I was very seldom allowed through that door without a pass. I was lacking certain female body parts. The girls would have to get back stage, finagle another pass and sneak it out to me. Those were the days.
Rock albums were a big part of our lives back then and we would spend all our extra cash down at Tower Records buying the latest classics. And I do mean classics in 1973 like Pink Floyds Dark Side of the Moon, Elton Johns Yellow Brick Road and the Eagles Desperado. That summer we also started to do some camping (see photos). We did trips to the Colorado River, the OTL tournament in San Felipe and multiple trips to the La Jolla Indian reservation. Those were great times. I really didn’t think it could get much better or crazier.
But of course it did in my senior year, 1974. This was the year of the famous “Modoc Massacre” Modoc street was the street running along the east side of Clairemont High. Amazingly, almost every Friday morning before class, between 7am and 9am there would be an impromptu party right across the street from the school. There would be beer kegs, bottles of MD 20/20, mediocre marijuana and pretty much any drug of the time available for the going rate. So after multiple complaints from the local neighbors, the school administration in conjunction with the San Diego Police Department planned their famous ‘sting” They had vans with tinted bubble windows taking pictures of the kids partaking at these parties. After they matched the photos up with names with the help the “Calumet” our high school annual, they arrested numerous students for drug and alcohol use. Parents were notified and the “morning parties” as we called them were over. 1974 also brought more great bands to the Sports Arena. That year Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Yes, David Bowie and Elton John came to town. The great albums that year were David Bowies Diamond Dogs, The Doobie Brothers What were once Vices are now Habits and of course Steely Dans Pretzel Logic.
I could go on and on with concerts and albums but the real stories live within the people that lived these great times with me. Some of us occasionally get together for informal reunions and parties (some things never change) and the occasional formal reunions (40 years fast approaching) We reminisce and tell lies about how wonderful our lives are now. Of course, we all know deep down inside that there was never a time more wonderful then the Fast Times at Clairemont High
September 24, 2012