Main Street Malt Shop and Santa Ana Drag Strip Reunion Oct. 6, 2012
By
Main Street Malt Shop and
Santa Ana Drag Strip Reunion
City Orange, CA.
Oct 6, 2012
Story by Richard Parks
Photographs by Janet Iskenderian Griebenow
Photographic consultant Roger Rohrdanz
The Santa Ana Drags and Main Street Malt Shop reunion was held on October 6, 2012 at Santiago Creek Park, in Santa Ana, California. The reunion was organized by Leslie Long, who also provided refreshments and drinks. This is one of the oldest reunions still going among car guys and gals. Since the 1940’s there were young people who would gather at the Malt Shop on Main Street. It was their main hangout and from there they would go cruising with their girlfriends. Sometimes a challenge was answered and the young people would find a place to race their hot rods. All that changed in the summer of 1950 when C. J. Hart, Creighton Hunter and Frank Stillwell organized the Santa Ana Drag strip along a road near a runway at the Santa Ana Airport, which was later renamed John Wayne Airport. Now the young people could race their cars and afterwards return to their favorite malt shop to talk about their triumphs at the drag strip.
Bill and Marie Jenks kept that tradition going by organizing a picnic on the park grounds of the Santiago Creek. When Bill passed away and Marie found it hard to continue this nice picnic, Leslie Long stepped in and kept the reunions going. Gene Ellis asked Leslie if they could make this a twice a year event and Leslie agreed. Long also had another reason to keep the reunion going and that was to get as many people as possible to attend who had raced at or was a spectator at the old Santa Ana Airport Drag strip. Leslie is a historian who loves the past, especially as it relates to what happened at Santa Ana, or earlier at the Dry Lakes in the Mojave Desert. So many of the original drag racers who ran at Santa Ana also raced their cars at Muroc, Harper, Rosamond, El Mirage or other dry lakes out in the desert. Leslie asks people to bring their photo albums and to help others identify who the people are in old photos and the names of the cars, times, dates and places. He then notified me several years ago and asked if I would help get the word out so that this reunion could expand and live on after the original racers passed on.
The Santa Ana Drags reunion is more of a picnic and there isn’t much required of those attending. There are no fees to attend or to park and the food is usually catered by Gene Mitchell or Leslie Long, although the attendees are welcome to bring food to share if they wish. It’s also a fun event and there is no pressure on the organizers or the attendees. By keeping it simple this makes for a stress-free day for us among the beautiful park; and the smiling and happy hot rodders of old. About the only contention that we have is when the ground squirrels antagonize the dogs being walked in the park. There’s no program either; we come around 10 AM and leave when we want to. Usually the last one out is gone by 3 PM, before the park starts to fill up. Food is normally deli sandwiches, cookies, veggie trays, chips, dips and soft drinks or water. We eat around noon and then we take our traditional group picture, which we post along with this article on www.hotrodhotline.com and www.landspeedracing.com. That’s all there is; a simple, fun and nice day in the park and it’s all free.
This year the attendees were; Leslie Long, Richard Parks, Eldon Harris, Mel Dodd, Bernie Couch, Ron Whitney, Bob Baxter, Bob Caverly, Rod Larmer, Jim Murphy, Rich Childers, Dave Cook, Jim Miller, Ed Iskenderian, Gene Ellis, Bob Leggio, Louie Senter, Bob Jewell, Norm Stevenson, Mike Hagopian, Terry Shaw, Stan Betz, Ron Binder, Diane Vandenberg, Lyman Wilson, Janet Iskenderian Griebenow, Ron Griebenow, Phyllis Orth, Ken Freund, Jeff Heywood and Phil Remington. It is always a surprise as to who will show up. I collected ten short bios which I will work on and place in our archives at www.landspeedracing.com.
We missed seeing Linda Vaughn, Rose Hartelt, Otto Ryssman, Art Chrisman, David Parks, Bill Burke, Tom McEwen, Judy Thompson, Bud Evans, Fred Carrillo, Bruce Geisler, Steve Gibbs, Dan Hart, Stu Hilborn, Kay Kimes, Don Montgomery, Ed Osepian, Joe Reath, Johnny Ryan, Roger Rohrdanz, Jack Underwood, the Bean Bandits, Dennis Webb, John and Nancy Albert and many more wonderful people who couldn’t make it due to conflicts or illness. But that is the nice thing about having reunions twice a year for there are more chances to make it to the reunion to see your friends. Mark your calendar and keep April of 2013 open, for we will be back again at the park.
Gone Racin’ is at [email protected].
The Santa Ana Drags and Main Street Malt Shop Reunion drew to a close and they gathered together to get a group photograph. Today they are in their seventies and eighties and the malt shop is long gone, but the memories remain and as long as they do, that era in our early history will remain as well
Group Picture
L-R) First Row, Ron Griebenow, Melven Dodd, Terry Shaw, Phyllis Orth, Gene Ellis (standing), Eldon Harris
Back Row, Ken Freund, Ed Iskendarian, Bob Legio, Louie Senter, Bernie Couch, unknown, Diane Vandenberg (dark hair) Leslie Long, Ron Larmar (straw hat), Jim Murphy (black shirt), Bob Caverly