All Hail San Clemente.

 

 

 

 

If I remember right, “All Hail San Clemente”, is the anthem of San Clemente High School; all my brothers and sisters will have sung it at one time or another.  The only part I remember is the first part and how the cheerleaders sang it, arm in arm, swaying back and forth, with hands raised high in some kind of peace sign, beginning with the index finger.  It has a tune that I would know if I heard it but strangely, like the pledge of allegiance, I couldn’t sing it alone with a knife to my throat.

 

 

 “…The only part I remember is the first part and how the cheerleaders sang it, arm in arm, swaying back and forth, with hands raised high in some kind of peace sign…”

 

 

 

 I shot the graduation for San Clemente High School today for the Orange County Register and the Sun Post News, and on the same field that I graduated on in 1982.  I was expecting more of an odd feeling of Déjà vu but it didn’t come.  At the moment I write this I am waiting for my photos to download so I can process them and get them to the photo desk at the paper and they can get them on the website. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“…If it wasn’t for President Nixon and some wayward and awed Rose Bowl stragglers, we would be as alone as any other small Podunk American small town…”

 

 

 

San Clemente is a town. A place and a people that won’t hit you like a great song on the radio after a great day at work or on the way home in the car from the beach; it isn’t like some kind of nationally shared movie moment of  teary emotion, sight and sound.  We don’t make cars or appliances in San Clemente and it’s not a farming community where there is that corn on the cob and  four H ribbon of a solid “I am America” feeling, either.  It is something that plays itself alone to each person that was born here and is often the case, those that were not born here but live her feel it the strongest.  If it wasn’t for President Nixon and some wayward and awed Rose Bowl stragglers, we would be as alone as any other small Podunk American small town.

 

 

 

How do you explain it?  The only thing I can say is that it has to be a combination of many things, all put together, in one package that changes, ever so slightly, from one person to another.  I think that this is what it must be for every town and community at this time of year as they release their youth to the streams that will eventually lead to that really big ocean that is the world. 

 

“…I had a good time but I didn’t break through any journalistic barriers or force fields like some kind of Captain Kirk…”

 

We might ask, if like salmon, they will return instinctively to where they were born.  I don’t know and I don’t think it matters.  They are free but then, when they taste again the

waters of their youth, they will know they are home and where they began; it will be up to them whether they stay or not.

 

I shot all the standard shots today and as I took them, I knew I had them.  The group shot, the solo pensive shot…the buddies shot and the girlfriend shot…the head and shoulders, above the rest shot, the hug shot, the confident, the nervous and the “…OMG…What am I gonna do now, shot…”.   I could have left a lot sooner than I did.  I wanted to get the whole story, from start to finish.  I had a good time but I didn’t break through any journalistic barriers or force fields like some kind of Captain Kirk.  “Standard/Standard” as they say.  “Standard/Standard”…at least within the city limits of this town;  it is what it is.  Maybe you have to be from here to know exactly what that means but, I don’t think so.  “All Hail San Clemente…” oh yeah, I just remembered the next line:

 

“…We Pledge Our Loyalty…”

 

 

 

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/slide-show-celebration-2072821-time-for-san-clemente-high-grads#slComments

 

 

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13th Annual Classic Car Show in San Clemente.

San Clemente celebrated the 2008 13^th Annual Classic Carshow on Sunday from 10am until 3pm.  Avenida Del Mar was closed off and about 5000 people meandered through, eating hotdogs, walking with dogs and kids, and just having fun amonst 300 classic car entries.  It’s no doubt why the carshow gets bigger and better each year; its pure fun and this time of year the day is made for it. 

 

 When I drove downtown to walk it I noticed that cars were parking down as far as the Ralpha-beta, which in terms for San Clemente, is a high water mark.  They have been doing handicap curb and corner improvements on El Camino Real for the last week and it was a little confusing where to park but a sharp eye for a spot and a little leg work and we were there.

 

This is a calm group compared to what we’ll see when they block off Del Mar in July for the Fiesta Block Party.  It would seem the crowd was heavy on the male side of things, talking lift kits, paint and polish quality or DMV requirements, but there was really plenty of everyone.  I just really covered the top part of Del Mar and further down I could see more booths and they had a band or two by the sound of it. 

 

“There were a couple of off road entries in front of the old Whirl-i-Gig (now Hobie’s) that were slyly popping beers and pouring them into cups.”

 

 

I wasn’t working for the paper on this one and so took a little more time to look around and just sit and watch people go by.  A Mercedes car club (see photo) had the premier spot in front of the San Clemente Hotel with about 10 cars or so and they had some nice stuff.  A Wert daughter was there with a pink corvair I think and she was giving away lolli-pops and Mardi-Gras beads and letting people take photos sitting on the top of the back seat like they do for parades.  There were a couple of off road entries in front of the old Whirl-i-Gig (now Hobie’s) that were slyly popping beers and pouring them into cups.  They would pop the trunk on one of the cars where they had a cooler, pour the beer with the trunk hunkered down over their hands and appear again with a “soda”. 

 

“New found friends comment and counter-comment on other friends while significant other stares through the crowd, un-hearing one amazing feat after another.”

 

 

What I always like the best are those long lost friends that meet up by accident and then stand and talk for an hour while significant other and children orbit back now and again to see what the status is.  New found friends comment and counter-comment on other friends while significant other stares through the crowd, un-hearing one amazing feat after another.  Children shift from one foot to the other, poke each other and stare at the new friend, calculating the right time to hit the parent up for cash in the distraction of it all.  Hands are shook vigourously, hugs are traded with phones and e-mails written on business cards, napkins or slurpee cups, before each are on their way and a hardy “What are we doin’ now?” is declared to a near comatose family.  Groans abound as they move into the crowd and disappear.

 

 

I am thinking now that the carshow isn’t popular just for the cars.

 

 

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/slide-show-san-2062346-clemente-car-show-gets-some-motors-runnin#slComments

 

 

 

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