Some CSUN Students Decide to Give Palm Springs a Break

Cal State Northridge students scattering for spring break looked forward to dancing in Arizona nightclubs and meditating in the San Gabriel Mountains, but some of them shied away from Palm Springs, the traditional collegiate playground.

Although the desert resort remained a popular destination for CSUN students, many rejected it as either too wild, too dull, or worst of all, too expensive.

“I did it once and it just wasn’t much fun for me,” said senior English literature major Chris Logheed. Logheed was heading his motorcycle instead toward Wrightwood, in the eastern San Gabriel Mountains.

“I want to get out of the smog and chase bears,” he said. “I’m going to find a good hammock spot and just relax. . . . You can actually see stars, count satellites.”

By mid-afternoon Friday, cars, jeeps, motorcycles and taxis were streaming out of dormitory parking lots at the Northridge campus, most jammed with suitcases, sleeping bags, cassette tapes and--for those going home--dirty clothes.

Music majors Michael Steinman and Audrey Rosser were packing for the drive to Rosser’s parents’ house near San Francisco. Over one shoulder, Rosser carried a pink satin Easter dress, still protected by a dry-cleaner’s plastic bag. Over the other slumped a well-stuffed cloth bag.

“Most of it’s dirty laundry,” she said.

In the lot behind University Park dormitory on Zelzah Avenue, Jess Garner and Jason Edwards, freshmen from Agoura Hills, were loading a station wagon with an electric guitar, amplifier and a plastic garbage bag of necessities: one pair of underwear, five pairs of shorts and a toothbrush.

Palm Springs is where they always go, they said. They were especially looking forward to engaging in water fights and musical jam sessions with old friends from high school and new CSUN friends.

“It’s a bonding thing,” Edwards said.

Also at the partying end of the spring break spectrum was Ginger Johnson, who was running across campus yelling to friends, “Have a great vacation!” The 20-year-old speech-communications major was hurrying to catch a plane to Tempe, Ariz., where she and a good friend will “go dancing.”

Margaret Lee, 20, was off to Ensenada. Ten people, two beds, the beach and the bars. “It’ll be a chance to escape,” she said.

Eitan Aldad, 19, planned to combine a little partying with a lot of fresh air on a trip to Catalina Island with his girlfriend. Daytime activities such as bike and horseback riding and scuba diving make Catalina much healthier than Palm Springs, he said. Nights there might include dinner in a restaurant and maybe a little dancing.

“I’ve been to Palm Springs before and there are not many activities, really,” he said. “At night, Catalina is pretty dead, but believe me, you’re tired by then anyway.”

Avi Bilu, 18, who was playing pool in the recreation room at the Student Union, was among those who felt no pressing need to flee the campus. For his first spring break as a college student, Bilu planned to stay in Northridge most of the week, attending hockey playoff games and maybe going skiing or to Las Vegas later in the week.

Deaf studies major Susan Gilbert had a book and papers spread out across a table at the Student Union coffee shop. She was catching up on class work that backed up while she was studying for midterm exams, she said. Later, Gilbert, 20, planned to drive home to Santa Ana to see her family and possibly spend a day at Disneyland, where her sister works.

“I’m afraid to go to Palm Springs now,” she said. “I hear it’s crazy. There’s almost no place to stay and the rooms are really expensive.

“I can’t afford that. I’m just a college student.”