What’s Old Still Rings True : Nostalgia: As an enduring proliferation of poodle skirts and customized classic Chevys can attest, the 1950s are alive and well and living in Ventura County.

We’ll let the magic take us away

Back to the feelin’s we shared when they played

In the still of the night

Hold me darling, hold me tight

O, shoo doop shooby doo shoo doop doo

So real, so right

Lost in the Fifties tonight

--From “Lost in the Fifties Tonight.” Words and music by Mike Reed, Troy Seals and Fred Parris

Music blares from a loudspeaker, doo-wahs echo into a vast crowd of teen-agers who sway to the beat, heads bobbing. They munch on chili dogs and Popsicles, fixed on the image of two dozen classmates caught up in the rhythm of the swing. The dancers, in poodle skirts and rolled-up jeans, clasp hands and lean out, step and turn, girls’ ponytails bouncing.

Time: 1993.

Place: Ventura High School’s center lawn.

It’s Student Appreciation Day, and nostalgia is in.

“Every year there’s a ‘50s something. The ‘50s will never go away. It has an appeal to every generation, and I don’t know what it is,” said Dennis Swindall, the school’s college counselor, who stood watching the action in a leather jacket, white T-shirt and rolled-up jeans.

“It’s true of every class I have seen since I started teaching in 1964,” he said, confessing fond feelings for a decade that included his high school years.

The 1950s, which saw the United States embroiled in the Korean War, the paranoia of McCarthyism, growing anxiety over atomic weapons, the first sex-change operation and events in Little Rock that would lead to a massive civil rights struggle, are perceived by many as the age of innocence--a wholesome, happy time before cynicism and violence came to America.

The images that survive from the period are romantic ones: a scowling James Dean and a coy Marilyn Monroe, dancers twirling to the sounds of early rock ‘n’ roll, cars cruising down the boulevard, couples rendezvousing at the malt shop.

Forty years later, the ‘50s continue to be celebrated across Ventura County. Poodle skirts twirl around dance floors as music blares from a jukebox, customized Chevys cruise to the diner, and James and Marilyn are frozen in time on malt shop walls.

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One of the most enduring aspects of the time is the music, which seems eternal. Elvis Presley and the Everly Brothers are played daily on both rock and country radio, and vintage songs are bought on thousands of popular compact discs.

Fifties music, said musician Rudy Ruiz of Oxnard, still has that “feel-good beat and feel-good melody.” Ruiz, entertainment coordinator for Saturday’s California Beach Party ‘93, the annual bash put on by the city of Ventura, has been lining up a series of ‘50s groups for the event. The ‘50s style, he said, appeals to all age groups, including young people.

“I think more and more you see contemporary music reflecting the teen-age Angst and . . . making a political statement,” he said. Older rock ‘n’ roll, in contrast, offers young people some relief. It says to them “ ‘Hey, this is just kind of fun stuff--I just want to feel good for a little while,’ ” said Ruiz.

Where you find ‘50s music, you find ‘50s dancing; and with the exception of the cha-cha and the mambo--which were imported from Latin America--the sounds and moves of the period had their roots in jazz of the ‘30s and ‘40s. In the ‘50s it might have been called the bop, the Lindy or the jive, but in every case it was a variation on the swing.

“The swing was still real popular in the ‘50s,” said Melinda Comeau, founder of the Ventura County Swing Dance Club, who credited the Bill Haley song “Rock Around the Clock,” as well as movies such as “Blackboard Jungle,” with keeping the swing craze alive.

People in their 20s make up about a quarter of the membership in the Ventura County Swing Dance Club, said Comeau, who teaches members both swing and jitterbug--a bouncy version of the swing. The 1991 California Swing Dance Champion, Comeau says she has been hooked on the dance since her mother taught her as a child.

Comeau, who is 39, estimates the median age of her students at 40, and said in the past five years she has taught 1,500 to 2,000 dancers, in lessons offered privately and through Ventura College.

“Swing has had a complete renaissance worldwide,” she said. “It’s a classic American dance. It almost died in the ‘60s when the twist came in because everybody was dancing separate. When disco came in in the ‘70s, swing was reborn.”

Some of the clubs that feature swing and jitterbug locally are Alexander’s in Ventura and Jake’s in Oxnard, said Comeau, adding that it has become popular partly because of the wide appeal of the music.

“People like the ‘50s because it’s an innocent time,” said Comeau, echoing the sentiments of Ruiz and others. “The way things are in our society, people are looking for a little bit of escape.”

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Riding the sentimental trend, and in some part causing it, Mario Lombardo of Moorpark has recreated an archetypal symbol of the era: the gaudy, bubbling, chrome-embellished jukebox.

At Golden Age Jukebox Co., he and a staff of four turn out a steady supply of old-style boxes that retail for $9,000 each. In their best year, 1989, the company sold 500 of them, all modeled after the Wurlitzer 1015--”the one most people want.”

The 1015 model was actually created in 1946, underscoring what Ruiz said of the time period: “The ‘50s isn’t a chronological thing, it’s a concept. “

Indeed, much like the dances of the ‘50s, the golden age of jukeboxes, Lombardo says, was in fact the ‘30s and ‘40s.

“You could walk into a barbershop in those days and not be surprised to have a jukebox. Train stations, candy stores--everywhere you went there was a jukebox,” he said.

Twenty years ago Lombardo was a music booking agent on tour in Montana when he saw a jukebox in a music store window. Non-operational and missing parts, it sold for $200--to Lombardo. In California, still non-operational, it drew an offer of $3,000, and signaled the end of a booking career.

Lombardo, a skilled, self-taught restorer, scoured the country for castoff boxes, which had fallen victim to Muzak in the ‘60s but would have a triumphant comeback in the ‘80s.

“After a while you couldn’t find them in the States any more,” he said, “I made several trips to Mexico and brought back several hundred.”

When collectors had bought nearly all of the original machines, Lombardo decided to build a replica. He sold most of his private collection of rare boxes for capital, and made a deal with Sony Corp., which began to supply the mechanism for his machine.

The result, which looks identical in styling and materials down to the print labels, has two variations on the original: it holds 100 compact discs and takes dollar bills instead of quarters.

In his workroom, standing at one of the machines, Lombardo flips through selection cards as color wheels turn and rising blobs of oil work their magic. While a tune by the BeeGees plays softly, he expresses a fitting sentiment.

“I won’t adapt the old boxes to CDs--I think of it as sacrilege,” he said. “ I like to play old music on old boxes . . . . It’s the scratchiness I like.”

Another indelible symbol of the ‘50s, which lasted only briefly but gained immortality, is the poodle skirt, a full skirt made of felt and decorated with a poodle applique.

“There’s a lot of (‘50s) parties, and they always want a poodle skirt. It’s what they all think of--I guess it’s because of ‘Happy Days,’ ” said Teri Gilliard, a woman who deals in the trappings of bygone days.

At Flaun’s Vintage Clothing in downtown Ventura, Gilliard showed off some of the other mainstays of ‘50s fashion: a faux leopard coat, black-and-white saddle shoes, a red spaghetti-strap formal and garish letterman jackets among her ‘50s memorabilia. As she spoke, a customer asked for a crinoline underskirt of the era.

“I just can’t keep them in,” Gilliard told the woman, “Everybody wants them.”

Few customers buy the clothing for street wear, the shop owner said, although “there are L. A. people who come up that look like they stepped out of the ‘50s. You know, there’s a group there that does everything.”

Among her most consistent customers are Japanese merchants, she said, who export clothing to young Asians eager for what they consider “early Americana.”

Another group that consistently looks for period clothing is the “car people,” Gilliard said. “They want clothes to match their cars.”

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“Car people” are legion. They invest large sums of money and time to restore old automobiles, and seldom drive them afterward, to maintain their top condition.

Two such folk, Pat and Diane McManus of Newbury Park, own respectively a ’57 Chevrolet Nomad wagon and a ’57 Bel Air hardtop, and belong to the Ventura County Chevys club, of which Pat is a founding member. It is one of half a dozen vintage car clubs in the county.

“I wanted a ’57 Nomad in high school,” said Pat McManus, an insurance quality control analyst in Newbury Park. “It took me until 1979 before I could afford to buy one, then 13 years to get it on the road. I was feeding five children.”

Twenty-five Chevys club members all own “classic” Chevrolets, cars of the model years 1955 through 1957.

“The ’55 was the first of the Chevy V-8s,” said McManus. “They used to outrun Fords. Drag racing was a popular pastime, and young people were all involved in the power wars. Before that, Chevys were considered an old fuddy-duddy car.”

The most desirable classic Chevy, a ’57 convertible, might bring $50,000 in the recession market, McManus said.

Other makes and models have become classics, such as mid-fifties Thunderbirds and ‘50-’51 Fords and Mercurys, McManus said. But in his opinion, there are more people who long for classic Chevys.

When he goes on the road to attend numerous car shows, McManus said his car gets lots of attention.

“People go by honking at you and giving you thumbs up,” he said. “If you stop . . . people always come up and look at the car and tell you a story. It’s kind of neat.”

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In addition to bantering with motorists and attending shows, classic car owners often gather for “cruise nights” sponsored by local restaurants with ‘50s themes.

Real cruising has long since lost favor with local law enforcement agencies, so modern cruise nights consist of meeting for hamburgers and “tire kicking” in restaurant parking lots. One of them is Tommy’s Drive-In of Camarillo.

Tommy’s, a sentimental eatery that is not a drive-in and has no Tommy on the staff, is named for an earlier version of the restaurant from the ‘50s. Maureen and Jim Walsh took it over in the ‘60s. Jim, a former gourmet chef, has since scaled down his repertoire and is now serving plainer fare, such as the Jumping Bean Chili Dog.

“It was just a little stand. People would park and walk for blocks to get to us,” Maureen said of the original building.

Now in a roomy mall location, Tommy’s interior decor is in sharp contrast to its generic-Mediterranean facade.

A neon-lit clock hangs on a wall dominated by images of legends: Elvis, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe. Nearby hangs a hula hoop. Red-and-white checkered cloths cover tables that can be pushed back for dancing when the place is booked for a private party.

Chili dogs and hamburgers are among the most popular foods.

Chili, in fact, appears to be the symbolic ‘50s food for every retro diner in the county. Besides covering hot dogs, it is offered in bowls, in chili-size burgers and--perhaps least appealing--on chili fries. Every ‘50s diner features the mixture--from Dino’s Frosty Mug in Fillmore, where carhops still serve customers, to the rapidly expanding chain of Hudson’s Grills.

Hudson’s, which began in a converted Hudson dealership in San Luis Obispo eight years ago, has 10 outlets in Southern California, including three in Ventura County, and has spread to Texas and Oregon.

The firm is growing so fast, said a Hudson’s spokesman, that its catchy trademark--a real 1950s Hornet bursting through a wall--has become too costly to perpetuate. For future restaurants, the chain will be forced to build replica fiberglass Hudson Hornets.

It may be the car theme, the cocktail bar or the pasta dishes on the menu, but the restaurants in the Hudson chain just don’t have the fuzzy feel that other ‘50s diners have. A more sentimental decor and menu are featured at Busy Bee in Ventura. Here are bread pudding, tapioca, banana splits, homemade meatloaf and four chili dishes. Pretty authentic stuff.

“People love the ‘50s,” said Ken Couverley, co-owner of the Bee, from behind his red-and-white soda-fountain counter. “It just seems to be a concept that’s timeless. If you did the ‘60s, or the ‘70s or ‘80s, what kind of memories could you possibly recreate?” he asked, rhetorically. “If we all wore ‘60s tie-dyed shirts, what would it mean?”

Busy Bee waitresses wear cheerleader outfits, with skirts about 18 inches shorter than what anyone saw in the ‘50s outside a football field. But, they’re real ‘50s outfits.

“A guy came in with his son and ordered a shake,” Couverley recalled. “He hadn’t had a shake in 30 years. He came back the next day and wanted two. It took him back to the time when he was a kid.” Back to the ‘50s.

“It only lasted 10 years,” he said wistfully, “It was a euphoric time.”

CALIFORNIA BEACH PARTY ’93

The 8th annual California Beach Party will recreate the 1950s and ‘60s in a weekend of surfing, rock ‘n’ roll, crafts and competition scheduled for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Events will be held at the beach between the Ventura Pier and Surfer’s Point with both days featuring contests in ‘50s-style long-board surfing, sand sculpture, volleyball, a 10K race and body building.

Continuous music will include the bands Dick Dale and the Deltones, Mag Wheels and the Lug Nuts, and Lula and Afro Brasil. There will be crafts and food booths, and a children’s area with entertainment, music and arts projects. The Budweiser Clydesdales will appear both days at noon and again at 2 p.m.

A classic car show will take place both days at Mission Park two blocks from the festival. A sock hop will be held at the park Saturday at 8:30 p.m.

Admission is $5.50 for adults and $3.50 for seniors and includes both the festival and the car show. Children under 12 accompanied by an adult are admitted free. Admission to the sock hop is $5.

Parking is $3 at the fairgrounds and $5 at the state beach.

The event is sponsored by the city of Ventura. For information, call 654-7850.