Rush of Memories for Roosevelt High Alumni

Many have not been to Boyle Heights in years, but six-decades-old memories came rushing back, pure and sharp--of DiMaggio, Duke Ellington and dime movies.

More than 400 jovial alumni who graduated from the Eastside’s Roosevelt High School in the late 1930s gathered Sunday to sing the old fight song for the red, gold and blue, visit with their old beaus and reminisce about the days when Boyle Heights was “the Ellis Island of the West Coast.”

The 60th reunion of these Roosevelt students at a Marina del Rey hotel drew alumni from across the country to swap fond stories about their old neighborhood, which was then home to many newly immigrated Jewish and Russian families.

They went to Theodore Roosevelt High so long ago that the other Roosevelt--Franklin, the one most people now identify with the name Roosevelt--was still just a new president on the block.

They recalled dipping their hands into the pungent herring and pickle barrels sitting outside Jewish delis on Brooklyn Avenue, now Cesar Chavez Avenue. They remembered hoarding nickels and dimes for treats at the malt shops, and faithfully attending every Roosevelt football game. Most of all, they recollected the diverse community that made up the Depression-era student body.

More than 30 ethnic and cultural groups were represented at Roosevelt High in the 1930s, alumni brag, including Russians, Jews, Armenians, Japanese and Italians, as well as blacks and Latinos.

“We had people of every nationality, and you never saw a closer-knit bunch of folks in your life,” said John Kornoff, who played halfback on the 1939 football team that won the city championship.

Kornoff and others grew up in “The Flats,” a neighborhood south of Boyle Avenue that was home to many Russian emigres. He and his friends learned to play tackle football on the rocky dirt of vacant lots.

On Sunday, outside the ballroom where classmates were dancing to Big Band music, Kornoff and his older brother George tossed around the football they had kept all these years from the 1936 championship game, and recalled the unique flavor of the Eastside neighborhood they called home.

Those were the days of bobby sox and Jack Benny, jitterbug and Joe DiMaggio. Swing dancing was a favorite activity and, according to these alumni, just about everybody got along.

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“We grew up in a community that was like a family,” said Frances Brown, class of 1938, who would often share a single five-cent ice cream cone after school with her three girlfriends. “We all cared about each other with warmth that has lasted to today.”

Six decades have taken their toll. Many classmates had to peer at name tags and swap family histories to jog memories of their old friends. But when they finally recognized one another, they let out cries of joy.

“Oh my goodness!” squealed Bertha Colton, who couldn’t stop hugging her old friend Bess Lopatin. “This is so wonderful! I’ve been trying to track you down forever!” The two women hadn’t seen each other in 40 years.

Sally Ullman cornered former yell leader Phil Jaffe to tease him about the crush she once had on him.

“His locker was right by mine, and I was always sure to be there when he was,” giggled Ullman, who graduated in 1939. “Well, one day my mother had made me a salami sandwich and when I opened my locker, the whole place smelled like a delicatessen! He said, ‘What is that horrible smell?’ And I just wanted to die.”

Boyle Heights and the old high school have gone through major changes since these alumni bought malts at a corner store on Soto Street.

The once-diverse student body is more than 98% Latino, and Roosevelt--with more than 5,000 students--is one of the largest high schools in the country, Principal Henry Ronquillo said.

“But there’s a lot the students now have in common with those from the 1930s,” Ronquillo said. “Most students are also children of immigrants. They can learn a lot from these alumni about overcoming obstacles. These students from the ‘30s have so much spirit.”

Sunday’s festivities may have been one of the last reunions for the “World War I babies,” born in the last years of the century’s second decade, although many alumni said they’ll try for a 75th reunion--even if they have to come on walkers.

“This has just been so fantastic,” sighed Mary Jaffe, after visiting with several old boyfriends. “A lot of years have gone by, but if you have the youthful spirit within you, that’s your life. That’s your life and soul, right there.”