Philip Spiess

Nancy:  Thanks for asking; I thought your brothers' snow fort might be something like that.  The one time we built our igloo, when I was maybe eight or nine, it was walls of snow with a plywood board as roof, over which we piled snow to complete the domed effect.  (Though we tried several times, we were never successful with snow forts; we could never get them high enough.)

Larry:  If I'm thinking of the right intersection (Delta Avenue and Columbia Parkway), the precinct station was on the northeast corner, maybe?  And just north of there, the Delta Avenue Viaduct (if I'm remembering the name correctly -- now gone), with its fascinating truss undersrtucture, went over Delta Avenue.  And just north of that, on the western side of Delta Avenue, was one of the series of electrical substations built to run the Cincinnati streetcar system (there was a neo-Georgian-style one just south of the old Cincinnati Work House near Hopple Street in Camp Washington).  Each of these substations was built in a different historical architectural style; the one on Delta Avenue (now long gone, I believe) was to me the most interesting.  It was built in a neo-Egyptian style, like a small temple from Memphis (or from the set of the last act of Verdi's opera, Aida), and was probably the only neo-Egyptian style building in Cincinnati (except maybe for some of the monuments in Spring Grove Cemetery -- I'll have to think about this).

Larry Klein

Phil - not bad for an East Eand outsider, but just a bit off.  The Precinct is on the SW corner of Delta and Columbia.  The NW corner is now a huge apartment development compliments of our classmate Arn Bortz and Towne Properties.  The "Y" is still on the SE corner and has been extensively re-furbed.  The other corner has been many things over the years from a synagogue to its current realty office.

The viaduct was named "Grandin Road Viaduct".  My house (on Empress Ave) was four doors from the steps that scaled the hill from Delta Ave to Grandin Rd.  6 laps on the bridge (end-to-end and back) was about one mile, and I spent many late nights doing those laps to get ready for cross country and track seasons.  In our senior year, I used the bridge for the shortcut to WHHS through O'brienville and up Fairfax Ave to Woodburn.  The bridge was taken down in the 70's while I was living in Texas.  There had been a couple of suicide jumpers, and several local "idjits" took too much delight in dropping watermelons over the rail of the bridge onto passing cars below on Delta Ave.  Always seemed to me it would have been a lot cheaper just to "fence" the rails like so many other bridges in the area now.  It's destruction removed a very effective shortcut from Hyde Park to the Beechmont Levee and surrounding area.

You are correct about the power station.  The grounds next to it was our "sandlot" baseball field for the neighborhood kids.  I hit many balls into the towers for homers.  It too is now an apartment complex.

Lee Max

Bruce,

Those 2 old bikes look great. What’s the top speed on the 90cc Honda trailbike?

The ride that ended with my motorcycle stuck in a tree started off very mellow. The 3 of us (2 KTM 450s and my Kawasaki KLX250S) were taking an easy dirt road from Winkleman, AZ to Globe, AZ. On the map, it looked like a gentle mountain route that went 20 miles up the backside of the mountain and 20 miles down into Globe. The first 15 miles, went just as planned.

At that point, we saw that the dirt road cut right through someone’s ranch with a fence and heavy metal gate blocking the road. The trusty GPS showed that the road exited the property after about a half mile; then continued up the mountain, but we couldn’t get through the ranch. The GPS also showed that if we backtracked about 5 miles, we could connect with what appeared to be a slightly smaller road that wiggled up the mountain, and reconnected with our planned route about 5 mile past the exit from the ranch. It looked easy enough so we backtracked, turned onto the new road, and headed up.

As we climbed, the road got narrower, and after about 3 miles, it became a 6 foot wide, sloping trail that hugged the side of the mountain. The trail got progressively rockier. First the size of ping pong balls, then baseball size, and then softball size. By this point, I was totally freaked out, slowing down, and bouncing off every big rock. Then the rocks got even bigger. I slowed even more, and every time the motorcycle hit a big rock, it abruptly changed direction. All of a sudden, instead of the motorcycle heading up the trail, the bike had turned left, and was headed off the edge of the cliff.

At that moment, I was sure I was going to die. Squeezing the handlebar as tightly as I could, I closed my eyes, and just waited to die. All of a sudden, it got very quiet; there was no longer any sensation of movement. My mind told me I must be dead. I managed to open my eyes, but all I saw was green. Now I was sure that I was dead. I looked around a little more, and realized I wasn’t dead, but the motorcycle and I were in a soft, friendly tree.

Bruce Fette

Lee,

Sounds like a very exciting ride. I have not done that area. It looks like you were on the Pioneer Pass or Pinal Peak roads. Well you survived. Great and grateful for the tree that saved you. After you got down from the tree, were you able to successfully get the bike down, and was it still operational? Did you turn around and go back or proceed on to Globe? Dont leave me hanging!  There  has to be a lot more to the story.  :)

Bruce

Lee Max

Bruce,

Remember, you asked for this.

I found myself still comfortably seated on the bike, which was now attached to the tree.  Amazingly, the motorcycle had only a few minor scrapes, and I was unhurt. The base of the tree was about 10 ft. down a dirt slope, and the motorcycle rested about a foot and a half off the ground. With a little effort, but no hernias, we were able to dislodge the bike from the tree. However, for 3 old guys (one with a bad back and 2 with bionic knees), moving 300 lbs. of motorcycle up the hill was the hugh challenge. We pushed. We pulled. We rotated it, and pushed and pulled again. After about a half hour, we were mentally exhausted. There was no way the 3 of us were going to get that motorcycle up to the trail.

There was no cell service in that remote area, and it was now almost 3:30pm. Sunset would be around 6:00pm. Riding those trails alone, even in daylight, is not safe, so our thoroughly vetted plan was for the 2 of them to ride to Globe. With a little bit of luck, they might find someone who was willing and able to drive their 4 wheel drive vehicle back over the mountain. Hopefully they could then haul the motorcycle, and it’s still freaked out rider, up and over the mountain into Globe. Even for my 2, highly skilled, riding buddies, it would be an hour’s ride to get to Globe. They gave me their extra water and trail mix; told me they probably wouldn’t be back before dark; told me to keep warm; wished me good luck, and roared up the trail.

After the sound of their motorcycles had faded, it became very peaceful and quiet. My first thoughts were, 1) stay calm, 2) I’m in a beautiful spot with a scenic view, and 3) what’s the big deal about 1 night in the wilderness. After about 5 minutes, those pleasant thoughts were replaced by thoughts of mountain lions and bears.

My friends had only been gone about 15 minutes, when my mind seemed to hear some very faint motor sounds. The sounds gradually got louder, and my ears were indeed hearing a real sound. My buddies were returning, and they were not alone. With them was good size ATV with a good size driver with a large rifle in a gun rack attached to the ATV – remember, this is Arizona.

You talk about being lucky; this guy not only had a rifle attached to his ATV, he also had a winch with a heavy duty strap mounted on that ATV. It turns out that he hunts in that area a lot, and he had previously hauled out jeeps and other motorcycles that had gotten stuck on the same road/trail/death trap – a mountain man with just the right stuff.

He cinched the strap around the handlebars, and as we guided the bike, he hauled my little Kawasaki up the hill and back onto the trail. We dusted off the bike, hit the starter button, and it fired right up. Great, now what.

After a short meeting, our plan was to continue our ride into Globe. However, since I was still mildly freaked out, and confidence in my bike handling skills had taken a big hit, our new plan had a minor variation. I would ride my bike, but if I began to cry or fall as we entered a difficult section of the trail, one of my friends would ride that section on his bike; then walk back, and ride my bike up the section. I am really lucky to have friends like that. I only fell 2 more times (but stayed on the trail) on the way to Globe. My buddies were great, and we safely exited the dirt and onto paved roads a few minutes before sunset. 

Bruce Fette

And a great time and a great story to tell. Its almost like an Alaska story too.  Well done! :)

Larry Klein

I saw in the Enquirer yesterday (12/27) that Mr. Frank Gallenstein passed away last Sunday at 93.  He was the math teacher responsible for sending a note to my parents to have my eyes checked when he saw me squinting from the back row to see the blackboard.  He was one of my fave teachers at WHHS.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/cincinnati/obituary.aspx?n=frank-gallenstein&pid=187634387

Ira Goldberg

Larry, thank you for notifying us about Frank Gallenstein. I often think of the good teachers we had   I tried to touch base with Coach Koke a good 15 years ago to no avail. Ever hear what his life led to?  I did see that Mr. Arcilisi joined the Priesthood. Served in Western KY. He passed some years ago. French teacher, Joan ---- is living in D.C. and I still a good friend of Wendy's. Had lunch with her a couple of times so far. BTW, Happy NY!

Tina Preuninger (Hisrich)

Lee....loved reading the bike tale while sitting at breakfast looking out from kitchen of N. Scottsdale home and imagining your desert biking in the mountains. Having escaped the Cleveland cold yesterday for a brief respite, stay warm all of you in the north and watch out for the ice, Black or grayish.  

Phil.....so glad you’re a part of our class.  Your history lessons are wonderful. They are so vivid so as to make us feel we were right there wherever there is!  

Larry.....loved your input on east end, giving us a description that fills in Cincinnati geography for us. On way to airport yesterday, our driver told us about commuter jet service from Akron/Canton airport an other regional airports in Ohio, like Lunken that have developed due to major airlines eliminating in state connecting service  so flying to Cincinnati from Cleveland you go united to Chicago or Newark or delta through Atlanta.  Competive prices, no luggage charge or tsa.  Lunken is still viable. I’m sure the area there has developed due to I-275. Never knew about the history there.  My grandfather, many, many greats ago, Christopher Gist, explored the Ohio territory for the governor of Virginia and was the first person to celebrate Christmas with the Indians.  East end might have been the area.  You might know, Phil. I don’t have the specifics here in Arizona. 

Bruce....never knew you were a biker, but doesn’t surprise me as you were living in Arizona and it seems to be something of a pastime here. Until an accident!

Before flying out this week, I was shoveling snow from our driveway. Our HOA has snowplow service so neighbors don’t understand why I shovel.  I used to say, I lived in Boston for 13 years and we knew you had to do it.  So it was a habit  now I find myself telling them, I do it because I can!  May we all continue to do all those habits, things (walking, listening, mobility, jobs, reminiscing, running, golf, reading, cooking, singing, biking, gardening, etc) because we can and celebrate what we can do, not what we can’t.  

HAPPY NEW YEAR, all!!!🎉

Happy New Year all.  

Tina Preuninger (Hisrich)

Jeff...thanks for the info on your corvette.  Didn’t realize the engine design. Now I understand why I see many corvettes here in Arizona going under the speed limit on non-highway streets.

Jeff Daum

Hi Tina,

Welcome for the explanation.  However, I doubt that the fact the Corvette Stingray (current model) has an engine that can drop from 8 cylinders to 4 when in a situation where the engine is 'crusing' (at any speed), contributes to your seeing them drive below the posted speed limit.  More probably that comes from any of a number of possibilities (individually or combined): simply enjoying the scenery in Arizona, no need to prove their car can be fast (under 4 seconds 0-60), already have accumulated too many speeding tickets, or too old to care .  Even when in 4 cylinder mode, the instant the gas pedal is pressed the full 460 hp and massive 465 ft pds of torque come on, easily allowing for quickly swerving around armadillos and entering warp speed .

Steven Levinson

Larry, let me add my thanks for your heads up regarding Frank Gallenstein's death.  He was a great math teacher (who substantially restored my self-esteem in math after J. Stanley Leeds destroyed it), a good and benign man, and a force for good in the world.  I think about him frequently, and I'm sad that one more pillar has crumbled, at least physically.

David Buchholz

I was an average math student, but Frank Gallenstein was a terrific teacher, patient and understanding.  In an unusual twist, what I remember most about his algebra class wasn't algebra at all, but the fact that he let us do our classwork and listen to the 1960 World Series between the Pirates and the Yankees.  It was during Frank's class that Bill Mazeroski ended the World Series with perhaps the most dramatic hit ever in a World Series, a walk-off bottom of the ninth home run that ended the Series 10-9.
 

Dale Gieringer

Larry -   Thanks for the notice about Mr. Gallenstein.  At least it's good to know that he lived a long life. 
David -  I was in Whitey Davis' swimming class for the 1960 World Series.  He let us sit on the bench and listen to Bill Mazeroski's HR.   Say what you will about Whitey, but he really taught me how to swim.  Not that I was good at it like Steve Collett, but his lessons have kept me afloat through life.

Judy Holtzer (Knopf)

Regarding Steve's remark about Mr. Leeds - yep, he pretty much terrified most of us. Remember the rule about dividing fractions? Invert and multiply? My older cousin (by 9 years) was in his math class when he took a student who forgot this rule and physically "inverted" him. Can anyone wrap their minds around any teacher doing this today? LOL.

David Buchholz

After reading Dale's response about Whitey Davis I explained to my wife that when we were twelve, taking swimming lessons for the first time, that we (and Whitey) swam clothesless.  She doesn't believe me.  Am I misremembering?  Or is that just another indication of how different our world is today than it was in the fifties?

Dale Gieringer

David -  You're absolutely right that the boys swam naked in Whitey Davis' swim class.  Remember his instructions for swimming backstroke, "Periscopes up!."    I also remember showering and sleeping in the same bed with older men as a young boy -  camp counsellors, relatives, etc., without a second thought.   It's really creepy how prudish and uptight Americans have become about innocent nudity in recent years.  Too many perverts out there, I guess.   

Dale Gieringer

      Not having brilliant photos to contribute like Jeff and Dave,  here are some photos by an AP photographer   showing yours truly contemplating California's impending legal adult use cannabis sales,  which commence tomorrow New Years Day:

https://apnews.com/7bbbf9b552d4470dbd90d54ba8bbe59d/Anticipation-high-as-California-rolls-out-retail-pot-sales

It took a long while to get here, but it's exciting to have finally see an end to marijuana prohibition in California. 
A happy legal New Year to all! 
     Dale G.  & Cal NORML - www.canorml.org

Jeff Daum

Way to go Dale 

Thomas Lounds Jr.

Hello again.Thanks to Larry for getting me back into the message forum.  Been following your posts however and was especially touched by the notice of Frank Gallenstein's death.  He was a great friend when I was teaching there.  Perhaps I can provide an even more unusual perspective on many things at WHHS having been both a student there (Cjass of '56- we just reunited nov. 16) and teacher there only four years later.  For example, when I started in 1950 all black male students -- seventh graders through seniors--swan together nude the last period on Friday .  Whitey would then drain the pool refilling it on monday or some time over the weekend.  Imagine my shock to learn the practice had changed by the time I had returned.  Perhaps the most challenging part of that practice was having to endure as a seventh grader the hazing in the pool that the upperclassmen would put you through.  On the other hand A lot of things were segregated in Cincy in those days that made getting an education even more difficult.  In any event, it's good to be back on the forum.

Mary Vore (Iwamoto)

Welcome back Mr. Lounds!!  It is good to hear from you and know that you are well.  Your biology class was my favorite, and a major contribution to my continuing love of biology and all things science (except for physics).  Best wishes in 2018!

Steven Levinson

What a New Year's treat to have Tom Lounds back on line.  Please continue to be audible, Mr. Class Advisor!  With the old age acceleration of time, your 1960-61 Biology class feels about 25 years old.  You were a true "student's teacher."  We loved you and still do.

Steven Levinson

Oh, and I should add that, while I regarded Whitey Davis as a horse's ass througout my six years at WHHS, I was oblivious to his racism until so many classmates elucidated on it when this website got started.  That WHHS was complicit in that aspect of Cincinnati's primordial ooze, which polluted almost every aspect of sociopolicitcal life in the Queen City in those days, is utterly shameful.

Steven Levinson

Dale, let me add to Jeff's hearty congratulations.  You have been a world-class icon and  hero to the Drug Policy/Harm Reduction movement.  But then, what else would anyone have expected from you?  Thanks so much for all you've done.

Thomas Lounds Jr.

thanks Mary and Steven for those nice words.  Don't get me wrong but what success I have been able to achieve by this the beginning of my 80th year,  I could not have achieved without WHHS not the least of which was to be selected as the advisor to what may very well be its most prolific class, the Class of 1964.  What a Class!  Have you stopped to look at your achievements in all the forms of human endeavor from business to medical to entertainment to education to entrepreneurialism to legal and so on.  

Back to WHHS. There were some funny moments.  How about the time I knocked over the alcohol burner that I rigged to make sooty smoke for a kymograph.  A stack of test papers I had on my enormous desk caught fire and in the coolest voice I could muster, I called for the student nearest the fire extinguisher in the back of the room to bring it up quickly.  Of course, it was the world's first extinguisher having been examined during the Fillmore Administration.  When I turned it upside down to mix the ingredients the inflexible hose began to flop all around spraying kids, test papers and teacher with the soda mess.  Mr. Cool Teacher indeed!  Or what about the time I took a class on an unsuccessful field trip looking for snakes only to find one loose in the school when we returned after an afternoon of searching.   

Just thought about another one--this time as a student.  Needed to take two , sometimes three, busses to get from my home in Madisonville to Walnut ( remember DeSales corner well)  Made enough money finally to buy my first car, a 46 Dodge.  Came home from baseball practice very tired one evening.  Mom says " where's your car". I had forgotten my car having left it on the long Victory Parkway side.  Pretty lonely making the connections back to school after 9 PM.