|
 |
When I was a senior at a Los Angeles County High School, my guidance counselor had never heard of little Orange State College in semi-rural Orange County. But I had seen coverage of an elephant race on television and was intrigued.
On my first visit to the campus in the spring of 1964, driving south on the Santa Ana (5) Freeway I had to exit at Orangethorpe and drive city streets across Anaheim and Fullerton. The Riverside (91) Freeway had not yet been completed. There wasn’t much to see, only the recently completed Letters and Science building which stuck out amid the orange groves and dirt lots like a beacon of things to come.
My application was accepted, so I returned as a student in the fall of 1964 as part of only the second freshman class. The college had changed its name to Cal State Fullerton by then but I was still able to buy a leftover Orange State College sweatshirt at the bookstore.
The neighborhood was still rural. The corner of State College and Chapman Avenue was a dusty four-way stop sign. Nutwood Avenue came to a dead end at Commonwealth and became a one-lane dirt path through orange groves that extended throughout what is now the parking lot E and the Orange (57) Freeway.
On campus the Letters and Science building was still the only permanent building on campus. The Music and Drama building (now Performing Arts) would open in the spring. Work was underway on the Library building which we would call the wedding cake‚ because of its appearance. Far to the north temporary buildings (now campus police and the Corporation Yard) were the site of the physical education locker rooms and a small impromptu weight room. The bookstore was located there as was the college cafeteria. Registration for classes that fall took place in the cafeteria.
Between Nutwood Avenue and these temporary buildings was a flat dirt parking lot containing only the Mahr House (today Golleher House).
A residence hall opened that year and I was one the first students to live there. Located south of the campus on Titan Drive, it is now home to Hope International University students. In 1964, it was called Othrys Hall because in Greek Mythology the Othrys Mountains in central Greece were the home of the Titans. My first roommate in the dormitory was Nick Chilton who would be elected Student Body President in 1968.
When we moved in to our rooms that September the building was still incomplete. Masking tape still clung to the windows and the carpet had yet to be completely laid down. The contractors included a swimming pool next to the dorm and landscaped it with an adjoining lawn. An early rainstorm that year filled the pool with grass seed and fertilizer. The next day the fire department was summoned to pump out the pool.
All my classes that year except for P.E. were held in the Letters and Science building. The college library was housed in the basement. The health center was on the fifth floor as was the bookstore, which moved that year from its first location in the temporary buildings. The science labs were located in the northwest wing of the first floor.
The college administrative offices of President William Langsdorf and Dean of Students Ernie Becker were located in the northeast wing on the ground floor. Both men made themselves continually available to students.
There was a Homecoming dance that year. Since we had no space for such a party it was held in the gymnasium of Fullerton College down the street. We didn’t have a football team then so the dance was held after a basketball game. Because of scheduling restrictions the dance was held on the night of an away game. All of our home basketball games were played at Fullerton College that year.
That fall also saw the last elephant race. There were still plenty of open fields around and we happily gathered at a vacant lot in Placentia to watch three pachyderms lumber down the field representing our college, Fullerton College and Northrop Institute of Technology. I forget who won. The elephants would never race again but that brief tradition gave the college its mascot; Tuffy the Titan.
During that semester Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater made a whistle stop train appearance at the Fullerton train station. Among the crowd that gathered to see him were many students from the college of all political persuasions. It seemed to us then that security was tight in the year after the assassination of President Kennedy. But it was wide open compared to today’s extensive security measures. The unscreened and random crowd jostled to get near the platform at the back of the train to hear the candidate.
Following his speech, Goldwater encouraged questions from the crowd that had assembled. From somewhere a voice piped up “Do you kiss babies?” Without hesitation Goldwater shot back “If the baby’s old enough I’ll kiss her.” The joke drew appreciative laughter, though today it is unlikely any candidate would give such an answer – or even solicit unscripted questions from a crowd that was not prescreened.
It goes without saying that campus life is different today and that is appropriate on a campus as large and diverse as Cal Sate Fullerton. Yet I am glad that I got to be a pioneer student at a university that I am proud to have attended.
