I have joined the FACEBOOK Group: "You know you grew up in Cerritos when...." What a RIOT!

I love Facebook. I have joined some wacky Groups lately like: "Throw Your Shoes at George W. Bush," "Pirates in America," "Howard Dean for Secretary of Health and Human Services," "Fans of Pope Benedict," "Throw Tortillia's at Dumb People" and a few notable others.

One HOT HOT Group that is a MUST JOIN is "You KNOW you GREW UP in CERRITOS WHEN...."

Here are some of the hundreds of memories posted on this Facebook Group. Check them out, and JOIN this group and be part of 1,276 others who love telling stories about our Tony/Snooty 'Hood!

Randy Economy

YOU KNOW YOU GREW UP IN CERRITOS WHEN...

you bought your clothes at Chess King.

you bought Munchos from the C.P.E. vending machine.

you hear AeroMexico Arlines and it sends a shiver down your spine.

you know where Shabadoo lived.

your main source for news was the Weekly World News.

you would sweep your front porch while blasting Tour De France and hope that your broom would start to float like Turbo’s did on Breakin’.

you either loved or loathed Chad Allen.

Patty Nichols and David Morrison served you a Black Bart with extra Jimmies at Swensons.

you got your frozen yogurt from Kim Degener at Penguins.

you ate nachos and red ropes and drank Slush Puppies at skate depot after skating as fast as you can backwards with the rental skates with the giant blue gaurds in the front.

you remember how hard Andre Coleman laughed at cartoons.

you spent 4th of July at C.P.E.

you tried to buy a Slushee at CJHS but the cup came out and fell over and Slushee everywhere!!!

you saw Mr. Hand as the grand marshall in the 40th anniversary parade.

you watched "Winter of the Witch" in one of your classes, the one with the magic pancakes.

you remember when there was no towne center.

you'd whisper to your desk mate "got any 0.5?"

you performed at the Big Yellow House

you ate breakfast at Bob's Big Boy on late days.

you made your own burger at Flakey Jake's.

you had your birthday party at Farrell's.(Big Bass Drum)

you bought silly stuff at Doo Dah's.

you slept on the floor so the Night Stalker couldn't see you from your bedroom window.

you remember, but never ate at, Monterey Bay Canners.

you bought crazy shoes at Dominics.

you spent all your quarters at Time Out playing Punch Out.

you are a fan of Boy's Hamburger's onion rings.

Mr. Bowlen had a nickname for you. (mine was "The Bull")

you took the Whitney test. (or didn't)

whether you went to CHS or GHS, you had your football games and graduated at Gahr.

you know the significance of Garbage vs. Cherrios.

you went to C.P.E. tot lot.

you were in AYSO region 54 and had your games at Los Coyotes, then went next door to Carls Jr. for lunch.

you miss the wavy fries that Carls Jr. once had.

you bought your groceries at Alpha Beta... tell a friend.

you bought home improvement items at National Lumber or Ole's.

you worked at Stuft Pizza.

you played soccer with one of the Casanova brothers.

you made friendship bracelets at Frontier Park.

you made the baseball guy on your Pee Chee have a high heel.

you jumped off the high dive at the C.P.E. pool.

you know about another UCLA.

you got a 15 cent ice cream at Thrifty.

you remember Thrifty.

during the winter your parents took you to Santa's Village and you ate at the Pixie Pantry and the Good Witch's Bakery.

you passed by Santa's Village on the way to 6th grade camp (Oongo) and you still have your memory stick.

you went to High School with the girl who played the friend on Sweet Valley High.

you bought your appliances at Phil & Jims.

you remember The Federated Group, Gemco, & Fedco.

you remember, and sat on the head of, the giant caterpiller at Wittmann Elementary, or were brave enough to climb up and over the doggie bone chain wall and you can't forget the horse swings on the Kindergarten playground. Sunshine Awards!!

you took pictures by the rocks w/ the fountian.

you poured soap or put dye in same fountain.

your friends were on Romper Room and the Gong Show.

you were in the audience of Kids Incorporated and you remember Stacey Ferguson before she was "Fergie".

you remember BEST and waited for your merchandise to come down the conveyor belt.

you knew Gil at Goody's Donuts.

you watched movies at Alondra 6($1) or at the Cerritos Twin.

you lived in Shadow Park.

you snuck into Shadow Park.

you remember when rats chewed through the electrical wires at CHS and the power went out and everyone ditched. TWICE!

you ate at Don Jose all the time. Their chips and salsa are #1!

you were brave enough to climb up the rope at Heritage or climb to the very top of the church.

you've seen or have starred in one of Adam and  Matt Bullard's videos.

you know who Marcelo Balboa is...(seen....pro soccer star and A Cerritos kid).

you rode on The COW and you remember the cows.

you splashed in the dolphin pool at C.P.E in the summer.

you bought your tapes and records at The Warehouse, and computer games at Egghead.

you remember when Naugles turned into Del Taco. "Vive Naugles, Viva Del Taco!"

you played Chinese Jump Rope at recess.

you knew someone named " Fish ", and someone else named " Digger "

you ate breakfast at Park Pantry!

you shopped at Judy's, J.Jacobs, Comtempo, Clothestime.

you went to Cypress College even though Cerritos College was just down the street.

you were in Mr. Chapel's class and he would always send someone from class to get Mc Donalds for everyone .

Mr. Chapel reminded you of Mr. Dilley

you remember the picture of Mr. Bowlen with Kenny Rogers in Mr. Bowlen’s classroom. Twins (seen here)!

you wore karate shoes but you didn't know any martial arts.

you wrote notes to your friends with an "outliner" that you had to shake first. Boy were those stanky, and they are still available in stores.

you made a sling shot out of the patch on your Toughskins.

you remember Videopolis at Disneyland.

you danced at Studio K at Knott's, but stayed away on Odyssey Night.

you'd buy Froze Toes from Corky. The blue foot shaped popsicle with a gumball toe.

Love Lines! you had your friends over on Sunday night and u called up love lines with some outrageous story and they fall for it and you get it on tape and you still have the tape. Ruthie T. was the queen.

you had a US Boys shirt.

you were at the party at my house when Joey Zakota put a GIANT hole in the wall while in the mosh pit.

you went on a pen pal picnic.

you went to a school board meeting for class where they were discussing teacher's salary

cuts and you stand up and shout "No Cuts, No Butts, No Coconuts"!

you had OP short shorts.

you were sporting JIMMY'Z shorts.

You knew me when I was a Bullard.

you remember when Whitney had a restaurant.

you listened to 100.3 Pirate Radio, 105.5 KNAC, 105.9 Power 106, KDAY 1580 am.

you remember when Knott's had the parachutes, and before Kindom of the Dinosaurs, there was the Knott's Berry Tales ride and it smelled delicious.

you remember the day tha Scott Forst got hit by a car in front of CJHS.

you remember the Mighty 690.

you've been to a Ruby Diver show.

you remember the sheriff wearing a white polo, jeans, and that green jacket that said "Sheriff" on the back on yellow letters, instead of a standard uniform.

you remember the poor excuse for toilet paper at the elementary schools.

you skated to "Celebrate Good Times, Come On!" at Skate Depot. Oh and the giant train on the the wall there, and the birthday party rooms.

you loved the school pepperoni pizza in the rectangle tin with the little pepperoni cubes so much that you'd buy two lunches that day school lunch was 80 cents and you were sooo happy when your parents gave you a dollar for lunch because that meant you had 20 cents to spend on the ice cream man.

you remember the mad rush to the ice cream man after school.

you went to birthday parties at a places like unto Chuck E Cheese called River Towne or Showbiz.

Marcelo Balboa was your soccer coach when you were 12 and remember him pulling up to practice in his car at Leal Elementary blasting "Word Up" by Cameo.

you were jealous of the Leal Lions at the district track meets with their fancy uniforms and sweeping every event! They should have been drug tested!

you went to that barn pre-school where you take naps in the hay beds.

you were at my 15th birthday party but didn't know it was my 15th birthday party.   you played soccer at the sports complex every Thursday night with Eric Quick and the gang, then headed over to am/pm afterward to drink gatorade and hang out in the parking lot where Druv Patel would make you laugh.

you were on a GGASP indoor soccer team called "The Saints" with light blue uniforms.

you've seen Jim Koford's Emmy Award.

you remember Skaggs turning into Sav-On then to Osco, the back to Sav-on.

you got sent to the pentaly box by Darren with the referee shirt at Skate Depot for breaking the rules.

you remember seeing Randy Economy on KCER Television at Cerritos High School along with Teri Taylor, Allison Smith and Mr. Charles Ledbetter back when they were 14 years old.

you had a crush on Aaron Flowers (aka Little Ricky Schroder) and Scotty Edwards in elementary school.

you remember when Mayor Edwards was just "Scotty's dad".

you were on a K-League soccer team with Eddie Lewis and Matt Bullard and Matt Bullard stole a clear shot on goal from his sister.. and missed. Thanks Matt!!

you drove to HG to get your soccer gear at Soccer Central, always 10% off.

your mom would take you to the Santa Fe Springs mall which was just a big round circle of stores and you played at the arcade there called "Noah's Arkade."

you had a duck tail...sometimes extra extra long.

you wore a hat with two flaps in the back.

you remember when Roger Lodge (shown) ran for ASB President at Cerritos HighSchool and LOST to Ruben Zepeda 

you remember when Roger Lodge drove the "Rocket" around Cerritos with the really bad muffler.

you were absent at CJHS and the next day you had to get a “re-admit” slip and have all your teachers sign it.

you lived by the YKK zipper factory and you'd always check your zipper to see if it was a YKK.

you were at the Carmentia / Tetzlaff dance in 1989.

you had those shoes that looked like boots, but they were really shoes, or the sandals that laced all the way up to your knees.

you shopped at GEMCO which is now Target

you really wanted to be chosen to be the one to push the button to change the frames on the filmstrips.

you watched FILMSTRIPS!

you know to get your adverbs at Lolly's, and you know the function of a conjunction.

before internet chat rooms, you'd go out to your mom's van with all your friends and talk to boys on the c.b. radio.

you knew everyone who worked at the watch repair in Sears.

my dad didn't want you dating me.

you had Spanish Class at Cerritos High School with Ben Howland  (shown) before he became the Head Coach at UCLA.

you had Pottery Class at Gahr High School with Washington Redskin Head Coach Jim Zorn (below)

you ACTUALLY got a TOPPS Trading Card with Jim Zorn on it when he was the Seattle Seahawks QB! (Below)

you drive down 183rd St. and honk and wave at Ben.you went to a Jr. High, not a "Middle School".

you played Jr. High sports and Haskell was the school to beat.

you remember playing sports against Killingsworth, they had to have the police there.

you remember Killingsworth changing it's name to Fedde because they didn't want "Kill" in the name anymore.

you saw dudes at the Cerritos Mall walking around with their "pull-out" stereos so no one would steal.

your elementary school had an Olympics and you were champion of the side-step.

you ate food and played games at Frank N' Scoop.

Food Barn! BYOB (bring your own bags)

 you watched "after school specials" and you remember "one to grow on".

you used "Sun-In" to lighten your hair.

you knew what number to call to hear "Ms. Tique Nails may i help yoooooooooooou.?"

your brothers' got you kicked out of the Woolworth Restaurant.

you ate Frogen Yozurt.

you remember eating at Pup N Taco and then the break dancer who's street name was Pop N Taco!

you knew that CHS football games would not have been the same if it weren't for Mr. Bowlen's commentations in his mack daddy voice.

 You shopped at FEDCO...seen here.

you ate a roast beef and cheese sandwich every day at Antony's while they played  you went to school w/ Troy Aikman.

 you rented videos at Video Galaxy. Be kind rewind or $.50 charge.

you remember the smell of the Sanrio store in the mall.

you worked at Computer City.

you remember walking by the vacant lot on the s/w corner of Shoemaker and 

you remember "shelf markers" at your elementary school library, which were just paint stir sticks in pretty colors.

you got your name on the board and then two checks next to it meant you were in BIG trouble!

you remember when actress Lela Rochon was Homecoming Queen at Cerritos High School (seen)

Send me your memories about growing up in Cerritos to:

Randy Economy   RREconomy@aol.com