Mixer & Movie Night Filled with Colonist Memories

Alumni mixed it up at a recent Mixer & Movie Night at Arturo’s Cantina & Grill, a Fullerton restaurant owned by Class of 1949 graduate Arturo Cano.

Grads enjoyed watching restored movies dating back to 1938 up to the 1970s while enjoying a light buffet. The AHSAA used the event as an opportunity to honor the Cano Family, whose family attended Anaheim High School, served their country during WWII and the Korean Wars, established eateries that became legendary and served their community in numerous ways.

Arturo Cano from Class of 1949 still runs his restaurant which he established in 1957. After serving his country in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, Arturo Cano set out to make his mark in Fullerton. He came home to his 10 acres of land in 1947 and wanted to grow and sell tomatoes and other crops. His mother, Catalina Cano, suggested he open a Mexican food restaurant like his older brother, Joe, owner of the La Palma Drive-In, nicknamed “The Bean Hut” by local teenagers.

The restaurant soon became a huge success with the locals. Over the next several decades, the cantina’s popularity began to outgrow its available space, and Arturo opened an entirely remodeled restaurant in 1978, boasting an enlarged kitchen and doubled the seating capacity. The long wait lines were a thing of the past and business boomed.

Along with celebrating the Canos as an Outstanding Colonist Family, the Feb . 9 event also marked the Association’s third anniversary as a non-profit corporation.  Enjoy these event photos:

 

Cassie Miller – Voice Heard Around the Globe

Cassie Miller’s Anaheim High teachers and classmates always knew she would hit the big time. A natural, Cassie was a star member of the school’s choir and a featured vocalist in theater productions throughout her time at Anaheim High and Fremont Junior High.

Now she’s touring the world and performing for audiences that number in the thousands, making stops along the way at Carnegie Hall, recording studios, TV and film sets.

But Cassie hasn’t forgotten her hometown roots. She performed for the Sept. 11 Service and Remembrance sponsored by the City of Anaheim to remember victims of the 9/11 terrorists attacks, including AHS Class of ’67 grad Charles “Chic” Burlingame, the pilot for American Airlines Flight #77, which was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon.

Returning home to sing for another Anaheim audience has brought Cassie full circle in a career that started immediately upon graduating in 1978 from Anaheim High when she joined the Knott’s Berry Sisters trio. She also paid her dues singing on cruise ships and performing in various shows at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland.

Cassie’s big break came when she began singing background and touring with Perry Como and Andy Williams. She stills considers sharing the stage with these legendary singers a career highlight and “a dream come true.”

Cassie said she found her forte when she began singing with a local big band in Long beach in 1984. This experience ignited her love for the swing era. Since then she has worked with many ghost bands and swing bands including the Harry James, Jimmy Dorsey, Glenn Miller orchestras and others.

Her most recent tour was a departure from the big band genre as a background singer for Supertramp. She recently returned from a tour in France, performing for an audience of 77,000 people.

Other career highlights including doing her own solo tour of jazz clubs overseas, singing with John Lithgow at Carnegie Hall and being “Big Band Singer of the Year” by the LA Music Awards.

Her song styling has brought her wide acclaim from many entertainers including Gregory Peck, Jimmy Stewart, Placido Domingo, Jerry Lewis and Liza Minelli.

Cassie has also appeared in commercials and print ads for such companies such as IBM, Chrysler and others that have aired all over the US and other parts of the world.

Still she is drawn to her Anaheim roots and shared an interesting part of her life. “My parents adopted me when I was a few days old. I ended up finding my birthparents and siblings, only to discover that my birthfather had also gone to Anaheim High and I went to junior high with one of my half-sisters, but never knew it at the time. My birthfather and I both had the same music director, Sheldon Disrud, who is still living.”

More about Cassie, including her schedule of appearances, can be found at www.CassieMiller.net.

Frank Kellogg – Class of ’44 Honors Grad Day, D-Day 67 Years Later – June 7, 2011

Remembering D-Day graduation at Pearson Park

 

http://www.ocregister.com/news/classmates-303511-kellogg-day.html

Anaheim 1940s Grads Celebrate School Days at Old AU

Graduates from the Classes of ’43, ’44 and ’45 gathered at Anaheim High recently to reminisce about their school days nearly 70 years past (see photo slideshow of the event below).

The campus was then named Anaheim Union as the only high school in town serving the city’s then 11,000 inhabitants. Anaheim High also served the outlying farming and dairy communities. Many ‘40s grads in attendance recalled riding the bus to school from what would become the cities of Buena Park, Cypress, La Palma and Stanton. [Read more…]

From Cook Auditorium to Broadway, ’75 Grad Coming Home for Local Appearance

Anaheim High Class of ’75 graduate Bob Lauder will bring 30 years of experience as an actor and singer to his performance this weekend in the Fullerton Civic Light Opera (FCLO) 40th anniversary show at historic Plummer Auditorium.

Bob, who recently finished a national tour as Old Max in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” will be among Broadway performers and FCLO veterans who will celebrate the theater company’s 40 years as one of the region’s major cultural resources.

The company will be presenting favorite Broadway musicals, from classic ballads to big dance spectaculars.  For tickets to the Jan. 28 show at 8 p.m. or the Sunday matinee at 2 p.m., visit www.fclo.com or call 714-879-1732. Plummer Auditorium is located at 201 E. Chapman, Fullerton.

While at Anaheim High, Bob was a drama major and played in the band’s brass section with the marching, stage and pep bands. A Las Vegas resident, Bob is also famous for his role as a real bearded Santa: www.lasvegassanta.com.

See Bob in action at http://www.bigleague.org/video_grinch.htm and support this Colonist by attending the FCLO 40th Anniversary celebration.

Story of Lost Letterman Jacket Has Happy Ending

Jan Domene, Tom Bateman and Angel Zavala present Jim Langford with found letterman jacket.Little did Jim Langford know when he lent his Class of ’70 letterman jacket to a friend participating in a ’50s night that it would take more than 20 years to be reunited with a favorite high school memento that held so many memories for him. Jim was a lineman on two CIF Semifinalists teams in 1968 and 1969.

Jim figured the jacket was a goner, like his friend who disappeared after a divorce. (Apparently, the ex-wife donated the jacket to a thrift store.) But the fates were with him when Class of ’87 Colonist Angel Zavala happened to be shopping in at Goodwill in Lake Forest and spotted the classic Colonist jacket from the corner of his eye. He swooped it up for $5.99, knowing he purchased a piece of Anaheim High history.

The jacket remained hanging in Angel’s garage for nearly six years. Then one day last summer he received a call from friend and fellow alumnus Tom Bateman, a Class of ’89 grad and immediate past president of the AHSAA. During their phone call, Angel mentioned finding the jacket and the two decided to put their heads together to find the owner.

It took several more months, but they finally learned that the jacket belonged to Jim by searching yearbooks and football programs to trace the jersey number from the jacket. From there, they contacted Linda Fast Cooper, a Class of ’69 grad who is also an AHSAA board member. Linda had Jim’s phone number and called him to inform him that his jacket had been recovered, to ask if he wanted it back and to find out how it got separated from its owner.

Jim was ecstatic and it was arranged that he would retrieve his jacket at the Dec. 4 Alumni Breakfast, where AHSAA President Jan Domene assisted Tom and Angel in sharing the story of how the jacket was lost and found with the nearly 100 alumni who attend the monthly breakfast at Jagerhaus in Anaheim. In a happy ending to the story, Jim gave Angel back the $5.99 he had spent on the jacket, causing their Colonist classmates to give a big cheer.

Photo caption: Jan Domene, Tom Bateman and Angela Zavala present Jim Langford with found letterman jacket.

AHS Inducting New Members to Hall of Fame – Nov. 5, 2010

http://www.ocregister.com/news/anaheim-274603-school-high.html

AHS Holds All-Class Reunion – Oct. 26, 2010

http://www.ocregister.com/news/school-272937-anaheim-high.html#article-photos

Albert Rodriguez named as Honorary Colonist at All-Class Reunion

Colonist football has been a fall tradition in the Rodriguez family for more than 50 years. It all began when Albert and Estela met when they were in high school. After graduating in 1954 from rival Valencia High, where he was a star athlete, Albert continued attending the AHS football games with Estela and her many family members who attended Anaheim High.

Someone in the family was always playing football or cheering or playing in the marching band. Albert and Estela, always wearing Colonist spirit wear, attended all these events.

Along with his support of Anaheim as a booster, Albert also served as a track coach for Anaheim High and other local schools. Some of the athletes he coached while at AHS became state and national champions, including Ylena Carrasco, a Class of ’86 grad who will the first female Orange County athlete to clear 6 feet in the high jump. He also coached students who were members of his Anaheim Atoms AAU Track and Field club.

With two daughters who graduated 12 years apart, he had ample opportunity to be an active parent booster in sports and band during that time. He has literally driven thousands of miles transporting his daughters and their friends to numerous sports and performing arts events.

Whatever was needed for the school he was always willing to pitch in to promote student activities and excellence. He understands the value in helping in any way he can to support the sons and daughters of Anaheim High School, said his daughter Angela, who was an Anaheim High athlete, band member and a cheerleader.

Albert’s brother-in-law Albert Miranda, a Class of 1965 grad, was also the recipient of “Big Al’s” support. The younger Albert, a tennis star at Anaheim and a Vietnam veteran who is helping establish a memorial for his fallen classmates on the school campus, credits many of his life accomplishments to his mentor who he said has been a “friend and the best role model a person could ask for.” He praised his brother-in-law as a person who “always set the bar high and has challenged those around him to participate in life rather than to just sit around as on-lookers.”

Angela summed up the reason her father was deserving of the award: “Though my dad may have married into the Colonist family, he has always demonstrated a strong commitment to family, friends and community, a zest for living life and for striving to challenge one’s self to reach new heights. He is part dad, part coach and ALL Colonist!”

Nominations for this award can be sent to anaheimalumni@yahoo.com.

Coach Clare Van Hoorebeke

image011004Anaheim High’s beloved head football coach Clare Van Hoorebeke led Colonist football teams to repeated victories from 1950 – 1972. Known as the “Dutch Master,” Hoorebeke forever changed the face of high school football. To this day, coaching principles pioneered by Van and his loyal staff have served as the model for football programs in Orange County and across the county. [Read more…]