Fast Times at New Hanover High: For 60th reunion, 1962 grad recalls Wilmington of old

In April 2022, my classmates and I will celebrate our 60th reunion as graduates of New Hanover High School in Wilmington.

Coincidentally, the school will celebrate its 100th anniversary this year.

The times we spent at New Hanover High from 1959 to 1962 were in many ways, glory days for us. We will never forget the good times and the friends we made.

I have always said your oldest friends are most often your best friends.

Looking back to '62

We lived in an entirely different world in 1962. Our life was very simple compared to today. We will never see these times again.

We had no internet, no social media, no cellphones, and only land telephone lines in our houses and businesses. For a while during my youth, we only had party lines. For those of you who are not aware of this service, a home often shared a telephone line with several other families. You can imagine some of the arguments we got into, disagreeing over who would use the line.

The most formal mode of communication was letter writing, as opposed to the texting and emailing of today.

Only in 1954 did we get TV in Wilmington. Most families had only one car. Some mothers would take their husbands to and from work and come back home to manage the house and the children. We went to Sunday school and church on Sundays. Girls wore one-piece and non-revealing two-piece bathing suits. Drugs were not an issue in our high school days, but there was some abuse of alcohol from time to time.

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The year 1962 brought interesting events nation and worldwide. Marilyn Monroe died of an overdose. Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a professional basketball game. John Glenn circled the earth. The movie "Spartacus" was produced.

The average price of a new car was $3,125. An average new home cost $12,500. Average take-home pay was $94.87 per week. Telstar made its first transmission over the Atlantic. The Beatles' first No. 1 hit was “Love Me Do.”

The top three songs of 1962 were “Stranger on the Shore” by Acker Bilk, “I Can’t Stop Loving You” by Ray Charles, and “Mashed Potato Time” by Dee Dee Sharp. The top three grossing movies of 1962 were “The Longest Day,” “Lawrence of Arabia” and “In Search of Castaways.” The United States' military commitment in Vietnam increased significantly in 1962.

Lots of other things happened that year, but they are too numerous to list.

Miljo, Pappy Gay's and the 'Senior Steps'

Meanwhile, back in Wilmington, North Carolina, life continued. Wilmington was not very large in 1962. The population of the city was a little above 40,000.

Despite the size of Wilmington, New Hanover High School was the largest in the state. In 1962 our graduating class was more than 550. Needham Broughton High School in Raleigh was, no doubt, envious of our status.

While our class was in school from 1959 to 1962, New Hanover High won the state basketball championship every year.

Our coach was the legendary Leon Brogden with Jap Davis as assistant coach. The principal as seniors was Jesse Harrington and assistant principal John Scott. As sophomores, Dale K. Spencer was our principal. The infamous dean of students was Fred G. Capps, notorious for handing out 8th- and 9th-period detention slips.

I got a few of those myself.

We had some very good teachers at New Hanover during our time there — too numerous to mention. One of the great traditions of our school was the Senior Steps, the steps in front of the main building. The Senior Steps were only available to be used by seniors at New Hanover High School, no one else. You can imagine that sophomores and juniors felt obligated to try to breech the steps. They did so at their peril. A significant number of fistfights and other encounters broke out over our years on the steps.

Pappy Gay’s Soda Shop was located near the corner of Market Street and Kenwood Avenue. It was famous for their “School Boy” sandwich, made with white bread, luncheon meat, lettuce, tomato, salt and pepper, and lots of mayonnaise. He also had great hot dogs and hamburgers. Pappy’s was a favorite hangout for students from Chestnut Street School and New Hanover High School for many years.

It was against the rules to leave the school grounds at either school, unless you had a lunch permit, but that did not stop us. I went just about every day and only got caught a few times. Fred Capps loved giving me and my buddies detention slips.

Another favorite place to eat and hang out was the Varsity, located behind the school on Princess Street. It was also legally off-limits during school hours, but again, that did not deter us.

The Varsity was owned and operated by Herbert Fisher, who later became very successful in the real estate business in Wilmington, creating Coastal Realty. During our tenure, Wilmington College (now UNCW) and Cape Fear Community College, were very small operations, especially compared to their status today.

More: The year ahead: 11 Wilmington anniversaries we'll be marking in 2022

At one time, Wilmington College was housed in a few small buildings directly across Market Street from New Hanover High.

Away from the school grounds, our social life was often centered around the Miljo Drive-in Restaurant, located on Oleander Drive. This is where we hung out at night. It was operated by Mildred and Joe Hines. At one time, WMFD Radio produced a show from that location featuring broadcaster Bill Weathers.

The Miljo was, indeed, the center of our social life. We would drive to the Miljo, hang out with our friends, then drive to Wrightsville Beach, and very often return to the Miljo. We would also drive down Third Street downtown and go to the Chic-Chic (near the current entrance to the Isabel Holmes Bridge).

We were always on the watch out for N.C. Highway Patrolman C.L. Schwartz, locally well known for giving speeding tickets. The Bradley Creek Bridge on Oleander Drive was named for Patrolman Schwartz in 2016.

Another favorite drive-in hangout was Winnie’s on Dawson Street. We enjoyed the Bailey, Manor and Colony theaters downtown. Until we were 12 years old, we could watch movies all day long on Saturdays for nine cents at another downtown theater, the Bijou (it closed in 1956). This was a good opportunity for our parents to get us out of their hair and still know where we were located.

We went to the local drive-in theaters often.

I recall our drive-ins as the Wrightsville Road, Skyline and Starway theaters. A favorite trick of ours was to pack friends in the trunk and have only two people visible in the car. We did not always get away with it. I also remember that one of the rules of the drive-in was that all heads had to be over the top of the seat. Any “making out” had to be done in open view.

There were several other “make out” locations around town. The first, and foremost, was "The Tree," located on Greenville Sound. This was, literally, a large tree, and couples would pull up around it to play “kissy face” and “smacky mouth” and other such naughty things.

Maco, Lumina and Fergus Ark

Of course, we took trips to many nearby places of Wilmington.

We also occasionally drove to Maco to visit the Maco Light. Legend has it that old Joe Baldwin-legend lost his head in a train accident and is always looking to find it, swinging a lantern down the tracks.

Prior coverage: Do people still see the Maco Light?

Many say they have seen the light (or a light). I never saw it, but I did enjoy taking my dates there. It was dark, most of the time.

We also drove to park at the “Sugar Bowl” at the southern end of Wrightsville Beach. This was a very popular place. On the northern end we visited the Surf Club parking lot. We enjoyed Carolina and Kure beaches during our high school days, but we spent most of our time at Wrightsville Beach.

We did, however, greatly enjoy Britt’s Donuts at Carolina Beach.

While at Wrightsville Beach, we hung out and engaged in mostly underaged drinking in the Spot, Wit’s End, Palm Room and Upper Deck bars. Those bars were run by some very iconic personalities: Iris Fales at the Wit’s End, Steve Janko at the Palm Room, Roy Rudd at the world-famous Spot and Jack Lane at the Upper Deck (Lumina Pavilion). Roy Rudd was an unbelievable character and we all loved him.

There were not many restaurants around town when we were in high school. At Wrightsville Beach, we had the Neptune, Faircloth’s, and the Marina, all featuring seafood.

In downtown Wilmington, we had Fergus Ark, docked on the riverfront (made famous a year earlier when the Battleship North Carolina crashed into it while being berthed across the Cape Fear River).

Prior coverage: What happened to the Fergus Ark?

We also had Saffo’s Restaurant and the Dixie Restaurant on Princess Street (not the current Dixie Grill), next to Futrell’s Pharmacy, and the Crystal Restaurant.

Around town we had Carmen’s on Oleander Drive, the New China on Oleander (formerly on Fourth Street), Fishers on Market Street, Emery’s Club on the corner of Greenville Loop Road and Pine Grove Road, and the Famous Club just past Greenfield Lake where Third Street meets Carolina Beach Road.

Oh, and don’t forget Skinner and Daniels Barbecue.

One of our favorite places to go was Uncle Henry’s Oyster Roast, located down on Masonboro Sound. They cooked oysters on a steel deck with burlap sacks and water sprayed on the sacks.

Yes, our times at New Hanover High were, in many ways, the good old days. Life was simple. We made lifelong friends during that time. Friendships that will always endure. I wish my classmates and their families the best in the coming years.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: New Hanover High 1962 grad reminisces on Wilmington of the past