Central Park and the Police Station in San Pedro, late 1970's or so
Photograph courtesy San Pedro House of Culture
Jayson Forman: Did you ever play the “memory game” with the colorful park benches?
Well how do kids in their single-digit years pass the time when it isn’t “marble season“ and we didn’t own roller skates yet?
We had to come up with our own games. Each park bench was sponsored by a different family and their names were engraved on the back rests. The object of the game was to jump from one bench to the other until you made it all the way around the park. You had to guess which family sponsored the next bench before you can jump to it. Trying to guess the combination of colors with the correct family could take hours.
It’s amazing how creative you can be when there are no gameboys, iPhones or any electronic toys to play with ...
At that time, Mr. Sutherland was the chief of police (and probably the only cop for the time being).
Neima Castillo:
Just in front of the Police Station was the old San Pedro R.C. School between the Police Station and the sea. I attended that school fron 1945. The teachers I studied with were Signa Yorke, Hortense Swift. Cant remember more. Pupil teacher Gaspar Lara. In the front that door was like for the use of the priests and altar boys to change (see the steps?) Mass was conducted there.