hope to see you all. i have loving memories of all of you and jerrys back seat full of parking tickets when he was the projectionist.
--Terry Kline
Thanks to those who are organizing the reunion. I was a landscape architect student and bartender/worker at Dugan's Deli in 1976 and 77. I sort of became a late-blooming hippie during my years in Ames, and have drifted further leftward ever since. Oregon has been home for 24 years now, but Ames is a fond memory. I can't make the reunion date, but will be on a cross-country trip and may pass through Ames in late July. If any of you Dugan's workers are still around, I would love to hear from you. Interestingly, if I remember right the Jug band had a reunion gig at Dugan's when I worked there. Nostalgia is just not what it used to be.
--Dean Apostol
I just heard of this site from Tim Lewis. I was there in the sixties
with Ellen Feinberg, Don Siano, Steve Langwick, Steve Harmon, and
others. I remember Andy Warhol came to Ellen's house instead of an
official reception with the Velvet Underground and we had a great party.
I used to sing and play in the Dugout, and I was tall and blond (as one
of the emails noted...who was that anyway??).
Now I'm here in Mexico doing some research and running an exchange
program. I'm also the chair of the anthropology department at U.
Florida. I married Julie Gray and we've lived alot of places since Ames,
but it is still a great place.
--Allan Burns
I was a member of the Choad House Era and also the Rippey's Days. Worked a few nights in Genuine Johns as well. There isn't a place that can hold a candle to the Dugans Deli ice cold mug and a bagel w/cream cheese! I am so excited about what you people are doing! Thanks so much for this reunion!
--Mary (Cawelti) Collins
...the check also includes a donation...This donation is in memory of our late colleague and close friend, W.F. "Bill" Ringle. Bill was, in fact, my closest male friend in Ames. He was inconsiderate enough, however,to die in 1984. I miss him and think about him a lot. But if it is possible for someone to "turn on, tune in, and drop out" from the other side of existence, I am sure Bill will be joining us all in August. His spirit will certainly be with us...
--David Gradwohl
I just got this from a friend who still lives in Ames and will work on getting there to see everyone and meet those whom I was too young in the 60's to really know. I grew up in Ames from March of '62 till spring of '86 when I moved to Boulder, CO.
I now live in Colorado Springs, CO. But I do remember a lot of the Campus Town stuff since my Dad was a Prof at ISU since before I came along. So even though I was only at Ames High in the late 70's I still remember Dugan's and Pizza Pit (which I think was Pizza Den first?) and Redz Band which was more in my University days. I ran the Quarterstove with my friend Martha for a couple of semesters too when I went to school at ISU. Yes, I had a hard time leaving even when I was old enough! I remember MAFA and Freak Week and the party in the arboretum that they used to have. What a BLAST! And Hi to all my Hippy guy friends like Steve M and Bob and everyone else who might remember a tall leggy blond by the name of Sally Eggleton!!!!! I'll try and get my behind over there to see you all!!!
--Sally
Dear Reunioneers,
I am writing to let you know that I will be unable to attend the reunion.
It's a great idea and I would love to come if I could.
I am divorced and living on an acreage surrounded by almond orchards in the
San Joaquin Valley of California. I am employed by the world's largest rose
growing company as the Production Planner. We annually harvest
approximately 8 million rose bushes.
I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior in 1993. I love my church and my
church family, my job and my co- workers and my little house in the country.
I've never been happier than I am today.
Best wishes for a wonderful reunion.
--Rose Winkler
...I lived in Ames from 1945 till 1961 when, at age 16, I moved with my family to Kansas. My dad was an econ prof at ISU. I returned in 1967, with my husband, who was working on a PhD in Econ while I studied Soc. I graduated in '70, and we moved to Canada in '71. I recognized many names on the "Where are they" list, but have no info re location. Is "Charlie Profit" my old friend "Charles Profit" (his Mom was Dr. McClure at the ISU health centre)? I'd love to know where and how he is now. Also Jack Lasche! I thought maybe John Rundle would have stayed in touch with him. Also: who's the person who apparently went to Carleton College (Class of '70)? I was there from '63 till '65.
I remember standing out in front of the football stadium on a beautiful fall day, the day of some big game (I suppose they all were), along with only a few others, handing out pamphlets about VietNam and being treated quite rudely by game-goers. I certainly remember gatherings on central campus, sitting by the Campanile until very late, discussing how we would end the war, while someone like Zena Aronoff played a guitar and sang. I remember demonstrations and sit-ins. We were probably naive, but we were on the right track, and full of good intentions! I remember the people who were part of this period of my life very fondly, and would love to know where their lives have led them. Thanks to those of you who are organizing the reunion...if you can, please put some or all of this letter on the "Pot Pourri" page. It's amazing...I'm 57, have 5 (almost 6) grandchildren, but remember those days as if they were yesterday.
--Karen Nordin
Thanks SO much for doing this. I didn't arrive in Ames til 1977, but that was in time for the Pool Hall Waltz Band, the Skunk River Cafe, the IPIRG house, Freak Week, MAFA, the B.S.O., nights of beer and good talk at Dugan's, untamed hair, occasional sightings of beads and sandals and tie-dye in Campustown, amazing parties at Hodge House (thank you denizens thereof), summer afternoons on Saylorville beaches, dancing to the Chocolate Buttermilk Band at some long-gone Main Street dive, various forms of licit and illicit mind alteration, passing out leaflets for both doomed and successful left-leaning candidates, frisbee picnics at Brookside, and a whole lot of really good music. Thanks for reminding me of how and when and where and with whom I had good and/or interesting times, instead of getting a degree. It's coming back to me now...yes, the original reason for being in Ames was to get a degree. Been there, didn't do that. Lately it occurs to me what a long strange trip it's been...
--name withheld by request
Far out! I lived in Ames from about the spring of 75 until the fall of 78. Loved it, great town. Is Felix and Oscar's Pizza still there? It was the absolute best in the world!!! Is the "Iowana" still growing wild? (it wasn't the absolute best in the world!!!!)
Dan Fernelius! Wow! I hung out with Dan Fernelius a lot, and played guitar about 12+ hours a day with him...
Dan was a way cool, gentle, spiritual and very talented guy, wrote hundreds of songs and played guitar much in the style of George Harrison, tremendous influence and inspiration on me, hope y'all get in touch with him. I would love to talk to him again. He was very active in the Unification Church (the Moonies).
Another guy was Jerry Jewett, originally from Mason City, Iowa. When we were roommates at 110 N. Main or was it South Duff or North Duff or, hell, this was the 70's man. We lived in the back of the old barber shop, God knows what is there now, we worked together at the Industrial Processing Company, a chrome plating plant nearby. Jerry was a super guy, drove a 76 or 77 blue El Camino, witty and wise, a real friend. He moved out and moved in with his 16 year old sort of girlfriend/roommate. Had the poster "The Arrival" on the wall, wild!
I also worked for DuToit's Bakery when DuToit owned it, I guess he sold it shortly after I moved out of Ames, but I used to do the morning deliveries of rolls and donuts to all the frat houses at ISU...
Well, if Jerry Jewett or Dan Fernelius - or anyone that knows where they are - sees this - please, PLEASE have them get in touch! Would love to reminisce about old times in the great town of Ames in the Seventies! What a great place and time!
--Grant McLoone (formerly Grant Blowers)
Our family moved to Ames in 1950...We were immersed in the local culture for nearly 30 years. The 60's and 70's were certainly the most memorable. The idea of a gathering this August is a great one. The balmy Iowa weather will no doubt remind many of us why we are from Ames and not currently living there. The chance to spend a long weekend with cultural soul mates is irresistible.
--Don Brown
..do you realize how big this could get? ...whoever started this thing is a very brave person.
--Deb Damstrom
What a party THIS is going to be!
--Rob Louden
John would object to this current photo of him being broadcast to 3 billion people, but hey, what are wives for anyway?
I think you're website is wonderful, as well as your idea to hold a reunion, Many thanks. It has certainly dragged our thoughts down memory lane...
John Twedt, by the way, is still a carpenter (a damned good one) and I run Planned Parenthood for the state. We haven't changed very much, not our politics or professions, but unfortunately our waistlines! Your work reminded me we've been together 30 years! Yikes, I guess we're entitled to a few love handles...
--Jill (Flanigan) June
Thanks for putting this together! Wow, far out, it's all coming back to me now...some of it...sort of...
Too bad I missed out on the "old days" but for me 1980-92 was the most fun I ever had! Thanks Bob, Tim, Steve, Red, Raa, Lisa, Gregg, Dr. Solomon, St. Paul, Molly, Kate and whoever I'm forgetting. Love you all and hope to see you there!
--Jo Bartruff
Some of us may have passed through here a little later than others. I moved here in '76. Anyone remember... Sambo's? The Head Shop? Mondo's? Baker"s Acres? Butch Cassidy's? The Store? Zumwalt Station? Soper's Mill? Copper Dollar? The Green Pepper? Great places, great friends, GREAT TIMES!
--Kay (Kuhn) Danielson
Far out!!!!! BJ turned me on to this. Thanks for all your work.
--Janelle Swanberg
We've lost touch with some of you, including one who stood up for us when we got married in Lancaster, Missouri (Jeanine?) so are looking foward to catching up. Thanks for bugging me about this, Bob, and thanks Debra for showing me the site. When Bob first mentioned this reunion a couple of years ago, he also mentioned Rippey's Orchard as the site (terrorizing the surrounding communities as only hippies can). Just so you know, the Orchard is still in "hippie ownership" and a field trip down there would be possible; although, as fair warning, the Orchard in the heat of the summer can be down-right miserable. We'll at least try to get some photos on this site as time passes. Our oldest son, Dan (now 22!) cleaned up the old job shack a few years ago with some friends he took down. While there, he took some great photos of it. Our youngest son, Drew (20), would be hunting there if we lived closer.
All for now. Be well,
---Marlene (and Bruce) Ehresman
Who else is in the Albuquerque/Santa Fe area? I'd love to catch up with everyone
--Mary Montgomery
Five jobs, four states, thirteen countries. Ames was the best.
The Ames Reunion is a great idea and your timing is perfect, as far as I'm concerned.
...I visited family in Ames this past Christmas as I usually do, but this year was different. I was feeling more than my usual regret that I let my old Ames friendships slip away. This year, for some reason, I was feeling especially nostalgic and started a list of all the people I used to know. I had a hard time remembering names, especially last names, but I do remember a strong sense of belonging and acceptance in a community that included hippies and freaks, activists and protesters, musicians and dealers, feminists and lesbians, lawyers, politicians and environmentalists, vegetarians, cooks, artists and back-to-the-land farmers, students, professors, archeologists, waitresses, carpenters, visionaries and wanderers.
My memories are punctuated by scenes like these- sitting with friends around a table at Dugan's, the Union, or the vegetarian café in the basement of the YWCA, being approached by Moonies as I sat reading in a tree on central campus, getting warm on a snowy night by the stone fireplace at Lynn Fuhrer lodge, joining rallies on the grassy lawn by the campanile, inching through the aisles of the Little Red Bookstore, heading home from Campustown to a succession of dorm rooms, tiny apartments and little houses with Neil Young or Joni Mitchell's latest album, playing hacky-sak and Frisbee in the arboretum during Freak Week, seeing new lesbian and feminist films during Women's Week, late nights at the Skunk River Café, debating socialist politics and women's studies in the carpeted tiered rooms of the English building, partying with my anthropology instructors, line dancing to Motown at Ralph and Jay's parties on State Street, trudging through the snow on New Year's Eve to be at Dugan's and the Unitarian Church on the same night, Paul Nelson's Halloween parties and quieter nights on his porch, driving to the country for a pig roast and dancing in dewy grass until the morning hours of a new summer day with a raggedy jug band still playing, getting high around any number of coffee tables in little apartments or on flying country drives in the evening, and music all the time, everywhere, a soundtrack that was never turned off.
Hi, I Arrived in Ames in '79, so I"m barely in on your timeframe. But so of us who were activists in the 80s and early 90s have talked about a reunion...I'm glad people who were there haven't forgotten totally... I do have connections to the 70s, worked at Little Read Bookstore, lived in "the bins," worked at Open Line, MAFA, ate often at the Quarterstove...
I LOVED the letter....so many brain cells were reactivated, let me tell you... And how about that other thing we said, about how "You can never leave Ames." Also, how about Civil Rights marches, Peace Marches, the sit-in at the Armory, SDS and LSD, and sinking that yellow submarine (papier mache) in Lake Lavern, the Burger Block (where the Doll Houses we located, along with my place on the corner, Wally Juve's places, etc.), and let's not forget the Safari Restaurant. Oh, and the O.D.Bowl. Don't forget that one. Hoo boy! This is gonna be fabulous!
Hi, this is Red from Redzband. I was surprised to see the name on the list since we didn't start performing under that moniker until ca. 1981 although I was playing around Ames in the late seventies and was living here in '72. Rippey's Orchard - ah yes! I spent many a night there.
...after looking at the "memories" list, people started playing Old Fart, trying to remember who did what when. They definitely need a meeting. Hope you get some replies from them. I also posted a copy at John's Natural Foods, a shop frequented by some flakes (er, I mean "folks") from the era in question.
[What activities would you suggest?] Talking in relative peace, a 60's theme party featuring live music by Susan Osborn (she's coming), The jug band, John Magnuson, Yours truly, and other coffee house performers would be great...Also poetry/prose written in or about the era by people like David White, Bob Berry, Joe Franko, Barb Yates and post humus characters like Gus, etc.
What do you know about this reunion thing?
Any idea who's behind it?
Is it just a giant sting operation, designed to lure us back there so we
can get busted?
Or fed Killer Kool aide?
So I'm gonna send back a message saying, sure, sign me up as interested.
Do you remember amazing weddings in the Arboretum, Reign, Innocent Blood, Orange Luv, Sweet Nothing, Blueberry Buckle, The Jug Band, Charisma, Sitting around big old oak tables in the Commons for interminable winters trying to balance salt shakers and generally doing nothing, cutting classes in the spring to sit in front of the Campanile, playing frisbee and flirting and drinking Wild Irish Rose, summer night spectacles in The "Arena" -- ie the abandoned parking lot of IHOP, Mrs. Miller's apartments, concerts and demonstrations in the Great Hall, hiding in the Trophy Tavern, The Grubstake, Watching movies in Rippey's Orchard, Harvey Wallbangers, Mr. Blimp, the demonstration in which 2000 of us marched down to the draft board and came this close to burning it down, The police station bomb, strange trips through the tunnels near Lake Laverne, The Farmhouse out by the airport, the yogi crossing guard on Lincoln Way with a turban, The Quarterstove, speeches on the steps of Beardshear, the Knapp Street hippie house.
Funny you should mention the statute of limitations, I was
thinking along those lines just the last day or so but more with respect
to my time at Carleton College around 1970...
Hi, reunioners,
...Nice to hear the past has a voice. I happen to be in Ames right now visiting my parents...
Sounds like a wonderful idea, especially if it can be un-reunion-like.
Here are three registrants to add to your list of old, but still functioning, whackos...We are all tickled about your web and reunion effort. In fact the only words to express our emotion is, "Far out".
Surely you weren't considering not inviting me!?
...Harkin had just lost the election in 1972, and I'm wondering what comes next (I was his campaign driver that year). As I recall, I spent the time studying Japanese and talking politics with Harkin's off-year campaign staff (Clyde Brown, and John & Liddy Fitzpatrick). We dragged Harkin kicking and screaming into the '74 race, by sheer dint of dogged organizational momentum (nobody wanted to admit they'd wasted 1972), and the rest is history.
Do you still have a scar where the football player hit you and you fell over backwards over the couch in the apartment above the Pizza Den?
...When life feels too boring in middle age I reminisce about Jim's Pizzeria and Dugan's and all of it, and I manage to conveniently forget the hang-overs and depressions, to say nothing of arrests and bad acid trips (only one bad one, really. Or only one that I can recall...). I feel lucky to have grown up in the 60s. It was all great and enlightening and awful and loving and intense and humiliating and delightful and the best times..but maybe everyone, of any generation, feels that way about the decade when they were in their 20s. Anyway, thanks for doing this.
...alive and well?
I had simply been informed by several supposedly knowledgeable folks who know both her and me that she had had a heart attack and died in the early 80's. If she did indeed have a heart attack apparently she survived, and then again, perhaps she just suffered what I and many others have, a 'rumor attack.'
Hello Hippies!
My wife (Hanna) and I were just reading the Ames Tribune about the planned reunion of folks from ISU in the 1960s and 1970s. Great idea: right on! I hope retired professors are included in your festivities. I'd enjoy seeing some of you folks again. I took an early retirement in 1994 to pursue some of my own things and do some traveling; happiness is NOT having to attend faculty meetings! But I'm still on some graduate committees and still serve on the American Indian Symposium Committee. This April we will hold the 30th annual symposium, making the event the oldest, longest-continuing minority program on campus.
Even though I did NOT graduate from ISU, I do remember Dugan's Deli, the Jug Band, Bluff Creek Theoretical Farm, and Rippey's Orchard. Things have not been the same (or as interesting) in Ames since then.
And, be advised that the Ames Tribune has not improved since the days you were here. For example, the article on the reunion in tonight's paper (12 March 2001, p. 1 and A-4) refers to the Bluff Creek THEATRICAL farm. Well, I do remember some real productions out there, but the farm was THEORETICAL.
Some of you may not know that Bill Ringle, operator of Bluff Creek Theoretical Farm, died in 1984. He was only 51 years old, and his passing on was most inconsiderate. Bill was not only a colleague of mine in anthropology but my closest male friend in Ames. Hanna, our "kids" (now all in their 30s) and I miss Bill a lot.
While digging in some old files we found a copy of the "chant" recited at as we pronounced the condemnation of the grounds for the (planned) ISU football stadium. As I recall, we produced this street theater for the patrons of the "Miss Iowa Beauty Pageant" in front of Hilton Coliseum as the public entered the building. We also staged our own "beauty" contest by feigning measurements of penis length. Of course, Norris Yates claimed he was the undisputed title holder!
In high school we were allowed one trip to a college campus of our choice; the school guidance counselor went with us. Oddly enough, we folks interested in ISU were scheduled - and went to tour/learn about the Iowa State campus the day after the shootings at Kent State, so instead of dreadful boring tours of Beardshear, we spent a fair amount of time on central campus listening to speakers. I was young, naive, and was having a hard time absorbing it all.
...We were
around in the 70's and currently belong to the Onion Creek Cloggers which
was founded in 1977. Several of our members have been around forever and
may want to participate in this event as well. One of our members is an
original Jug Band member (Tom Richards). As you plan your reunion, keep the
cloggers in mind. We put on community dances that are relaxed and fun. We
are looking forward to this!
Also, do you all remember Carl and Marty?
An Ames reunion! It would be - FAR OUT! This year, next year - if the fest includes a weekend, I would try to make it - 2002 sounds groovy to me (garoovy, that is) as I would be turning 50! ...Add to your "do you remember list" the Busstop, Open Line, and what was the name of the vegetarian restaurant in the basement of the old YMCA
building on campus?
I'm SO reformed now.
Well, it sure wasn't all hippies and bar scene...
Remember the cruising and hot cars? Of course, we NEVER did any street
racing...
:)
Rock and roll... Schooners... dancing at Brookside and the skate rink...
Channel 5 bop show...
well.. how about when the "Bubblegum" band Shadows of Knight (pathetic
Gloria cover) played with Kingsmen at the Armory... and they turned out to
be pre-acid hard rockers! Yeah, bayby!
Dugans and Rippeys and the Den are infamous, let's not forget Co-op Records,
the Head Shop, Godfather's Pizza, even the frat trap That Place.
Ask on your do-you-remember list if anyone remembers
"The Mutual Aide Food Association," the first natural
food co-op in Ames, started in '72 or '73 with people
making a huge mess ordering in bulk & weighing out
their share in the basement of some building on
campus, 'same building where some folks started
serving a natural foods lunch in the early seventies.
I plan to come as long as the Pizza Den still exists.
Yes, I do remember a wonderful, tall, blond
anthropologist-major who sang at the Dugout and sounded vaguely
Dylanesque...although the guy I'm thinking of sounded more like John Mayal,
Paul Butterfield, John Koerner slide-guitar bluesmen. I remember mainly
because I had a crush on him, and I do think his name might have been Al.
Whoever is doing this, I think it's a great idea and I hope it comes to pass. I've even got my husband psyched for it and he doesn't really know any of these people!
You're not the feds are you?
Yours in paranoia,
Don