This picture of my Hazeltine Avenue Elementary class was taken in October 1964. About 8 months earlier The British invasion was launched on our shore by the arrival of The Beatles in New York City. I remember my Dad calling me to the TV set that Sunday night to watch the Ed Sullivan show. He knew about the Beatles but I did not. My world was Mickey Mantle and the New York Yankees and I was still reeling from their loss, to of all teams, the L.A. Dodgers the previous year.
Ed Sullivan gave his now famous introduction and the world and my classmates were slingshot from the 50's into the real 60's and beyond. The first change I recall was at school during lunch. Previous to the Beatles you had tables where greasers (The Gene Vincent type) sat and tables where the surfers (Beach Boy fans) sat. The greasers hated the surfers, much like the hot rod racer character John Milner in American Graffiti. Well now we had to have a Beatles table. And then we had a Dave Clark 5 table and so on. I don't recall if we had a Herman's Hermits table but if we did I know none of us "guys" would sit at it.
I like the music but still had another 2 years of Mickey Mantle and the Yankees before I turned it in for music. Their 1964 loss to the St. Louis Cardinal's helped. Now I'm an Angel fan but I still love, ladies and gentleman....THE BEATLES!
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