Susie's Oral History

I live in Santa Barbara, California now but my family was visiting my sister for Thanksgiving when I wanted to show my husband the wonderful neighborhood we had lived in so many years ago. That is how we learned about your project.  My sister Judy and I lived on Indian Ridge Dr. next to the pool. Our parents bought the home when it was a model home.  They had moved to Tucson in 1956 from Los Angeles because my dad wanted to escape LA traffic congestion - wow he had no idea how bad LA was to become.

Indian Ridge was brand new. We actually had to rent a home until the developer was done with our model home before we could move in. Our parents bought the home in late 1956 and we moved in spring of 57 We lived in Indian Ridge until 1962 when my father was laid off from Hughes and since there were no other engineering firms like that in Tucson at the time, we had to go back to California to find work.

My parents bought the home for $25,000 in 1956 and sold it for the exact same amount in 1962.  What a wonderful neighborhood it was. So many people had big families. Consequently there were always plenty of kids to play with and everyone congregated at the pool.  Social life was great for both kids and parents.  Moms didn’t work so there was plenty of bridge groups, coffees and parties. TV wasn’t great, so kids played outside riding bikes, building forts in the desert and of course swimming. I literally lived at the pool during the summer.  During the middle part of the summer days, my friends and I would play card games inside.  Then at night during the summer, after swimming of course, we would play flashlight freeze tag in my yard. Kids of all ages played together.  As far as escaping the summer heat - no one did, we all accepted the weather and dealt with it. The pool was a great refuge during the summer. The swim team was organized our first summer there 1957.  Secrist was the lifeguard and swim coach. The parents designed the logo for our swimsuits and it was a big deal when we got our team suits. Summer was consumed with swim meets between other neighborhoods. We also entered in the county and city meets.

The only part of the summer day that we avoided was the super-hot time in the middle of the afternoon, but quite honestly I have to say we often were even playing in the heat. It just didn’t seem to affect us that much, maybe because we were out in it so much we got acclimated to it. We just didn’t spend too much time inside but there was 3 o’clock movie on in the afternoon and we did check that out if it looked good (always from the 1930s or 40s) which kids would watch it at someone’s house.  The special activities in the neighborhood which included the Fourth of July was always a party day at the pool. There would be food and funny swim races for both kids and adults, donning clothes, then swimming a lap, undressing and having the next team member down the wet clothes and swim a lap.  There were also sometimes dances at the pool during the summertime for teenagers. In addition, kids would have parties at their houses where the mom and kids had prepared the food and snacks and the music was played on a 45 record player.  There were slow dancing and dancing to rock ‘n’ roll. We learned to do the line dance to Hit the Road Jack at one such party.

The elementary school for Indian Ridge was Lizzie Brown on Pima. We of course were busting in the junior high which was Townsend and the high school when we finally went there as a freshman in 1959 was Catalina High.  It was a brand new high school and beautiful. My classes were bulging so there was always construction with additions or a new building.  My class was on a split session when the building was going on - eighth graders went to school from six to noon then seventh graders went noon to six. I had to get up at 4:30 in the morning and walk to the bus stop at five. It was all the way over at Indian Ruins Road where Indian Ridge intersect.  We were walking in the dark most of the time - cold dark in the winter and remember girls had to wear dresses and skirts no pants.  After two years at Catalina in the fall in 1962 my class had to attend the new high school Palo Verde. I moved back to California at that time so I didn’t have to root against Catalina. I was a cheerleader Catalina so I would’ve been a big deal to switch allegiance.

The areas surrounding Indian Ridge was mostly desert.  Country Club Estates was next door and I had a friend living in there, I would ride my bike over there, but it was through the desert. The road was narrow and when we entered Country Club Estates proper there was a cattle guard on the road.  The area where the shopping center is located now behind our house was all desert.  We kids had a magnificent Fort there. Also the whole way up Sabino Canyon was desert.  When I was in junior high a group of my friends, both boys and girls from Indian Ridge, would ride our bikes up to Sabino Canyon. Can you imagine parents letting the kids do that now? We would take picnic lunches with us and swim in the streams and climb rock formations. Once we got leeches on us. We also would go horseback riding up Sabino Canyon Road.  Since Indian Ridge was quite isolated most all of our friends came from there. It was like a huge extended family, the only business I can recall near our neighborhood was Barney‘s Mobile station located west of Indian Ruins Road - kind of between Indian Ridge Estate and Country Club Estates. There was a three par golf course further west on Tanque Verde Road.  The closest grocery store and drugstore where far west on Pima close to the Lizzie Brown Elementary School. It was a drive for shopping of any kind. In fact for shopping other than groceries we would have to go downtown.  My friends and I would catch the bus to go there. It was quite a distance. I remember downtown had those crazy signals where you could cross the intersection diagonally.  We had come from California and had seen nothing like that before.

The occupants in the neighborhood was doctors, lawyers, teachers, businessman and military.  My dad was an engineer with Hughes so maybe they were engineers too.  With all the kids in the neighborhood it was a gold mine for babysitting. I started babysitting when I was in the sixth grade and I was only eleven. My favorite family to babysit for had two daughters and the older one was just two years younger than I. The going rate started at 25 cents an hour and then went up to 50 cents before we moved back to LA. 

In those days families had only one car.  Kids got most places by biking and walking. I biked and walked all over Indian Ridge visiting my friends.  To go downtown we took the bus. Hughes Aircraft was way south of the city. My mom would have to drive my dad to work and pick him up if she wanted the car for the day.  Later my dad was in a carpool.  We had such a wonderful view of the mountains from our family room.  Summer rain storms were also common like they are today. Once my mom ran from the pool to our front door and was drenched through to the bone when she came in the door. We also had to sometimes put towels under the front door to keep the rain from coming in and also the sliding glass door runners.  My dad and sister would hold the sliding glass doors because the rain actually would cause them to bow. My mom and I would then put towels wherever the rain was coming in it. It rained with such force.  In November of 1958 Tucson had a big snowstorm – I remember everything being so beautiful. 

 We were so blessed to grow up in a time and place that was almost magical compared with today. We were allowed to be children and we’re not forced into the adult world too soon.  We were given much freedom to play outside and travel quite some distances on our bikes.  We spent so much time outdoors, exploring the area and taking advantage of the natural beautiful habitat we lived in.  Our days were not over scheduled. We got to decide how we wanted to spend our time and wanted to play. We got to know so many families and spend a considerable amount of time at each other’s houses.  To this day my sister and I remember the people by the families our parents grew up with.  Our parents grew up with lots of good playing, but during depression, which was very hard on families.  We grew up during the beginning of prosperity in the 1950s. We had so many things our parents didn’t have. I got a new dress for every dance or a big party probably because my mom had not but now could afford to do so for me. Yes we had a certain prosperity, but it was before that prosperity gave away to the tremendous materialism and stressed out lives our children face today.  It was a very special era and a very special neighborhood in which to grew up and I am extremely thankful. Hope this is useful to you. Thanks for letting me share. Susie.