STORIES FROM THE PAST
50 years ago
Fifty-two buses a day roll down State Street in El Centro on their way to the 19-year-old bus depot on the 400 block. They have been doing this since 1930 when the first Greyhound Bus depot was established in El Centro.
The history of the county seat’s bus depot is not glamorous. It is not intended to be. The depot is there for one main purpose: to provide a central location for people to board inter-Valley and outof-state buses.
On a regular business day, Harry Parker, the Greyhound terminal agent in El Centro estimates that 500 tickets are sold by the five-man office staff. He has 34 drivers working out of his terminal and five mechanics.
El Centro built its present bus depot in 1949 and Parker tags it as “very well planned. It’s not the most modern, but it’s well equipped.”
He states that from 30 to 50 people a day come in just to relax and have something to drink with no intention of boarding a bus. However, most people sitting in the chairs are waiting for a bus. Fifty percent travel between Brawley-El Centro-Calexico only. Seventy percent travel to any of the Valley cities combined. That leaves only 30 percent traveling to the East or the big cities on the coast.
40 years ago
More and more, “older” teen-agers in Imperial Valley are combating the summer doldrums by dancing to the music. The disco music, that is.
They are flocking across the international border into Mexicali, a populous, bulging city with metropolitan flavor. It is a protest, of sorts, to the lack of “adult” teen-aged entertainment in Imperial Valley.
It may also be a mild protest against the state law that bans “adult” drinking until 21 but labels an 18 to 20 year old as an adult in nearly every other way.
These “adults” are simply bored and frustrated. For almost a year now, the disco sound has been growing as one of the mainstays of entertainment for “older” teen-agers who live in an area boringly void of entertainment other than movies, bowling, pool and television.
Most of these disgruntled teen-agers are not the chronic complainer type.
They’re studious in fall, winter and spring. They’re enterprising and conscientious. But by mid-July they’re getting restless and irritated.
“Ain’t no cure for the summertime blues,” is their refrain.
Ask one of these “frustrated” adults what is available for entertainment, during the summer, “Absolutely nothing.”
30 years ago
CALEXICO — In a controversial move to oust the seven-member Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, the City Council Tuesday night voted 3-1 to appoint itself as the authority’s new board.
The council approved the resolution despite the commissioners’ insistence that the council leave the board intact until results of investigations into the authority’s operations by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are made public.
Council members Patrick Hashem and Amalia Katsigeanis and Mayor Antonio Tirado voted in favor of the resolution. Councilman Ricardo Ortega opposed.
City Attorney Eduardo Rivera told Councilman Victor Legaspi he could not participate in any discussion or vote regarding the Housing Authority because of a conflict of interest. He is also a Housing Authority commissioner.