Mac Meda Destruction Company

Jack in the Box Head On Top of La Jolla High’s Flagpole

Jack in the Box head perched on top of La Jolla High School in 1970 as a prank by graduating 1970 students - photo by Bruce Thorson

Senior pranks tend to be an unofficial tradition at most high schools, similar to the unofficial senior skip day. It is crucial to find the perfect prank; one must realized the fine line between harmless and mischievous and vandalism or criminal. Some of the typical ones are TPing the school grounds or passing a beach ball (no not Steve Roel) during graduation ceremonies. Or what Mac Meda’s,  Donnie Tomlison, Willie Ronaldson and a few others did by cutting down a tree and got caught, and had to replant and maintain that tree as their punishment. But that is another post.  Read more... (947 words, 2 images, estimated 3:47 mins reading time)

End of an Era in La Jolla – The Way We Were, by Tommy Carroll

.
I was sent this the other day, and even if it is a bit before Mac Media, it is a classic of what La Jolla was in the late 1940s and set the foundation for the craziness and bizarre times of the 1960s and 70s.

Many will recognize the dads and moms of their friends and people they past forgotten about. No doubt this will spark some fond memories of the way La Jolla was back then.

Classic photos of La Jolla High School being built,  La Jolla Cove, a few shots of Gunnery Training at Bird Rock (rare photo) Ocean Beach pier, Pacific Beach’s dirt streets, WindanSea and some of the luaus that later become Mac Meda Conventions, summer at the beach, lifeguards, the Plunge, La Jolla High football team and cheerleaders, football team and the few buildings  La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club had, with no homes in the background.  Read more... (249 words, 0 images, estimated 60 secs reading time)

Drinking, Destruction, Sex – Police – La Jolla Mac Meda

Published on June 21, 1965 by San Diego Evening Tribune

The Mac Meda Destruction Co. sounds like a joke, started as a joke, thrived as a joke and ended up like a joke.

Or is it?

Some of the teen-age, members of this loosely organized group boast the motto, “Drinking Destruction and Sex”

Here’s the joke punch line, written Jan 10 (1965):

On that day, beer flowed freely among the young Mac Meda crowd – nearly 200 of them minors – at a secluded grazing pasture of Carmel Valley, just north of the San Diego City limits.

Fifty police cars raided the teen-aged car caravan “beer blast” Four youth were arrested on charges of possession of alcoholic beverages and will be tried March 2 in a North Country Municipal Court, Oceanside.  Read more... (882 words, 2 images, estimated 3:32 mins reading time)

Little John Syvada – Conrad, Sea Lane and Tequila Sunrise

L-R - Hawk (RIP) Little John Sylvada (RIP) and Judy ? his girlfriend at the time - sorry this is the best picture I could find

If there was ever a man that could defied the massive consumption of alcohol and chemicals it was Little John Sylvada. He would have been a medical sensation on any autopsy table. His morning consisted of pouring his first wine cooler at 4am, taking a 1-2 hour nap at 12, and after, getting into the beers and hard booze until he passed out between 7pm and 8pm. This was his 24/7 MO for almost all his adult years.  Read more... (590 words, 1 image, estimated 2:22 mins reading time)

WindanSea Sunsets – Social Network of Beach Life

This is what the WindanSea's sunset was all about - photo by Dave Osborn

In the Florida Keys, each night around two hours before sunset masses of people flock to the water’s edge to experience a soul-soothing, gorgeous, spiritual happening to play homage to the sun as it sank into the Gulf of Mexico. Vendors set up little trinkets shops and  performing artists like jugglers, animal acts, high-wire artists, acrobats, and fire-eaters all began working for tips.  The worshiping finally ends  with the mesmerizing ohs and aws of the circus event when the Green Flash concluded.

Okay … thank God, this did not filter to WindanSea.  Read more... (437 words, 3 images, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

Jumping Off La Jolla Clam – San Diego Fines

Kurt "Dirty Kurtie" Stadler (closest) Eric Powers (middle) and Foster Thompson show how to do a triple somersault off the clam during the Rough Water Drink - Photo by Brian Munoz and used in La Jolla Magazine's write up about the Clam back in 1985

There are only three common sense rules to jump off the Clam.  Read more... (571 words, 1 image, estimated 2:17 mins reading time)

1. Be a very good surf swimmer, not a pool swimmer.
2. Know how to read tide charts, so not to jump at low tide (this is a no-brainer) and never jump when can see the rocks protruding from where you are suppose to land at, this means, it is very low tide. (Humm, again a no-brainer)