..Rick,
Here’s a story you can post on your blog if you choose to do so…
Dialing for Dollars
In my high school days there was a weekday when I was home from school. It must have been some holiday or something because others were home too. I just don’t remember the reason. Anyway, I had nothing going on so I was of course watching TV. I don’t watch soap operas so I watched a movie on Channel 2’s Dialing for Dollars with Pat McCormick. Somewhere along the program he called the Aguiar residence (but his pronunciation didn’t give it away to me at first). The person on the phone was able to correctly provide the count and amount. Pat congratulated him asked if he still lived in Daly City. At this time I knew it was Gary’s family and as soon as they got off the phone I called Gary. Sure enough, he had just been on the phone with Pat McCormick, and won somewhere around $165 if I remember right. Gary asked me to join him on the trip to Jack London Square. We visited the TV studio (A large warehouse of sets) and sat just outside the camera while Pat ran the show. At one commercial break he called Gary up and presented him the check. Gary tried to grab me up there with him but I told him this was his show. I don’t remember if we celebrated afterwards, but at the time we thought it was a hoot.
Wayne
I sent this note to Gary Aguiar
Gary , Wayne just shared a Gary Aguiar Story with me ....... so the question is what happened to the $ 165 ??? Thanks ....
I received this from Gary Aguiar
It was summer vacation and were all mindlessly watching a 1951 Bob Hope Christmas movie (the lemon drop kid). I'm not sure what happened to the $165. That would have been quite a windfall back in '72 or '73. I imagine I did something stupid with it, like save it for college. I remember framing a copy of the check and hanging it in the living room.I will have to dig up a good "Wayne Story" to throw into the pot. Say "hi" to Wayne for me. I tried to "Google" him, but got a dead-end somewhere in Texas maybe? I assume there will eventually be some sort of "blog" or website where we can get everybody's e-mails, etc.Gary Aguiar
I recieved this from Wayne
Gary and Rick,
Hmm, I remember another Gary story (pre-emptive strike before he sends some on me!)
I used to go over to see Gary at his house on 10 Bepler from time to time. Speaking of that, when I went back to Daly city the last time, about 10 years ago, I saw it was a Muni parking lot. Too bad. But Gary was very talented. Besides caring for his little rats (or maybe they were Gerbils or Hamsters or something) he was handy with his hands. He showed me how he could take discarded wax from the coke canners and make neat free-flowing candles by plunging the hot wax into a pail or bucket of water and watch the wax rise and harden. He also made his own crab nets. On several occasions Gary and I would take busses or drive to Muni Pier in San Francisco and go crab fishing. That was when the crabs were pink and red, not brown and black with three eyes like they are now. Anyway, we would use his crab nets to get our load of crabs (I would end up with 2 to 3 dozen after the day was done) and my mom would be waiting home with a huge vat of boiling water ready to make dinner for the family.
One time Gary was especially proud of his crab net. He worked and worked on it, and made it a piece of perfection. It was time to go out and try our luck. We arrive at the pier and went to the corner store to get the bait. We loaded the bait and then with a huge toss Gary threw that net farther than I think he threw any other net. It probably was farther because as soon as he threw it we realized we hadn’t tied down the other end and it pierced through the surface and slowly faded from view, never to be seen again.
I think we both were only astonished for a few seconds, and just started laughing.
Gary was always fun to be with, and I enjoyed those times together.
I just recieved this from Gary hot off the press
Wayne:Well you got me good with the crab net story! Every time I try to think up one on you, I just remember another crazy thing that I did back in those days. Some of the best memories were those fishing adventures at Muni Pier. I can remember the shock on people's faces when we would transfer onto a totally packed muni bus in the financial district during rush hour with the crab nets (including bait remnants) and a two gunney sacks full of live crabs. I remember you catching a huge halibut on one of the excursions. I can't remember if you caught it in the crab net, or if we had fishing poles also. I actually go down there a couple times a week to swim in the Bay, so I always think about those adventures when I look up at Muni Pier. I have attached a photo of you and Russell Wurtenberg. That was on an OLPH field trip where we went on a Bay Tour. It must have been seventh grade. I got this from an envelope full of negatives that I found. I will keep looking through them and forward as I am able to process them -- I have to scan the negative, then photoshop it back to a normal black-and-white print (tedious). It looks like I have some schoolyard and classroom pictures.
Gary Aguiar
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