Share your favorite Co-op memories, photos, and more!
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For many co-opers, this week marks the end of their incredible academic journeys. We are proud to celebrate their achievements, and are excited for what's next.
UCHA Alumni—what advice would you give to our new graduates?
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As Paula mentioned in her first post in this forum, for some of us it has been a surprisingly long time since our co-op days. She and I both came to the co-op in the summer of 1971.
Today I was thinking of the photos and the memories and decided that I should have some appropriate music. And what is more 70's L.A. than The Doors and songs like L.A.Woman. It was easy to pull out my phone and queue up those songs on a music app. Then I realized that the frequency range wasn't very good because I was listening on my Bluetooth-enabled hearing aids. That's blasphemy! You can't listen to The Doors on your hearing aids. I switched to headphones.
We are planning to have a soundtrack from the '70s at the reunion. Hoping there is somebody who knows how to put something like that together. There is a sound system at the Alumni Center.
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Having served on the Membership Committee my most vivid recollections of disillusionment involved newcomers who were assigned a room, possibly during a busy move-in period, and not given sufficient warning about "bump night" and the possibility that they could be moved shortly after the quarter began.
Some friends who had a room in C-wing of Robinson - a room known for non-stop parties and epic drug use - found that S-12 in Essene would be open for the next quarter and moved over. They didn't need to fear bump night because they had lots of seniority. However, three young ladies who were newcomers were moved into their old room,which was a complete shambles, and spent the better part of a week cleaning, disinfecting, redecorating and generally making the place livable. Then they found out about bump night.
Their plea to Mem Con to be allowed to stay in the room…
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My memories are starting to come back in bits and pieces. Several of us crazies decided to go to a beach in Mexico and camp taking an old truck with a shell on it. I won’t name names but you can reveal yourselves. It wasn’t actually the trip I expected and some people were set on sneaking pure ethanol over the border for a co-op party on the roof. We obviously had no fears at the time or brains for that matter!
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We were deciding in 1977 whether we were still an extension of New Deal ideology or resigned to mass cheap housing for individualists. I was Chatterbox editor and am still deciding whether to destroy the goofy evidence of The Phantom of the Coop. The Colorado River raft trip was tops...we built our own rafts. We had a dress-up candlelight dinner for four with waiters in the dining room (egg foo yung of course). So I was proven silly enough to become BOD Pres. This entitled me to paint all Robison trim myself for free. I pushed an upgrade HHH lounge..so frats made off with the furniture for a day. Insiders stole my gavel for ransom...et tu Brute? Thousands of other memories, but for now that is "all the news that's print to fit" I'm still in LA...see yah soon!
We have you on the list for the reunion. I sent you an email but I'm not sure if you received it. Would you let me know? monaco.paula@gmail.com Thanks!
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It was so long ago I can barely remember specifics… (1971-1975) but I do recall a group of us christening the new building from the roof with a bottle of something!
I recall some co-opers climbing to the top of the crane used during construction of HHH in 1972 and needing to lie flat on the stack of huge weights that counter-balance the lift mechanism when the police came and started shining lights around. Naturally I wouldn't have been involved myself, as a person from another country here on a student visa, but I have it on good authority that this happened.
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Here’s a start anyway. I moved into HHH (which folks in my particular circle called Hardon Handsome) in January 1974 when it was brand-spanking new. I was on Sunday omelette shift with Rob Aronson and I recall someone made an omelette in the shape of a 32, Bill Walton’s number.
I love that there was also Sunday omelettes in 1974. We still do omelettes on weekends!
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We took a Co-op vote to name the new building. In his words, Harley Hardman wanted to name the building something like "Love Hall." He poured his heart and soul into the Co-op. He knew that names would lose meaning over time, but not a theme such as Love or Peace. Hansen, who was the crotchety maintenance man, had no affection for the Co-op. The third employee, the cook, was Pat de la Torre, a salty, foul-mouthed ex-sailer, who loved the co-op but no one would put his name on a building. And so it goes...
Pat was famous for drinking beer all day at work and for propositioning young women who were doing their work hours in the kitchen. - which naturally was alarming and unpleasant for those who had only recently left home. He would suggest that they could go to the walk-in fridge to enjoy each other's company. In 1971 Zorina Schemanas finally whirled on him and said, "Sure, Pat - I'll go into the fridge with you but if you don't come across the whole co-op is going to know about it." He wouldn't even go near the fridge for the rest of the week.
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When Hardman-Hansen Hall was under construction, I thought it might be a good idea to take some scaffolding from the construction site and use it for flooring in the attic of Essene. So began the S12 loft. We had great times listening to Firesign Theatre, smoking joints, playing chess, and engaging in other party activities.
Actually it was 1972 or maybe early 1973. I should know...I was one of Howard's roommates at the time. And yes, many fun times were had there!
Echoing Doug B.: Stay in touch with your friends—even if it’s just an occasional email a few times a year. And, find work that you truly enjoy—it might not be your first job, or even your second, but keep searching. And most importantly, make space for joy, especially with the people you love.