Posted by Jim Carroll on Monday, June 25, 2007 at 07:52:54 :

In Reply to: Re: School Memories Contest posted by Bill Roddy on Saturday, April 22, 2006 at 08:44:48 :

Hi Bill, you dance so poetic in your descriptions of the various high schools. I would not be so kind. But then, I never learned ball-room dancing, just the "steps" at the KRB Hall.

Commerce High School was a creature of the 30s and 40s, and many of us who did not know better looked down upon those students that went there for afterall - weren't they a little better than those that went to continuation? Of course, that was rhetorical!

But then I was at Saint Ignatius, up the street from Lowell - the school where all of the kids were high I.Q. and headed off to colleges and univerisities. Both of these schools had that reputation that they were college preparatory. While Lowell sent off their students to Cal and Stanford, SI sent their's to St. Mary's and Santa Clara, and if you could not board to USF.

I had escaped from my depression home (actually, it was a lot better than some I had lived in and I had my brothers there with me - for a while) and did not make it to Sacred Heart, like my folks and their family members. Of course, I did not admit to anyone that I had to janitor the third level every day to help pay my tuition - and what the heck, I only lasted one semester until I was sent off packing to St. Mary's in Berkeley (to bring home the laundry on the F Train each week, if I was lucky).

I guess that the kids of those days are like those of today in one aspect; we always strived to be something a little bit better than our parents.
But even those gals at Lowell had a problem, they had to look up at the "ladies" from Lux and Sacred Heart Convent.

It was really too bad when Commerce had to close down, and I think that happened about 1954 when it became a headquarters for the school district.

There are many other stories that you could tell of your days at Commerce High that most of today's readers would not understand, but your post gave us a flavor that maybe things could work out with some of those depression kids. I for one would like to see them, as you did with the Crystal Palace item.

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Message:	: Hi Bill, you dance so poetic in your descriptions of the various high schools. I would not be so kind. But then, I never learned ball-room dancing, just the "steps" at the KRB Hall. : Commerce High School was a creature of the 30s and 40s, and many of us who did not know better looked down upon those students that went there for afterall - weren't they a little better than those that went to continuation? Of course, that was rhetorical! : But then I was at Saint Ignatius, up the street from Lowell - the school where all of the kids were high I.Q. and headed off to colleges and univerisities. Both of these schools had that reputation that they were college preparatory. While Lowell sent off their students to Cal and Stanford, SI sent their's to St. Mary's and Santa Clara, and if you could not board to USF. : I had escaped from my depression home (actually, it was a lot better than some I had lived in and I had my brothers there with me - for a while) and did not make it to Sacred Heart, like my folks and their family members. Of course, I did not admit to anyone that I had to janitor the third level every day to help pay my tuition - and what the heck, I only lasted one semester until I was sent off packing to St. Mary's in Berkeley (to bring home the laundry on the F Train each week, if I was lucky). : I guess that the kids of those days are like those of today in one aspect; we always strived to be something a little bit better than our parents. : But even those gals at Lowell had a problem, they had to look up at the "ladies" from Lux and Sacred Heart Convent. : It was really too bad when Commerce had to close down, and I think that happened about 1954 when it became a headquarters for the school district. : : There are many other stories that you could tell of your days at Commerce High that most of today's readers would not understand, but your post gave us a flavor that maybe things could work out with some of those depression kids. I for one would like to see them, as you did with the Crystal Palace item.