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THE SWE L L In August of 1955 at Stanford Hospital in California, I started my journey. To say I had a perfect childhood might be an exaggeration, but I don’t think it is. In the late fifties and sixties, Palo Alto, California, was the perfect suburb of San Francisco, ,somewhat similar to the Leave it to Beaver town of Mayfield. An interesting coincidence is that when Leland Stanford created the town of Palo Alto in the late 1800s, he did so because the city leaders of the neighboring town of Mayfield, California, refused to accept the conditions Stanford placed on building Stanford University in their town. Their refusal was due to Stanford’s requirement that alcohol be prohibited within the Mayfield city limits. At that time, Mayfield was known for its many saloons. Mayfield was eventually annexed by Palo Alto, agreeing to the social requirements set forth by Mr. Stanford.3 In the early 1960s, the simplicity and relative safety of life in Palo Alto seems eons ago when compared to today’s world. At the time, we didn’t appreciate the value of leaving the house on a weekend or summer’s day after breakfast and having a standing instruction to be home by dinner; lunch just happened wherever you happened to be around noon. Play dates didn’t exist as we simply walked down to a friend’s house, knocked on the front door and played. We played whatever sport was in season, imagining ourselves to be competing alongside the stars of the local sports team, e.g., John Brodie (San Francisco 49ers football), Willie Mays (San Francisco Giants baseball), Rick Barry (San Francisco Warriors basketball). Other times we just explored the hidden corners of each other’s back yards, the numerous city parks and all of the insects, frogs and other interesting wildlife in the coves and corners of San Francisquito Creek. Wherever we were, there was always some form of game we would create to add to our entertainment. That was our world and it was fun. In the real world, the decade of the Sixties was a period of great change. From the relative innocence of the early part of the decade through the assassination of JFK, through vio3. The Meeting on the Corner: “The Beginning of Mayfield’s End” PaloAltoHistory.org.
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