The Schwinn Bicycles

Most kids who grew up in the 50's and 60's went to neighborhood schools and played with neighborhood kids.  Unless you were a rich kid who went to a special private school across town, your life was centered around your neighborhood.  And a big part of the neighborhood lifestyle was the bicycle.  Every kid had one.  They rode them to school, rode them with friends after school, used them to deliver newspapers on their paper routes. If you didn't have a bike, or if your bike was incapacitated for some reason, you felt hobbled.  It was the same feeling a grown up has when their car is in the shop for repairs.

It was also a pretty big deal to have the right kind of bike.  The Cadillac of bikes for us was the Schwinn.  Schwinn bikes were made in America.  They had authorized dealers who sold and serviced their products.  They put compelling commercials on TV that convinced us that "Schwinn bikes are best." Nobody wanted a Huffy or a no name knockoff.  We wanted a "real" bike.

A Christmas 1960 Ad in the paper.  Deluxe equipment included tandems, baskets, lights, & fenders, all chromed 

Schwinn published a catalog every year that I couldn't wait to get my hands on.  I studied that catalog, reading every word over and over, marking the pages of the models I liked. In the 60's I really coveted the Sting-Ray model with the cool stick shift.  In the early 70's, my choice was the limited edition Krate Grey Ghost.  I wanted slick, sporty, fast, and fun.  Mom had other ideas.

Mom loved big, heavy, bulky Schwinn models.  She also loved to trick them out with tandems, baskets, fenders, and lights. And she loved chrome.  Mom would buy a used Schwinn bike at a garage sale, and she would take it in to the shop to get it chromed.  By the time she was done with it, the bike was so heavy that it was a chore to ride.  Even the slightest incline became a pedaling challenge.  But these heavy metal bikes were the only choice we were given, and any bike was better than no bike.

Big heavy tank with chromed fenders, metal basket big enough for two dogs, and a metal tandem in back

When I was a kid, Mom used to tell me that Tim and Lynda's bikes were stolen and that they were hidden under the Merry-Go-Round in Balboa Park.  But she never gave any other details to this mysterious event, which happened sometime around 1961 or 1962.

Here is Lynda's eye witness account to the story:

" Tim and I had Schwinn bikes that were heavily chromed.  No one else had bikes like ours. They were one of a kind, and it didn't take long before all the Mission Hills kids were talking about our "chrome bikes."

Tim got his bike before I got mine.  I was upset when Tim revealed to me that I was going to get one too.  I didn't want it, because that meant I was going to have to ride it to school.  I was going into 9th grade at Roosevelt Junior High School, which is next door to the San Diego Zoo.  I really did not look forward to pedaling that bike over two miles to school every morning and parking it there.  I found a house near the school where I could park it.

I didn't understand why I had to ride that bike to school. After all, Mom had me excused from PE class. She got a Doctor's note saying I had overcome Rheumatic fever and should not exert myself.  The Doctor's note allowed me to ditch PE, which was the last class of the day.  This got me home from school sooner, because Mom always needed help with something at home and wanted me there.  I was hoping that the doctor's note would also pertain to riding the bike to school, but Mom didn't see it that way. I still had to ride that heavy bike.

One Saturday, Tim and I rode our bikes to the San Diego Zoo and locked them up outside.  When we came back out, our bikes were gone.  Back then, you were required to license your bike, and the police would give you a little metal license plate.  We reported the theft to the police so they would be on the lookout for these special chromed bikes.  But we never heard anything from the police, and many weeks went by.  We didn't think they would ever turn up again.  And then one day....

Mom and I went shopping at Fedco, a membership-only department store.  It was out on Euclid Avenue and 54th Street in the Oak Park area of San Diego.  Not the greatest neighborhood, but it was Mom's favorite store.  After the Fedco shopping was done, Mom had one more thing to get from the drug store in the same shopping center.  I waited outside while she went in real quick.  As fate would have it, I looked up and saw this beautiful and very familiar chromed bike with an African American boy pedaling it straight toward me.  I knew instantly that it was my bike. So I went over to him and told him that he had a beautiful bike.  I straddled the front wheel, lowered my arms around the big basket so he couldn't ride off, and began petting the bike.  I told the boy that my Mom would buy me anything I wanted and she would pay him a lot of money if he would sell it to me. 

Well, he got pretty excited over the thought of making a lot of money from the sale and then Mom came out of the store and immediately sized up the situation.  I told her I really wanted the bike and she played along and said, "Of course, if you really want it." I don't remember how much the kid wanted for it, but we made the deal.  Mom said she just needed to go use the phone in the store to call Dad and have him bring some money, and that he was only about 5 minutes away.  Then Mom went in the store and called the police.   The police showed up and we explained the situation, that it was my bike that was registered and had been stolen many weeks ago.

The poor kid was scared silly and spilled his guts to the cops.  He told us that he and his friends saw the bikes at the zoo, took them and rode them into some tunnels.  These tunnels were by the merry-go-round and the train ride.  It was a very old tunnel that supposedly went all the way to Mission Valley.  He said that they stripped Tim's bike out and took the chrome parts.  When we went to the tunnels with the police to look for Tim's bike, all we found were parts and pieces of it.  Tim got a replacement bike, but this time, Mom did not chrome it out!"

Mystery solved! Thanks for finally clearing up the story, Lynda!