The boys are back in town

In 1957, Mike Sharp and “little” Tommy Payne moved from Newport to Monterey, Calif., and Mexico, respectively.

One of their buddies was nice enough to sacrifice his birthday party to have a farewell shindig for the two boys. Fifty years ago, the Daily Pilot published a short story about the friends getting together, complete with photos of them around a park bench.

The kids all lived in Newport Heights and spent their days roaming around Castaways catching spiders, snakes and doing what boys do — causing a general raucous.

Fifty years later, the boys, who are now 60-year-old men, got together at Bob Henry Park for a long-overdue reunion.

Despite perhaps a few pounds, a few inches and a few kids, it seemed that hardly any time had passed at all, even though many of the eight — two boys who weren’t at the original party but were buddies also joined — hadn’t seen each other in half a century.

“We all look a little different, but our characters have stayed with us,” Sharp said Saturday as he watched his buddies greet each other for the first time in decades. These days, Sharp lives in Fountain Valley with his wife.

Reminiscing about their days as “juvenile delinquents,” the group remembered the old Castaways Restaurant burning down and searching for treasure after the flames had been put out and other fun things they only watched or saw people doing — at least that was the story if the police or their parents showed up.

“On the north side of some empty lots there was the gulley, and I’m sure nobody rolled tires down it,” Huntington Beach resident Jim Barrett said with a sly smile. “I also heard that if you pushed boulders down the hill they’d make a big splash — I’d imagine anyway. I’m sure it made the boaters below irate.”

They remembered the land around Bob Henry Park and the Castaways housing development when it was just bean fields and gullies they used to romp around in. They caught trapdoor spiders and orange-tipped butterflies.

Riverbank, Calif., resident Richard Holmer remembered catching trapdoor spiders and entering them in pet shows, which got them another photo in the Pilot. They remembered Pacific Grove resident Phil Monroe’s dad running a fish business in Newport.

San Juan Capistrano resident Steve Grimshaw remembered working at the restaurant that is now the Rusty Pelican, which is where he got into his work selling toys.

The boys used to have a major fort on what is now Linda Isle. Back then it was called Shark Island, and the group made it their headquarters for a time.

“At the end of the bridge to nowhere, we had a serious fort,” Huntington Beach resident Jim Brownell said. “It was really considered our island, and if you weren’t in our club, we’d let you know.”

These days, the guys have jobs, some have families, and on Saturday they all caught up with one another, learning about the years that got away from them. Arcata resident Payne is no longer “little” at well over 6-feet tall.

They are now city managers, retired organ grinders, attorneys, salesmen and grandfathers. But it all came full circle Saturday.

There are a few that stayed in touch over the years. Barrett and Brownell have lunch every Tuesday and visit Ensenada together once a month. They also stayed close with Sharp, who organized the reunion.

A couple of their good pals — Ed Starkey and John Williams — couldn’t make the reunion, but the guys talked about their stories anyway.

The guys found each other over the Internet and have been staying in touch through a Yahoo group for the last couple of years.

“I think this is great that we get together,” Holmer said. “We grew up in the Heights, and to see us here, it’s like things haven’t changed a bit.”