Click on each story to view video, text or hear audio of these folks tied to the California Central Coast.
gil Serna
Musician and Actor
Gil Serna, graduate of San Luis Obispo Senior High School, 1958. Founder of Gil Serna and The Rockets band. 1960’s supporting actor on Wild Wild West and Adam-12 as well as many other television series.
by Greg Wilcox
Earl Holliman
Actor and Singer
Golden Globe winner for his role in The Rainmaker. Starred with James Dean in 1955 movie, Giant, was a cook in The Forbidden Planet,1956, and an astronaut in the first episode of The Twilight Zone, 1959.
Merrell fankhauser
Musician
Merrell Fankhauser, graduate of Arroyo Grande High School, 1961. Songwriter and musician, he pioneered the instrumental surf sound popularized by groups like The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean. He wrote the surf instrumental, “Wipe Out.”
Terry Leezer
Vietnam Vet
1968, former US Army soldier tells of the times around rural San Luis Obispo County while stationed at Camp Roberts outside of San Miguel, CA with the Experimental Weapons and Testing Division.
Norm Petredean
Vietnam Vet
Talks about Wu Shu Tai Chi Studio of San Luis Obispo friends James Buxbaum, producer/writer for popular 1960’s TV shows Sea Hunt and Flipper and Les Gray, illustrator for over 50 children’s books and the magazine, Highlights for Children.
Johny Barbata
Musician
Started playing drums with The Sentinels, a San Luis Obispo band in 1964 and later played professionally with The Turtles, Johnny Rivers, Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young to name a few.
by Merrell Fankhauser
susie and John Olt
Wife of Master Sculptor Interview
Susie Olt recalls her time with John, a master sculptor who worked in many fields. In the 1980’s they resided less than 1000 yards from where the Trailerland Museum is located today.
Coming Soon
Alice Armstrong
Artist
Talks about her mom, Martha Armstrong Hand and her family of artists. Martha Armstrong (Sass) during WWII worked as an artist for Hermann Goring at his mansion. Martha created dolls for Mattel and sets/dolls for ViewMaster. She married David Hand, Disney supervising director for Bambi and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Barbara Wray
Author
She wrote Landing on My Feet: Memoirs of John Olt Master Sculptor, and was also a friend of the family. Olt in 1959 designed the rear “gull wing” body used for all GM cars. He also designed and sculpted the seats for all seven of the NASA Mercury space missions, based on a John Glenn mold.