Funny, poignant, and fascinating stories from residents of the City of Pleasanton have been collected in a new book called Cruising Down Memory Lane: Stories of Pleasanton in the 1950s. The volunteer, nonprofit effort, orchestrated by fourth-generation Pleasantonian Donna Kamp McMillion, draws on the memories of residents who lived in Pleasanton when it was a small, closely knit country town of about 3,000. Funds from book sales will go to the nationally recognized Amador Valley High School journalism program.

Members of 37 Pleasanton families were interviewed for the book, which is being published later this spring. They include legendary hotrodder and car builder Rich Guasco, about whom Motor Trend declared, "It would be difficult to find someone more associated with roadsters than Rich Guasco." Francine King Rivers, a New York Times best-selling author, also contributed a story. She grew up on a street known as "Chicken Alley" at the time because residents in the area frequently kept chickens and livestock. Patty Walker Cleveland, whose stepfather was Editor and Publisher of The Pleasanton Times newspaper; Tom Orloff, a dairyman's son who was Alameda County District Attorney for nearly 40 years; Walter McCloud, Pleasanton's Police Chief between 1954 and 1981; and many others also contributed stories.

"A local newspaper then was like the precursor to Google," according to Patty Walker Cleveland. "The phone calls that we would get. People would call in and ask, 'How do you spell the Eiffel Tower?' or 'What are the Seven Wonders of the World?' We kept a dictionary and an encyclopedia right by the phone because people called every day. If someone was having an argument, they'd call and say, 'Would you settle an argument, please?' Always off-the-wall things. I was always looking up things in the encyclopedia. I loved it."
 
Kamp McMillion took on the project as a volunteer gift to the community to preserve the voices and stories of Pleasanton residents. The book project supports the future in other important ways as well. In addition to helping fund student storytellers and journalists at Amador Valley High School, the project has also enriched the Museum on Main, which recorded interviews for the book and kept copies for its collection of oral histories about the area. The museum also received copies of many of the black-and-white photographs reproduced in the book.
 
"I'm hoping that readers will be inspired to also consider writing about their family members," says Kamp McMillion, "before it is too late. I'm coordinating this as a volunteer self-publisher, but am really being helped with more than fifty volunteers. I encourage CEOs to consider buying these books to give to resident Pleasanton employees as a gift."

The book can be preordered now from Towne Center Books. All proceeds go to a fiscally sponsored fund, Stories from Pleasanton's Past: Powering the Future, that is administered by Three Valleys Community Foundation. On Sunday, May 7, a Cruising Down Memory Lane book launch party will be held at the Veterans Memorial Building on Main Street between 3 and 5 pm. Attendees must register in advance for the event by buying tickets online, calling Towne Center Books, or visiting the Pleasanton store in person.

For more information about Cruising Down Memory Lane: Stories of Pleasanton in the 1950s, please visit www.3vcf.org/donors/funds/stories-from-pleasantons-past-powering-the-future.

To preorder or buy the book, please visit www.townecenterbooks.com/item/3E_k8dAL_5pcBjCxia0BmA.

To buy tickets for the launch party, please visit www.townecenterbooks.com/item/3E_k8dAL_5pvqipMsiGaSg.

For more information about the AVJournalism program at Amador Valley High School, please visit www.amadorvalleytoday.org/about.