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History of The Wash
or
The North Pitzer Wildlife Society


Jeff Backstrand '74 #752

In the beginning, there was no beer in the Wash (or anywhere nearby) on Friday afternoons. The Class of 1972 tells us that the Claremont Colleges students saw this and said: Let there be a yeasty drink on every Friday afternoon for a reasonable price, and let this occur in a quarry to the north of the place called Pitzer. This was done, and came to be known as the North Pitzer Wildlife Society. And, the Claremont Colleges students saw that it was good, and the Claremont Police Department saw that this was illegal. So it came to be (during the middle sixties) that 80 to 100 dues paying members were arrested (charges were later dropped. The Claremont Colleges students saw that this was bad--and moved NPWS meetings to the Wash where life was safer.

When I came to Pomona in the fall of 1970, the North Pitzer Wildlife Society was an established part of campus life. Meetings were held every Friday afternoon from 3:30pm to dusk (or until the beer ran out). During these days the Phi Deltas ran the keg and they served the cheapest beer money could buy. For the price of 50 cents for women and 1 dollar for men, a student could buy a cup (the beer was free). Four keg days were fairly common, but five was exceptional.

By 1972-1973, membership in the Phi Deltas had dwindled to 3 actives. When Spring came these people were pretty fed up with putting on a keg every week so they turned to some of their friends for help, among these were Dave (DH) Hunt, Dave ("Uncle Deeve") Kenagy, and talked with the Phi Delts about the Nappie (with twenty or so active members) taking over the NPWS in the fall. Summer came and we all scattered for a well needed vacation.

In early September of 1973, on the return trip from a week at Charlie ("Uncle Chook") Grinstead’s cabin in the High Sierra, a bold plan was hatched to take over the NPWS. Kenagy, Hunt, Dave ("Terrible") Herbst, and I (All members of the Class of 1974) were catfishing in the Owens River: a fine art which requires a goodly supply of Jack Daniels (fishing rods and reels are optional). We were discussing various important issues such as detente and the situation in the Middle East, when someone mentioned the rumour that the KDs were intent upon taking over the NPWS.

In order to prevent this, we decided to hold a meeting of the NPWS on the very first Friday of the school year, and beat the KDs to the punch. Therefore we came back to school early, promised the remaining Phi Delts free beer, and quickly saw the necessary "highly placed" authorities. That Friday we emptied 5 kegs. We had won.

During that first semester, Kenagy and I were the "kegmeisters" (with able assistance from Hunt), and we introduced a number of innovations. Top quality beer was provided. In the interests of the equality of the sexes, a unisex price of 75 cents was charged (not without protests). The sun shone on the NPWS and the beer flowed.

In the spring of 1974, the clouds of Watergate were gathering. Similarly, it was cloudy every Friday. Business dropped off. In order to attract attention, John Dean was scheduled to come and "tell all" (unfortunately he canceled at the last minute). The price of a cup was lowered to 50 cents one week. While we broke even, there was no significant increase in membership. We began to lose money, or just break even. The townie problem got worse. The only high point of note was when the Committee to Free Maurice Stans ended its protest march by joining the NPWS--the first such merger I am aware of. By June 1974, when I graduated, the North Pitzer Wildlife Society was in desperate need of revitalization.

As for the present situation, the mind boggles at the thought of eight kegs: all of CMC must be coming.

P.S. Included is a little something for the Oak Leaf. As for me, I’m planning on going to Ghana in June to do my dissertation fieldwork. I’m going to look at the affect of beliefs, household size, education, involvement in the cash economy, etc. on household consumption of different kinds of food. Hopefully the results will have both theoretical and practical implications.


Other contributors:

Paul T. Hunt, Jr. '75 #770
Steve Smith '76 #778
Co-Kegmeisters Jon Kott '80 #814 and Mart Pearson '80 #829


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