Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

Friendly disclaimer: hitch hiking is extremely dangerous and no one should ever do it!

On my walk last week I heard the song Hitchin’ a Ride by Vanity Fare. It came out in 1969, when I was 16. It got me reminiscing.

By the time I reached Somerville High School in 1969 something was happening to the youth of America. Our hair got longer, our music got groovy and our clothes were … different. We wore bell bottom pants and the peace sign was getting popular. Some of our friends were sent to fight in Viet Nam and there were peace rallies everywhere.

The hippie movement started and my friends and I were right in the midst of it. Few of us had cars but that never stopped us from getting someplace. We merely stuck out our thumbs.

Today kids use Uber and Lyft. When I was a kid, we either took a bus or train, walked, biked, skateboarded, or we hitch hiked. My parents would have freaked out if they knew I was thumbing all over the place.

I hitch hiked to U Mass Amherst almost every weekend to visit my girlfriend who was a student there. It was truly “Zoo Mass” back then! Route 2 all the way! A lot of my Somerville friends also hitch hiked as the following stories recall.

This lady says: “Back in the mid 70s myself and my friend Kathy would take the bus to Plymouth and hitch from Plymouth to White Horse Beach.”

Then this female friend adds when asked if she ever hitched: “YES!!! First in High School with my friends. Then when I moved to the Cape to Braintree. And across country twice!”

My lifelong pal Phil, who was also … hip, says: ” I hitched up to Montreal, with Bob, across to Vancouver, down to LA and back, fresh out of (SHS) high school in 1972. I used to hitch hike everywhere.” Cool!

— Photo courtesy of Wicked Boston

Miss “M” admits: “My friend and I used to thumb to Nahant. One time we got picked up by motorcycles. What were we thinking?????”

The excitement, the adventure, the danger!!!!Exactly, and we never thought that anything would go wrong, unlike when I had my daughters and would have had a heart attack if they did that. Different times.

“(We hitched) everywhere for years. In the early days, people’s moms would pick you up. I stopped when the only people who would stop were creeps.”

“YES!!! First in high school with my friends. Then when I moved to the Cape to Braintree. And across country twice.

“We used to hitch to the beach all the time – never alone – at least two or three of us together. My mother is probably rolling over in her grave.”

Another young lady confessed: “Yes, (we hitched) mostly to Nahant, but U Mass Amherst one time. It was so dangerous and we were sneaky about it. Luckily, nothing bad ever happened.”

Another friend, an adventurous Somerville lady, says: “In 1975 October I hitch hiked to Canada with my boyfriend. We got a ride straight in from Billerica over the U.S. customs into Canada and on the way home a sweet couple in their 50’s drove us straight to Cambridge. Plus every weekend hitch hike to Revere Beach and my mom was at Sammy’s Patio and took me and my two friends home. Oh, and once in 1974 me and my two friends hitched to Topsfield and got the same teenagers that got us there took us straight home. It was different in the days. I would with them also thumb a ride to the Embassy (Lounge) and saw you Jimmy with your band. I believe it was The New Friendship Band. The good old days!!!” (thank you!)

Bob tells us: “We would take the bus to the Mystics in Medford and then we would hitch on the Parkway (Revere Beach ) to get to Sandy Beach.”

Fred adds: “Many of us would also thumb while waiting for the bus.”

I love this tale: “My husband also had a good one. He had no way home from way up in Maine, so he hitched and a pastor and family took him all the way to Hodgkins Park around the corner from his house.”

This one’s great too: “I hitched from Cape May New Jersey to Camp Lejeune North Carolina, and From Camp Lejeune North Carolina to Somerville.”

My mother would have had a cow if she ever knew half the stuff I did behind her back. Of course, she had only our safety in mind but in the 60’s and 70’s it was anything goes. A lot of Somerville kids thumbed back in the day when we were young and fearless.

I’d flip out if I found out my kids thumbed rides today unless it was a real emergency. You might say I would thumb my nose at hitch hiking today. It’s way too dangerous and it’s a different world. Stay safe!