Slice: Davis High grad stands by Valley and its 'Bandstand'

Warren Willis was a student at Davis High School before he left Yakima in the early 1960s.

But based on Web presentations currently making the rounds of forwarded e-mails, you would never guess he left.

The "Take Me Back to the '60s" presentations, which Warren created as part of just one of his many Web sites, include memories of "American Bandstand" with Dick Clark -- plus this local memory: "In my hometown (Yakima, Wash.), we had our own TV program, called 'Valley Bandstand,' and many of us danced away many a Saturday afternoon on that show."

Willis, who now lives in Las Vegas, left Yakima when he was about 16 and moved with his family to Arcata, Calif. But once there, he became "increasingly disenchanted with the high school I was attending and the one-horse town I lived in."

So in 1962 he joined the Navy -- and those experiences over the next two decades form much of the content on his various Web sites.

But for musical (and cinematic) trips down Memory Lane, with fond mention of his years in Yakima, check out:

www.oldfortyfives.com

-- Sarah Jenkins

* "Slice of Yakima" spotlights interesting people and happenings from the Yakima Valley. If you have a suggestion, e-mail slice@yakimaherald.com or call 509-577-7724.

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