Support for K-QED comes from Genentech, the original biotech company.

For 50 years, Genentech has pioneered more than 40 scientific breakthroughs across various

diseases, bringing greater hope to patients everywhere.

Learn more at gene.com. That's g-e-ne.com.

Support for this podcast comes from Bioners. Their annual event is coming up March 26 through

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From KQED.

Things were different for San Francisco kids

back in the 1960s and 70s.

For one, there was a lot more freedom.

In those days, there were no cars parked on the street for the most part. And there were kids everywhere. You know, there were six or seven kids on my block. My name's Dennis O'Neill.

I grew up on 18th Avenue from about 1963 to 1980.

Dennis and the other neighborhood kids spent a lot of time at nearby Larson Park.

It's right on busy 19th Avenue at Vicente Street.

We were seven or eight, and our parents, you know, allowed us to cross 19th Avenue, the highway on a green light, and go to the park.

Back then, every city park had a park director.

They would organize games, keep an eye on the kids, and maintain play equipment.

But Larson Park also had something that made it extra special, a real Navy jet.

It felt like an actual jet landed in Larson Park.

And wow, was that jet loved by the neighborhood kids?

It was fantastic, I have to say. I still remember. I'm 64 years old. I remember sitting in that cockpit and being a pilot, you know.

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