![]() "In my naïveté, I just asked him to come down from L.A. "I was asked by the principal to put on a show to promote school spirit," Martin told Kicks magazine two decades later. Ritchie Valens had two hits on the charts - "La Bamba" and "Donna" - when longtime local DJ Harry "Happy Hare" Martin persuaded him to perform at the 1958 opening of Clairemont High School. Ritchie Valens: 9-58, Clairemont High School Police Chief Adam Elmer Jansen - the city's longest-serving chief, at 14 years - told the San Diego Union, "If he puts on the same kind of show that he did last April, I'll arrest him for disorderly conduct.I've had enough complaints from parents to assure me that twerp is not doing the kids any good." When Presley was scheduled to return to the Arena June 6, Mayor Charles Dail brought a resolution before the city council attempting (but failing) to ban Presley from performing in the city. Three weeks later, "Heartbreak Hotel" hit number one. The day after the second San Diego date - April 6 - Presley signed a seven-year movie deal with Paramount. "Ticket sales for the two 1956 concerts (with his new backing band the Jordanaires) reportedly totaled $17,250, with 11,250 fans attending. After the concert, the police arrested 12 girls running nude through the halls of the El Cortez Hotel, looking for Elvis. "His Cadillac was covered with obscene messages, and two sailors were arrested for masturbating during the show from watching the antics. "Some girls broke into the bathroom of Elvis's dressing room and stole the toilet seat," recalled KCBQ disc jockey Don Howard in a 1979 interview. Both shows at the San Diego Arena on Eighth and Harbor Drive (aka Glacier Garden skating rink) for Presley's first full-length California concerts were sold out and police presence was heavy. ![]()
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