It is now the age of hookups and casual relationships. But how did Redwood students’ love lives play out before then?

Suzie Miller, Class of 1960, said that Redwood’s early dating scene was relatively sedate. Dating took place mostly within close groups of friends, and even then was not very serious.

“We went to school back and forth together and we were all members of the yacht club,” Miller said. “We all had the same interests, our parents knew each other, we were buddies. We were kind of inseparable. We didn’t exactly date, we were just really good friends. I guess the guys occasionally dated outside of our group.”

In the October 1972 issue of the Bark,  science teacher Bob Piro said that dating was very comfortable due to the school’s small size at the time.

“We asked girls out that were in our classes,” Piro said. “There weren’t as many kids then so everybody pretty much knew everyone else. It’s easy when you know everyone.”

Beth Fairbanks, Class of 1968, said that the dating scene evolved rapidly towards the late ‘60s. 

“In the first couple of years, playing the field wasn’t as socially acceptable,” she said. “Everything changed in the late ‘60s because of the whole summer of love, there was all peace and love in the Haight-Ashbury. After that everything became much more casual.”

According to Fairbanks, people generally didn’t stay with the same person for all of high school and there was very little formal dating at this time.

“People got together at parties. It was rare that a single guy asked a single girl out, came to her door and picked her up,” Fairbanks said. “It was more of a group dating or a party type thing where you would go to some outdoor location if it was beautiful weather.” 

According to a dating survey in an October 1972 issue of the Bark, dating became more personal into the early ‘70s. Of those in relationships, 52% said that they went out with just their date, and only 17% said they dated mostly in groups.

Being easy to talk to was the cited by 96% of those surveyed as their top reason for requesting a second date, followed by sense of humor (83%), intelligence (70%), and sex on the first date (43%).

Michelyn French, Class of 1980, said that dating was more monogamous than it is now.

“It was casual in the sense in that we were just really friends that were called boyfriend and girlfriend, but it was not casual in the sense that we hooked up,” French said. “You had somebody special, and you stuck to them for weeks, months, or sometimes years. People were very loyal. It wasn’t casual in that sense.  There was no hooking up. There was not much moving around.”

French said that girls and boys rarely went on single dates.

“It was mostly group dating,” she said. “There were a few couples but most people went out with groups. If you went out with people of the opposite sex, it was in groups. There were a few serious couples, but the rest of us just hung out.”

French also said that such group dates weren’t as inherently romantic.

“We had hot tub parties, with clothes on, of course,” she said. “We would go out to Stinson beach at night, and we had bonfires out at Kronkite. We’d go to the city and see a movie.”

Teacher Erik Berridge, Class of 1987, said that dating occurred mostly at parties and was very casual, with few couples in long-term relationships. He estimated that only 25% dated exclusively, while 75% were dating at any given time.

“Most people were more into casual dating, a couple weeks at a time,” Berridge said.

Ultimately, Berridge said, little has changed dating-wise since he attended Redwood.

“I don’t see a major difference between my students and when I was here,” he said. “There were always the occasional couples making out in the halls, even PDA was about the same.”