next on a second look, come back with us tonight 50 years to 1961. and we'll tell you about the first passenger jetliner. the first american in space, the bay area actress who's 1961 movie role won her an oscar. the east bay environmentalist who kept san francisco bay what it is today. and we'll wrap it all up with a dance craze that swept the nation a half century ago. >> ♪ and goes like this ♪ >> reporter: all straight ahead tonight on a second look.

good evening i'm julie haener, tonight on a second look we travel back 50 years to 1961 and to some of the significant events and cultural trends of the time a half century ago. we start here in the bay area. it was called appropriately enough save the bay and it's been fighting for the environment of the bay waters ever since. in 2000, bob mackenzie brought us this history of save the bay. >> reporter: sometimes we're so busy commuting that we forget to look at it. but travelers go thousands of miles out of their way to look at it. san francisco bay is still beautiful despite the abuse it's taken. some people are resilient and tough too and were there when

it needed help. silvia mclaughlan was there too. she and two other berkeley women who called themselves the tea lady women went after the campaign and stopped it. >> in 1935 there were 36 plans for a fill around the bay. a lot of people come to this area because of the bay. business come here because of the environment. because of the bay and the hills and opportunity for recreation and the climate. a large scale filling would have changed the climate. >> reporter: mclaughlan and the other women stopped the fill. today it's a haven for wildlife. the area is now protected along with nine miles of shoreline from emeryville to richmond that were set aside to become the east shore state park. >> a lot of people fished to

get food on the table, the fish must be healthy so the bay must be healthy. the water must be healthy, the bay is ewed also for shipping, the shipping channels have to be kept open. the bay has many uses for many different people. >> back in 1961 mclaughlan and her friends were shocked to learn that the corp. of engineer were studying clam and they would fill in the bay. the bay would have reduced the bay to a river. thanks to mclaughlan and others the save san francisco bay association says that over the past century about a third of the bay has been filled in.

the world's fair of 1915 called the international exposition was filled on san francisco on landfill that later became the marina district. at the turn of the century sailing ships were being replaced by engine powered ships who's oil and fuel and garbage would pollute the bay. in 1998 when this rare film was made no one was worried about pollution. and in truth there wasn't much yet to worry it about. the boys watching this ship launching decided to celebrate it by jumping into the bay clothes and all. soot from mining became a -- several fish species were already leaving the bay and heading out for cleaner water. what was the bay like before the cities and machines

arrived? there are no films of that but malcolm margoli said the bay had softer edges. >> there was this huge area that was neither land or sea. it was this soupy area: and it was marshy and brittle and extended for hundreds and hundreds of yards inland. >> right around that point over there is the outlift of strawberry creek. you would have had coming in through the bay, through the golden gate you would have had coho salmon and steel head trout coming in and beating itself way up that strawberry creek. >> reporter: through decades of hard work people who cared have managed to slow down the deterioration of the bay. now they dare to hope to make it healthy again. to reclaim marsh land and to further limit toxic land and filth. still to come meet the crew of pan am who ushered the --

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tonight we are taking a second look at the year 1951. pan am introduced the first passenger jet service. in 1985 pam am veterans got together to talk about the plan. and we were there. >> the china clipper rising from the waters of san francisco bay where the first united states airmail bound for china. >> reporter: pan american turned treasure eye land into the gate way to the pacific. the giant china clipper routinely lifted off with 72 passengers. the first passenger airline to shrink the pacific. >> fantastic, in one long weekend half the world will

pass you too. >> reporter: in the 40s, super clippers tipped their wings in salute to the newly finished golden gate bridge before heading west chasing a sunset. inside passengers were wined and dined with seven course meals served by attentive stewarts. many were registered nurses but few could get a shut out in a real bed. >> ensured the refreshing night slumber. >> ladies and gentlemen, good morning, this is your captain. welcome to the jet age. >> reporter: in 1961 pan american became the first airline to fly from new york to london introducing the first passenger plane, the boing 707 to international travel. pan am took more passengers to europe in the first three months than the ocean liner queen elizabeth. all through the 60s and 70s, pan am owned the sky, planting

the american flag in countries around the globe. this week 430 former pan am attendants landed in san francisco for their annual get together. renewing friendships torched in cities from beirut to bangkok. the food a reminder of the good old days. >> we have a big pan am family and we like to get together once a year. >> reporter: frank papoucheck was a pan am stewardess. for these fellow travelers memories are sweet. >> what do you miss about pan am the most? >> the comradery. getting together with the crew and joking and just having a great time. because we had such characters. >> i don't think anybody had the spirit that we had or has

left the nostalgia that pan am has both for those who worked for pan am and for our customers at the time. >> this year also marks the anniversary of a movement that changed american history. in may of 1961 a small group of people took a journey into the unknown and in the process joined an epic battle to bring equal rights to african americans in this country. tracy mitchell first brought us this account of the freedom writers. for too long in america, segregation in the south was synonymous. but in the 1960s a new generation armed with a new supreme court decision prohibiting discrimination challenged the status quo. >> this land is composed of two

different churches. a white church and a colored church and i've lived close to them. but i'm told now that we've mistreated them and we must change. and these changes are coming faster than i expected. >> reporter: blacks were risking their homes, jobs and lives for equality. for a taste of american democracy. >> i was hited in head with a wind crate. bloody, i was coming in and out of consciousness. >> reporter: lewis was a young man in 1965 a student when he boarded a bus and enbarked on a journey to desegregate public transportation. >> we were all dedicated to nonviolence. the first group was older, i

was 30. >> reporter: the racial equality and group of the time organized that first freedom ride in 1951. seven blocks and six whites left washington, d.c. on two buses, decided to test a supreme court ruling out on segregation and public transportation facilities. at first only minor hostility greeted them. but when one bus arrived, a group of people beat the group. >> i was on the greyhound, and that was the bus that was they set on fire. burned it. and we would have all burned to death had it not been for the fact that a -- one of the fuel tanks of the bus exploded.

scared the hell out of the mob. >> reporter: that ride ended abruptly and the riders feared the violence would snub the movement. the first ride was not the last. students picked up the cause boarding buses headed south. frank nelson shares his stories with ed blankenhine. nelson took his first freedom ride in june. by then the movement had spread. >> we were waiting at arms which were right there. i went into the black waiting room, the black riders went into the room and the rest were carted off the jail. wilson was 23 when his young body was bruceed and beaten. more freedom riders arrived. and we've located them too. >> i am a segregated mississippian and i'm proud of

it. >> reporter: as the south resisted, president kennedy grew frustrated. nelson says the president wanted to help blacks but also wanted to up heave southern voters. >> the kennedys were sort of behind it but not really. lip service was there. >> reporter: throughout that summer more than 300 freedom riders traveled through the deep south. in september the president's brother attorney general robert kennedy asked for and received more stringent regulation governing transportation facilities. by the end of 61 public transportation throughout the south was integrated. >> the country needed it. >> it was obvious. >> they had to have the truth. >> when we come back on a second look, we remember the man who became the first american in space in 1961. and a bit later, we talk with show business legend rita moreno.

welcome back to a second look as we journey back to 1960. the united states would send an american into space for the first time. that astronaut's name was alan shepherd. when shepherd died in 1988, ktvu's john fowler brought us this report. >> reporter: atop a rocket prone to exploding on law

launch sat chlostophobic he pert. he became an instant national hero. >> and this decoration which is guarded from the ground up, here. >> reporter: 35 years later shepherd was still drawing applause from youngsters at nasa's space camp. >> people have asked weren't you proud to be the first man and i said yes, i was. but it wasn't because of the international recognition it was because i had been chosen to do a job and i did it without making any mistake. it was a pet flight. >> reporter: eclipsed in the public eye by john glen and later by the first astronauts who went to the moon, allen shepherd did not get back into space for nine years grounded with an ear problem. then nasa picked him to command apollo16.

he became the sixth man to step on the moon. a golfer, shepherd wanted to do something special. >> i went to the boss and said, i want to hit a golf bag on the moon. he said, shepherd you've been giving me trouble for 16 years, the answer is hell no. >> reporter: but shepherd prevailed. shepherd became a millionaire the business and began a scholarship program for needy children. married to his academy sweetheart betty. shepherd said he never lost the excitement he felt that morning in 1961 sustained by that gutsy and gorgeous adventure of standing on the moon, looking at the earth and thinking of people struggling there. >> what a shame it is to let them stand on the moon and look back. so they can say we have to take care of this place after all. >> reporter: allen shepherd

fought for years with leukemia and died last night in his sleep. when we come back on a second look, it was a simple dance but it became a nationwide sensation. bob mackenzie remembers the twist. ok, you guys wanted a space for entertaining your friends,

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in 1961 a film premier won 10 academy awards. one of them went to rita moreno for best actress. her one woman show just completed a successful run in berkeley. bob mackenzie talked to the show business legend about her life here in the bay area. >> ♪

>> reporter: rita moreno has never done a cabaret act before. that's a surprise since she's done almost everything else in business. and is the first to win a grammy, emmy and tony. this time she's playing the plush room in san francisco. >> ♪ as qualified long lifetime fans we got to step into her rehearsal. with her was her husband tony. >> i'm playing minor sevens in dramatic. >> here we are. it's smaller than i thought. >> it's about attitude. i'm a bloody amazon. that's how i see myself. and you know sometimes i'm amazed. sometimes i'm amazed at how short i really am.

i look at pictures of myself and i say, oh for heavens sake i'm a little thing. and it always surprises me. >> you feel big. >> i do. >> you really do fill up the room. you fill up the stage. is that some magic you happen to have or did you learn how to do it? >> i think that's something that you have. you can't teach somebody to take over a room or to grab people's attentions you just can't. >> ♪ >> she came from puerto rico at the age of 5. made her broadway debut at 15 and since then has never been out of work. she made her debut in the king of i and made appearances everywhere as anita in the west side story.

>> i come from an era where you didn't just do one thing. you didn't specialize. if you sang, you sure as hell somehow found a way to learn to dance. and you did learn to tap and you learned to do ballet. i can do everything. >> ♪ >> reporter: moreno and her husband came to the bay area to visit her daughter and grandchild. fell in love with the area and quickly decided to move here. they now live in berkeley. >> it's a sweet life, i adore it and it's all because of the people. >> lucky us. >> lucky us. >> 1951 was the year that joey

d and the starlights would release a song. it was called the peppermint twist and capitalized on a craze sweeping the country. as a look at social dancing, bob mackenzie take a look back at the twist. a dance that became a sensation. >> ladies and gentlemen, here's chubby checkers. >> reporter: chuckers performance was considered a bit of a risque sight. elvis gyrated too but no one tried to dance like elvis. everybody tried to dance like checkers. >> the twist is, putting on a cigarette with both feet, coming out of the shower, wiping off your bottom with a towel to the beat of the music.

if you're wiping off your bottom with a towel, you couldn't feel your partner. >> not only could everybody do it, everybody could feel naughty. soon even the upper class were doing it. inside everybody twisted the night away. chubby checker and other performers plugged other dances. the fly. but these were one record fads. the rock rebellion of the 1960s brought dancers with no steps, no regular moves, no rules at all. today every known form of

social dance has this avid little community of slick steppers. where do they go next? if we knew that we would make the next fortune. >> and that's it for a second look. thank you so much for watching. i'm julie haener. [ male announcer ] sometimes, a hint is all the wrapping a gift needs. is that what i think it is? ♪ [ male announcer ] the lexus december to remember sales event is here, but only for a limited time. see your lexus dealer for exclusive lease offers