Area residents remember Armstrong and the impact of Apollo mission

It was more than 40 years ago, but people Saturday remembered what they were doing the day Neil Armstrong landed on the moon.

Armstrong, who commanded the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed on the moon July 20, 1969, died at 82 following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures Saturday morning, his family said in a statement.

Aileen Bruno, 62, who was shopping at the Camarillo Premium Outlets Saturday, said she was mesmerized along with the other patrons of a Westwood bar as she watched the moon landing. A nurse at UCLA at the time, Bruno, of Camarillo, remembers joining co-workers after work to watch the news.

"Everybody was glued to the TV and what was going on," Bruno said. "It was unbelievable that they could have a man land on the moon."

It was a proud moment for Americans that something positive could be accomplished during the turbulent 1960s, Bruno said. "It's a lot of bravery, a lot of desire," she said of Armstrong and the Apollo 11 crew. "An icon is gone."

Don Hodes, 82, of Calabasas was superintendent of the Ocean View School District in Oxnard when Apollo 11 blasted off. The accomplishments of Armstrong and his crew excited the schools and gave education a boost, he said.

"The future looked so bright," Hodes said. "It was the spirit of, 'we can do it.' "

When Apollo 11 blasted into space, Hal Hyman, 77, of Camarillo was principal at UCLA's Corinne A. Seeds University Elementary School. He, too, recalls the excitement in education that Armstrong and the Apollo mission created.

"It motivated young people," Hyman said. "This was a real product. Science was put in the forefront" of public education.

At La Fiesta, a Mexican restaurant in Tarzana, cashier Larry Finnan, a teenager at the time, was expecting more people to be dining out. Only two tables were filled as employees and patrons watched the takeoff on a television brought in for the event.

"Everybody was home," he laughed.

Finnan held hands with a waitress and hostesses as they watched Apollo 11 leave the Earth on a 19-inch television screen. He was amazed by what he saw.

"Everyone just stood there and watched," Finnan said. "It was a turbulent time, but that moment ... that was a uniting time."

With tears in his eyes, Finnan, now 58 and living in Woodland Hills, said he was shocked to hear of Armstrong's death.

"He's an icon. He's an American hero," Finnan said.