Steve_M_M
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 06/09/04
Posts: 975
Loc: Moorpark, CA
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Here is some information from Goto on production numbers for the 6".
This thread is amazing!
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1956 Goto Optical 6" f15 Observatory Refractor
From the Titan Observatory as featured in S&T 1957-1959
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1961 Nishimura 6" Reflector
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Lew Chilton
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 10/20/05
Posts: 1010
Loc: SoCal
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Here's a picture of the Frank Grow telescope as it appeared on the cover of the August 1958 issue of Griffith Observer magazine, the publication of the Griffith Observatory and Planetarium in Los Angeles. Griffith's then director, Dr. Clarence Cleminshaw, is on the sidewalk; Frank Grow is on the ladder. When this picture was taken, the scope had a 16-inch mirror, but when it was donated to the Los Angeles Astronical Society in the early 1970s, after Grow's death, it had a 14-1/2 inch mirror.
This is the same mount design utilized by Clarke Harris and discussed in another forum thread, "Cave 12.5" F6 - Alika Herring Mirror," page 3.
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I don't get no respect, but my scopes do! 
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1961 Swift 60mm model 839 (2); 2003 TV-102/GM-8; 1959 8" f/6 Treckerscope; 1959 8" f/7.4 Murray Scope; 1959 Fecker Celestar-4; 1978 4" Edmund Astroscan; c. 1986 4-inch Celestron-Vixen SP-C102; c. 1950 20X60 Saturn spotting scope; 1963 7X50 Nippon Kogaku binoculars; Unitron #114 alt-az mount (Swifty-tron)
Edited by Lew Chilton (07/02/07 02:53 PM)
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Lew Chilton
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 10/20/05
Posts: 1010
Loc: SoCal
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Back in 2001, John Pons took possession of the 6-inch Goto described earlier in this thread. Here's the Goto when it was owned by Joe Choate in 1960.
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I don't get no respect, but my scopes do!
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1961 Swift 60mm model 839 (2); 2003 TV-102/GM-8; 1959 8" f/6 Treckerscope; 1959 8" f/7.4 Murray Scope; 1959 Fecker Celestar-4; 1978 4" Edmund Astroscan; c. 1986 4-inch Celestron-Vixen SP-C102; c. 1950 20X60 Saturn spotting scope; 1963 7X50 Nippon Kogaku binoculars; Unitron #114 alt-az mount (Swifty-tron)
Edited by Lew Chilton (07/09/07 03:08 PM)
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Lew Chilton
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 10/20/05
Posts: 1010
Loc: SoCal
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In 2001, the Choate residence was in a dilapidated state and the new owner wanted to dispose of the dome and its contents, the 6-inch Goto. She offered the telescope gratis to Griffith Observatory, but the offer was declined because of the expense involved in dismantling the observatory and restoring the telescope.
Griffith Observatory, which had previously employed the services of Pons to refurbish its 12-inch Zeiss refractor and upgrade the planetarium's sound system, contacted him about the Goto offer. That is how Pons acquired that wonderful, old instrument and how it restoration to it original glory began.
The snapshots that follow show the state of the Choate house, dome and Goto refractor at the time Pons began the dismantling process.
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I don't get no respect, but my scopes do!
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1961 Swift 60mm model 839 (2); 2003 TV-102/GM-8; 1959 8" f/6 Treckerscope; 1959 8" f/7.4 Murray Scope; 1959 Fecker Celestar-4; 1978 4" Edmund Astroscan; c. 1986 4-inch Celestron-Vixen SP-C102; c. 1950 20X60 Saturn spotting scope; 1963 7X50 Nippon Kogaku binoculars; Unitron #114 alt-az mount (Swifty-tron)
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Lew Chilton
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 10/20/05
Posts: 1010
Loc: SoCal
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Here's the beginning of the teardown of the 6-inch Goto. The dome had leaked for years and corrosion and dirt had taken a toll.
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I don't get no respect, but my scopes do!
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1961 Swift 60mm model 839 (2); 2003 TV-102/GM-8; 1959 8" f/6 Treckerscope; 1959 8" f/7.4 Murray Scope; 1959 Fecker Celestar-4; 1978 4" Edmund Astroscan; c. 1986 4-inch Celestron-Vixen SP-C102; c. 1950 20X60 Saturn spotting scope; 1963 7X50 Nippon Kogaku binoculars; Unitron #114 alt-az mount (Swifty-tron)
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Lew Chilton
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 10/20/05
Posts: 1010
Loc: SoCal
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Another view...
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I don't get no respect, but my scopes do!
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1961 Swift 60mm model 839 (2); 2003 TV-102/GM-8; 1959 8" f/6 Treckerscope; 1959 8" f/7.4 Murray Scope; 1959 Fecker Celestar-4; 1978 4" Edmund Astroscan; c. 1986 4-inch Celestron-Vixen SP-C102; c. 1950 20X60 Saturn spotting scope; 1963 7X50 Nippon Kogaku binoculars; Unitron #114 alt-az mount (Swifty-tron)
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Lew Chilton
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 10/20/05
Posts: 1010
Loc: SoCal
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The Goto's new owner, John Pons, dismantling the historic refractor. John spent the next 4 years restoring this Goto to its former glory.
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I don't get no respect, but my scopes do!
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1961 Swift 60mm model 839 (2); 2003 TV-102/GM-8; 1959 8" f/6 Treckerscope; 1959 8" f/7.4 Murray Scope; 1959 Fecker Celestar-4; 1978 4" Edmund Astroscan; c. 1986 4-inch Celestron-Vixen SP-C102; c. 1950 20X60 Saturn spotting scope; 1963 7X50 Nippon Kogaku binoculars; Unitron #114 alt-az mount (Swifty-tron)
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Lew Chilton
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 10/20/05
Posts: 1010
Loc: SoCal
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Here's the way it looks today.
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I don't get no respect, but my scopes do!
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1961 Swift 60mm model 839 (2); 2003 TV-102/GM-8; 1959 8" f/6 Treckerscope; 1959 8" f/7.4 Murray Scope; 1959 Fecker Celestar-4; 1978 4" Edmund Astroscan; c. 1986 4-inch Celestron-Vixen SP-C102; c. 1950 20X60 Saturn spotting scope; 1963 7X50 Nippon Kogaku binoculars; Unitron #114 alt-az mount (Swifty-tron)
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Lew Chilton
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 10/20/05
Posts: 1010
Loc: SoCal
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And another view of the 6-inch Goto...
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I don't get no respect, but my scopes do!
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1961 Swift 60mm model 839 (2); 2003 TV-102/GM-8; 1959 8" f/6 Treckerscope; 1959 8" f/7.4 Murray Scope; 1959 Fecker Celestar-4; 1978 4" Edmund Astroscan; c. 1986 4-inch Celestron-Vixen SP-C102; c. 1950 20X60 Saturn spotting scope; 1963 7X50 Nippon Kogaku binoculars; Unitron #114 alt-az mount (Swifty-tron)
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trainsktg
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/23/05
Posts: 4586
Loc: Pacific Northwest
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That home looks like something out of the Addams Family. What a change in just 40 years.
Keith
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He was a good little monkey and always very curious.
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mikey cee
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/18/07
Posts: 3507
Loc: bellevue ne.
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Lew...The new owner must be redoing the home. I wouldn't think you would go to the trouble of stripping wallboard off the observatory interior. Any way you or Jon can find out what happened to the Choate family. Sounds like a good mystery to unravel. Must be a paper trail there somewhere in public records?   Mike
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7x35 and 10x50 sears tower binocs, 3" f/10 edmunds reflector, 2.4" f/11.7 manon refractor, 6" f/8 jaegers refractor, "The 8 Ball" 8" f/13.3 brandt refractor, 3" f/15.8 sans&streiffe refractor, 3.1" f/15 selsi refractor(towa 339), 2.4" f/15 sears refractor, selsi 30x30mm spyglass, criterion 5-draw 25x45x75x spyglass(1957), 4.25" f/14.8 tasco 20te.
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Lew Chilton
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 10/20/05
Posts: 1010
Loc: SoCal
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Mike,
I took your advice and did a little on-line research and believe I located Joe Choate, Jr. He's about Pons' age. I left a telephone message and hope he returns my call.
I also located the record of Joe Choate and his family's return from Tokyo on April 27, 1956 aboard Northwest Airlines. I'm attaching a copy of the air passenger manifest. I believe this was the trip when the 6-inch Goto was procured. I've found even more information, but it's not really relevant to this thread.
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I don't get no respect, but my scopes do!
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1961 Swift 60mm model 839 (2); 2003 TV-102/GM-8; 1959 8" f/6 Treckerscope; 1959 8" f/7.4 Murray Scope; 1959 Fecker Celestar-4; 1978 4" Edmund Astroscan; c. 1986 4-inch Celestron-Vixen SP-C102; c. 1950 20X60 Saturn spotting scope; 1963 7X50 Nippon Kogaku binoculars; Unitron #114 alt-az mount (Swifty-tron)
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Daniel Mounsey
Vendor - Woodland Hils
Reged: 06/12/02
Posts: 3200
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Lew,
How in heavans do you find all this stuff? 
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Lew Chilton
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 10/20/05
Posts: 1010
Loc: SoCal
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Dan,
It's not that big a deal. It helps to be a retired investigator and an amateur genealogist.
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I don't get no respect, but my scopes do!
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1961 Swift 60mm model 839 (2); 2003 TV-102/GM-8; 1959 8" f/6 Treckerscope; 1959 8" f/7.4 Murray Scope; 1959 Fecker Celestar-4; 1978 4" Edmund Astroscan; c. 1986 4-inch Celestron-Vixen SP-C102; c. 1950 20X60 Saturn spotting scope; 1963 7X50 Nippon Kogaku binoculars; Unitron #114 alt-az mount (Swifty-tron)
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Rinaldo
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 06/28/04
Posts: 1106
Loc: Lawng-eye-lind - New York, USA
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I'm movin to the west coast!
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Yea Haa?
Two eyeballs
AP 5.1" f/6 on a GM-8 -- The Instrument
10" f/4.8 Newt on a Dob -- Marcia!! Marcia! Marcia!!!
12.5" f/4.5 Portaball -- The Cojone
10x70 FMT-SX
7x50 FMTR-SX
A few Nags & Rads
Hauppauge, NY - 
RMSP, NY - 
Montauk, NY - 
CSSP, PA - 
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Daniel Mounsey
Vendor - Woodland Hils
Reged: 06/12/02
Posts: 3200
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You da man Lew 
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kimballdog
newbie
Reged: 11/04/05
Posts: 4
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Joe and I were classmates at USC law school (Class of 1966). He invited several of us to dinner with him and his parents at his home (in the Wilshire district in LA) sometime in the 1960's and showed us the dome and telescope. I was not "into" astronomy then, but was amazed that there was an observatory dome on top of his house and amazed at the size of the telescope. My memory, vague after all these years, is that the scope had to be bigger than 6" in aperture, but I'm sure that's just a failure of memory.
I saw Joe again in the mid-1980's when he was in San Jose (where I had relocated) on business. We had dinner together, but we've had no contact since then.
It's tough to see the former Choate house looking so shabby.
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trainsktg
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/23/05
Posts: 4586
Loc: Pacific Northwest
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Welcome, and thanks for the information. It is indeed a small world. How did you discover this particular thread, as I see this is your first post?
I hope to eventually see Mr. Choate himself here on CN telling his own personal stories with this telescope.
Keith
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He was a good little monkey and always very curious.
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kimballdog
newbie
Reged: 11/04/05
Posts: 4
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There was a reference to the thread in the Astromart forums. That the thread would refer to Joe Choate was a complete surprise.
I have posted rarely on Astromart, and never before here, even though I've browsed both sites frequently for several years.
What I think I remember about the scope was that it had a brass-like finish. Again, maybe a created memory. Also, that the scope was much bigger than six inches. In fact, my memory (imagination?) is that the finder scope must have been close to that big, with the main scope much bigger.
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JohnG
sage
Reged: 12/16/06
Posts: 357
Loc: Wake Village, Texas - East Tex...
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I've been sitting here looking at the telescopes with admiration and awe. John Pons did an amazing job restoring the GOTO telescope. Even more amazing is how he obtained it. From the way it looks now John must have torn it down completely for the rebuild. A great accomplishment and a lot of history preserved. Let us hope that John and his fine telescopes will be around for a long time to come.
You guys living in Southern California are some of the most fortunate amateur astronomers in the world! By that I mean, it seems like that's where the majority of the old classics are located.
I can easily imagine a set-up like the Choate dome and the GOTO sitting on a mountain away from the lights and far above the smog and haze that marks so much of modern suburban living.
The only way I can end this is with a few words like...Astounding and Wonderful.
JohnG
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