The equally serious and funloving mayor of Culver City was breezing along a Northern California freeway this morning, thinking up funny lines for his 50-year reunion tomorrow evening with the Pleasant Hill High School class of 1966.

Mr. Clarke’s car steadily gained speed in his familiar 375-mile journey because he wanted to beat a deadline.

City Hall in Pleasant Hill closes at 1 on Fridays.

Sentimentally, Mr. Clarke wanted to arrive by the noon hour and slip inside.

One more time, for auld lang syne, he wanted to study the most recognizable portrait in the building, a family member. (See below.)

Once he was a BMOC at the East Bay high school 30 miles from San Francisco.

The 68-year-old Mr. Clarke was elected student body president – 51 years before his 68th birthday — in an era when winning political races was going to be a family tradition.

His father, James, was voted mayor of Pleasant Hill – population 27,000 — in the later 1970s, his son recalls.

Mr. Clarke, a graduate of the Coast Guard Academy, played on a tennis team that won the league 10 years in a row.

After promising to bring back reunion pictures to Culver City, Mr. Clarke said he would track down the two oldest-looking and two least attractive classmates. Regardless of who takes the photos, the mayor would be the logical focal point of the pictures.

As mayor of Culver City during its once a lifetime year-long Centennial celebration, Mr. Clarke brings his own sheen of contemporary glamour to the party.

Mr. Clarke had 234 classmates in the Class of 1966, and 80 persons are expected for their golden anniversary.