History The History Of Los Angeles

I spent a lot of summers in Long Beach. My sister married in 1968 and her husband had a apartment on Cherry Ave, just a few blocks from the beach. There was a tunnel that went under the roadway to the beach. I spend lots of times at the Pike and I learned to swim at Belmont Shores pools. By 1972, her husband sold his Model A roadster and used the money to buy a house near Veteran's Stadium.

 

Hey LBCD,
Nice photo... those are the style of "bruisers" that we rode and saw in 60-62. Imagine what the removal of the breakwater would be on those long Peninsula beaches. Those are really some of the finest white sand beaches in So Cal. My wife (girl friend at the time) lived in a small place on the corner of Dana Place and Ocean (1967-68 college years). We loved the bay and the big white sand on the ocean side of the Peninsula. It is one of the last hidden gems on the coast. The big south swells would eat up those pristine beaches quickly and yes, the Peninsula (Ocean ave) would flood easily, every time. High tide? No contest if the breakwater was removed...
Speaking of the Peninsula, in 60-62, we used to cruise down to meet some friends from the "other" local high school at the Seal Beach end. If I recall, it was some sort of clubhouse with great parking on the beach side. Sometimes, during high tides and a huge swell, 72nd street would flood from those waves. That was also a great surf spot. The "lefts" were pretty fun.
Jnaki

 

Hey JC,
That tunnel was very scary. It always was a challenge to "calmly" walk from one side to the other. Dates liked walking down that tunnel, but it must have been a teenage thing to do. Today, no way. Plus, there is a road that leads to the beach/beach parking. That drive from one end of Ocean Avenue in our hot rods/custom cars was one of the main cruise roads as it lead to the Belmont Shore shops area near the Belmont Pier. (as in another post from LBCD, on to the world famous, Domenico's Pizza.)
Jnaki

 

Did the same thing on the L.A. River by Frogtown (Riverside Dr. Glendale Bl. area). Opened the big metal coverings which are now painted like cats and and kept going in the tunnel till it got to narrow. Like you we never found anything to peak an interest.

 

1934 Drive in Grand Opening

 

Line to get in at grand opening of Pico Drive In 1934

 

Manhattan Beach 55 Chevy 1956
Hello,

After constant back and forth moves from California to OKC to California, grandpa’s family settled in Manhattan Beach, South Bay Los Angeles in 1956, a few blocks from the beach. What a contrast from OKC to “beachy,” Manhatan Beach! (the salt air, white sand, sunny days, etc.) The elementary school was walking distance and the community was a typical “beach” city. A 55 Chevy 2 door was purchased for the family and daily commutes to work. The three kids easily fit in the back seat. The smallest one loved riding in the back panel, feeling like a “boy in a bubble.” No seat belts back then and this way of sitting in the back (laying down) with the family had a lot of kids riding in that package tray of their own cars.

I loved riding in my dad’s 49 big, black, Buick 4 door Roadmaster package tray. There was almost enough room to fit two small boys fighting... And the view out back was very strange…like being in a rocket ship looking out of a porthole.

Jnaki

 

We are in Manhattan Beach as well, since 1950, East of Sepulveda Blvd. I came into the world in 1956. Here is the family 1957 Ford wagon. We had it until 1969. We still have the house. I wish someone would find a photograph of "Clancy's Hamburgers" at the corner of Sepulveda Blvd. and Marine Ave. That would be so cool!

 

kcet photo
Hello,

Driving our cars all over So Cal was a thrill. We came across many cool things in our driving adventures as young teens. We had to go to many family functions in San Pedro over the years. There was this old pontoon bridge as one of the main thoroughfares from Long Beach to Terminal Island and on to San Pedro via the Vincent Thomas Bridge in 1963. Before that time, it was the Terminal Island Freeway, then onto the San Pedro Ferry to get to downtown San Pedro and the rest of the peninsula. The pontoon bridge was an unusual link because it had to open to let ships of all sizes get through from the back harbor to the ocean. It was still located within the greater Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor and ocean access was a short distance away through Angel’s Gate. But, if you did not go to San Pedro via the PCH Highway 1 or Anaheim to get to Gaffey St. turnoff, this was the only way to get over the first channel. In its place, the Gerald Desmond Bridge was built in 1968 to span this waterway.
City of Long Beach photo
That bridge gave travelers a tremendous view of the whole harbor and views all the way back to Los Angeles proper.

Over time, heavy consumer traffic, heavy trucking/harbor routes caused many traffic problems, so a new bridge is in the works. Mainly, the old one was tall enough for the 60’s freighter ships, but today’s huge freighters are too big and tall to go under the older Desmond Bridge. The old bridge clearance was 155, while the newest bridge will be 205+ feet tall.

For the old pontoon bridge, we had to go ever so slowly down the ramp to get to the floating, pontoon bridge and once there, clearance was harsh. But, the ramp up on the other side was also steep and again our cars (51 Olds, 40 Ford Sedan Deliveries, 58 Impala, 49 VW, 65-72 El Camino) all had to go the minimal speed to make sure they did not bottom out. Dates were impressed as the pontoon was several feet above the channel waters. It always seemed like we would go over the sides of the pontoons, but of course, we never did.

But on those dates to Ports of Call in San Pedro, Marineland and Palos Verdes were highlighted by the views on the way over this newer 1968 Desmond Bridge. But, the pontoon bridge will forever be remembered as an unusual “thingy” back in the day.

Jnaki

Wait until the new bridge goes in and the San Pedro Waterfront from Wilmington to the ocean breakwater gets revitalized…that will be a destination for sure.

 

Jnaki....back in the 80's I used to up and down the coast on my 10 speed bike. One day my brother and I said lets ride from Lakewood to San Pedro...we road our road bikes over that bridge and the port cops pulled us over....lol. I didn't know we couldn't do that.

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I worked at the power plant on terminal island in the photo and drove loaded stake trucks over the steel grated bridge. What a trip at low tide as I remember..

 

Hello,

One of our favorite things to do on dates as teenagers was to drive up the coast to the Palos Verdes area, starting in San Pedro and moving all around the coastline ending up in Torrance. It was something that a lot of Long Beach teenagers did not do on a monthly basis. But, for the more adventurous, this was new ground. It impressed our dates because of the far away knowledge that no one they knew had or thought about. Driving along the coast was just something surfers did in their search for waves. It also provided a cool scouting trip to find those cool spots for checking out the secluded views and talk about the legendary, “Submarine Races.”

The locals obviously knew the area, but for us in the far away cities, it was a trip to see new sights and places. Besides the Wayfarer’s Chapel high on a hill overlooking the blue Pacific, one place that always impressed the dates was the old Parasol Restaurant. There wasn’t anything like that in Long Beach for us. It was a brightly colored interior with nice booths that squeaked when sliding over.

From the Parasol in Torrance going south down Coast Highway to Sambo’s on the corner of PCH and Long Beach Blvd. This corner restaurant in Long Beach was the place to go for pie and coffee after a concert. But, to us teenagers or early 20 somethings, an early breakfast of steak/eggs/pancakes for under $3.00 was pretty nice. But, the interior and ambience was not as nice as the Parasol Restaurant in Torrance. Sambo's was a stop over in the wee hours of the morning and to make sure our hot rods got home in one piece, while having coffee and pie.

Jnaki
These days, Denny’s Coffee Shops are what is left of the old early style family restaurants speckled all over So Cal and the rest of the USA. Once, in Colorado, just outside of Denver, we were at a Denny’s Restaurant and a hot rod truck rolled into the parking lot for the daily breakfast meal.

The only other place that popped up all over the western states are the Black Bear Diners. Old time, folksy, place with great food at any hour. They were stopping places for all kinds of hot rods and customs.

 

Back in the 1950's & 60's we had our milk delivered to our door in Manhattan Beach by a dairy called Inglewood Farms. At some point the dairy went out of business and about 1968 we drove to the area in Torrance where the dairy had been and as I recall it was like a ghost town. A lot of aged buildings and junk everywhere. I remember seeing a Inglewood Farms delivery truck abandoned in the weeds. It was very surreal. The last surviving truck from a once great empire. Does anyone know if there are photos anywhere of any Inglewood Farms delivery trucks? It would be so cool to go down memory lane again.

 

Long gone now...we used to love going here! My parents took me when it first opened and then later on they added a bunch of cars in and around the exhibit. This was where I really fell in love with old cars along with my girl friend....now my wife of 25 years....

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Apologies if this has been posted before - this building was fascinating to this kid, back in the late 40's going to visit my grandma in L.A. I never saw anything like it, before, or since. Do you remember it?

 

When was it removed?? I wasn't around in the 40s but my parents were married and were living in E.L.A. at the time. What I remember is that every time I went to downtown L.A. with my parents, the only tall building that could be seen from a distance was the city hall and I used to think it was the empire state building. LOL

 

There is a "old school" Coffee Shop still in business, in Ontario, Ca. It's called the Iron Skillet on the corner of Euclid and H street. Walking into the place is like going through a time warp. They just opened a Black Bear in Chino, CA and the food is pretty good, but there's a Corky's in Pomona and I like that place because it feels homey. But I remember all the Coffee Shops that used to be all over SoCal and they had wonderful architecture. Many were done in what was called "Google".

 

Never seen a pic of a Richfield tower on a building like that, I assume must of been their corporate office building.
From what I read all Richfield gas stations had a tower like that and since you could see them for miles airplane pilots would use them to navigate at night, pre radar/ instrument time.

 

"Googie" is what it actually was called...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googie_architecture

 

Hello,

The Richfield Building was built a long time ago. It was constructed between 1928 and 1929 and served as the headquarters of Richfield Oil. When we were very little, we used to ride the Red Car from Long Beach and go to Los Angeles at the 6th and Main St terminal .
(currently, called the Blue Line)
From the main Red Car terminal, it was a short hop to the tall building where my dad worked at 2nd and San Pedro. It was always fun to ride that Red Car to LA. It was rickety and went through some interesting neighborhoods. We visited this Richfield Tower Building once, as it was nearby, and it was pretty impressive and ornate.

The Richfield Tower could be seen as clear as day over the lower rooftops of the buildings in front. That tower was impressive as it stuck out beyond other tall buildings. It was in the middle of the Financial District of downtown LA. From my dad’s building, we could look out over the tops for the low buildings southwest to see the tower. Today, the twin 52 story, Arco Towers replaced that old Richfield Tower in 1972.

Jnaki

Living in So Cal, we always saw plenty of Richfield Gas Stations. Especially the huge tower on top of the one in Dana Point, right on PCH at the beach. This tower also stuck out for miles from the Capistrano Valley or from the northern hill of Dana Point. It was a stopping point for gas going home to Long Beach or going south to San Diego from our surf trips. From the ocean, just a block away, it stood out like a giant spire. Drivers saw it from great distances along PCH, especially at night, and it was visible far out to sea. Today, it is an Arco Am/Pm Mini Mart, still a stop over for gas going from either direction.

Here is an old photo showing the tall Richfield Tower and the old entrance to the beach. That old motel has been torn down for years, but there was a little restaurant in the end building near PCH that had the best Mexican Food in this South Coast area. They are both gone, awaiting, supposedly, a huge West Marine Store and a new gateway to the harbor.
Doris Walker photos:
The Richfield Tower in Dana Point, next door: Flake Brothers Burgers in 1960.
today Am Pm mini market

As the Santa Fe Railroad had envisioned a network of residential villages serviced by its tracks…its stations…their focal points from Los Angeles to San Diego, So in the late 1920s the Richfield Oil Company (now Atlantic Richfield) master planned a $10 million network of service havens every 50 miles along the West Coast from Canada to Mexico…the distance then between needed pitstops.

In the Jazz Era wild with pop art neon advertising signs, Richfield engineered a “great white way” of three dozen lighted towers, 125 feet high along the Pacific-Redwood Highway (101) from border to border, including the colorful towers on the San Francisco Bay Bridge…and inland along the National Park Highway(99) the full length of California.

It was the most elaborate and ambitious beacon system ever conceived. Eight foot high white letters spelled out RICHFIELD vertically from tip to base in blue neon, topped by a red aviation beacon.
The local link in the chain of towers…one of the first erected in 1928 was in Capistrano Beach (now considered Dana Point) across the highway from what is now Doheny Beach State Park.

Sailors caught in fog off the Dana Point promontory could reckon their course by these bright lights long before any other navigational aides were around. Early pilots could follow the entire coastline at night without instruments by heading from beacon to beacon.

One still stands without the "RICHFIELD" on the tower in the Mt. Shasta region of California.

 

while we're on the subject...........here's a daylight pic of that building. It was decorated with black and gold accents, to symbolize the "blackgold" which was Richfield's business.


The Richfield towers were not only on the PCH - this is a shot of the one in my hometown of Barstow, CA. You could see this beacon for miles, especially travelling west on Rt. 66. The tavern and inn were the nicest places in town back in the 40's. My parents took me inside a couple of times, it was so cool (temp wise) in there since the walls were made of thick adobe. A lot of famous Hollywood types stayed here. There were some beautiful gardens in the back. A real oasis in the desert.


I read somewhere that the plan was to build a series of these that motorists could use as a destination at the end of a day of travel, but the one in Barstow was the only one that was completed.

 

Thanks for the Richfield pics. I remember it well, it was the most beautiful building in L.A.. Shame on those that had it torn down, yes it was old but it had class and architecturally was far more modern looking than any in L.A.. Today, if it survived, it would still be the most beautiful building in L.A..

 

Is the building still there? Is/was it near the train station?

 

By the time I started surfing in about '68 it didn't look quite like this, but here's Topanga Beach 1948:

 

What was the building that you could see from one of the freeways that had Egyptian like cats along the outside? I believe I was told that it was a shut down tire plant. I lived in Mt Baldy in the early 90's

 

HeyBN,

The Richfield Building was built a long time ago, now gone forever. It was constructed between 1928 and 1929 and served as the headquarters of Richfield Oil. When we were very little, we used to ride the Red Car from Long Beach and go to Los Angeles at the 6th and Main St terminal .
(currently, called the Blue Line)
From the main Red Car terminal, it was a short hop to the tall building where my dad worked at 2nd and San Pedro. It was always fun to ride that Red Car to LA. It was rickety and went through some interesting neighborhoods.

We visited this Richfield Tower Building once, as it was nearby, and it was pretty impressive and ornate. The Richfield building was located 555 South Flower St. The train (STATION) from Long Beach was just a couple of blocks away. Or, if you mean the Union Station, that is about 10-15 minutes to the north east, on the other side of downtown, near the famous, Olvera St.
Jnaki

 

Hey RDE,
That building just off of the freeway was the huge tire company plant. It is now a huge outdoor outlet shopping center called the Citadel. It is about 9 miles from the Union Station near the downtown area.
"In 1929, architects Morgan Walls and Clements (Mayan Theater) built city of Commerce’s most recognizable landmark, the Assyrian-themed Samson Tire and Rubber Co. factory before being shut down in 1978."

Jnaki
The center is now owned by the same people that own most of the outlet centers in So Cal.

 

Hello,
That Cidatel Outlet Stores complex was originally called the Samson Tire Company. Then in 1931, it was called The US Tire and Rubber Company, then it became Uniroyal Tire in 1962. The plant operated for nearly half a century until Uniroyal closed the facility on March 3, 1978.
Jnaki

 

Thanks janki, that is exactly the building I remembered. Quite a sight from the freeway.

 

Just ran into this interesting L.A. history site:
http://onbunkerhill.org/