A couple months ago I got a private message from @earlymopar saying that in closing his brother's estate he had come across a car club plaque from Fairbanks, Alaska. His brother had been in Alaska in the mid/late 50's. He wanted someone in the Fairbanks area to have it, so he looked for active HAMB members in this area and found two of us. He apparently got no response from the other guy, so he sent it to me. I am absolutely thrilled to have it, thank you Greg. I never had heard of the Northmen Car Club before, but it will be proudly displayed on my 57 Century when it hits the streets later this summer. Bullet Nose contacted me a few weeks ago to get a picture posted and I promised him I would do it right away. I had to leave town for a couple weeks and the plaque didn't go with me, so I didn't get a picture posted like I said I would, sorry. Anyway, here it is and I think it's a dandy.
Thanks for following up on your promise. I didn't mind waiting but hoped it would come this month. When I add it to my site and upload it to the server, it will be the 10,000th plaque on my website, and I hope you enjoy seeing it there. Fairbanks
Alaskan style artistry from the 40's and 50's. There was a lot of tourist industry items that must have been done by the same artist, or a few that used the same style when I was a kid. Very nice job with the detail work on that casting too.
One more for the collection. Long time Phoenix area rodder Ronnie Olmstead downsized a bit recently and let this one go to hang in another hot rod shop for a while.
I saw this one in my buddy’s basement. It was his dads from the 50s in SW Virginia Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
I do have that plaque on the Pocatello page ... https://carclubplaques.pairsite.com/Cities/Pocatello.htm It was sent to me in 2018 by a guy named Lou Wells.
I found another defunct local car club plaque image, I don't have the plaque but I would be interested if someone has one to sell. Like the Tarantulas plaque, I found one and learned the history behind that club. HRP
Hancock Oil Fire 1958 Hello, It has been 64 years last month for one of the worst oil fires in the Long Beach/Signal Hill area. For us, it was lucky that the prevailing winds from the West blew everything East toward Lakewood and most of the big OC, near Disneyland/Knotts Berry Farm direction. “… on May 22, 1958, was one of the largest fires in California history and was one of the first instances of mutual aid among fire departments, with units from the Signal Hill Fire Department, Long Beach Fire Department, Los Angeles County Fire Department, and Vernon Fire Department responding. The fire burned for 72 hours, and the smoke cloud could be seen for several miles.” “Many people throughout our region vividly remember the fire and the damage caused miles around from ash and petroleum falling from the sky,” The fire in Signal Hill could be seen for miles, since Signal Hill is the highest peak in all of the Long Beach/Wilmington/Lakewood/Orange County surrounding area. It drew thousands of people interested in fires. It was a road traffic nightmare. Luckily, we could see the smoke from our house in the Westside of Long Beach. We could smell the smoke in the morning. But, for us, in the early afternoon and night, the prevailing West winds blew the smoke to the East and Orange County. What oil smell we were getting at our house were the usual ones from the nearby, Wilmington oil refineries, just a few blocks to the West of us. That West wind is famous in the San Pedro, Terminal Island, Westside of Long Beach areas. Part of that West wind is so strong on a daily basis that it is called "Hurricane Gulch" in the San Pedro Channel near the marinas. Then it swirls and joins the West winds from the South Bay to hit the Long Beach areas. The interesting thing is for those folks looking for the 50s-early 60s style of car that most teenagers drove and could afford, look at the lower left of the photo. There is even a car club plaque on the rear of the sedan. No fancy rims or paint, just whitewalls, stock rims and just a good-looking cruiser, big enough for 4/5 teenagers. (2 people were usually, the driver and passenger.) But, other times two more were in the back seat. In an emergency, there were times for the 5th person in the middle of the back seat. Jnaki It was a good thing that those people on the hill overlooking the huge fire were up wind from the destruction. (poor Lakewood and West Orange County.) As far as the 50's-60s look sedans were concerned, a lot of them did not have the SBC or SBF motor swaps. They had the stock 6 cylinder motors like the ones from the factory. Remembering those exhaust sounds was really something, compared to a rumbling, heavy duty, big V8 motor. Sometimes, the 6 cylinder exhaust was split into dual pipes with mufflers that made a "blaaaat" sound known for those early 6 cylinder motors. One of the car clubs in Long Beach at the time. Could it be the same car club plaque during the same time period? A great example of a 1950’s or early 1960’s cruiser for the locals.
Hello, The importance of local knowledge for us little kids has stood the test of time in the Westside of Long Beach. Growing up in an area bordering on the edge of a city known as Wilmington, CA had its advantages and disadvantages. We had friends living in Wilmington and San Pedro back in those early days. It was a short drive on PCH to get to the downtown Wilmington area and the drive passed through the major thoroughfare from Long Beach to the LA South Bay area cities and beaches. As a matter of fact, PCH runs all along the California coastline from north of Santa Barbara down to the Baja California border in conjunction with Highway 1. Jnaki It has always puzzled me to see other forms of the Pharaohs Car Club Plaque. We grew up knowing the Pharaohs Club was just on the other side of the oil fields behind our house and the Terminal Island Freeway separating the Westside of Long Beach with the city of Wilmington. The older neighborhood guys told stories that “shivered me timbers…” many times, when listening to their “old” neighborhood stories. ... is the only way to spell it correctly. The emblem gives people an idea how to spell it and some history. When we were little kids in the Westside of Long Beach, there were car clubs everywhere. People tended to have some creative names, but at least no one misspelled the name to be a copy cat club. From 1953 onward, the Pharaohs Club of Wilmington, CA were well established as the club called, Pharaohs. Anything else, misspelled or not was a take on the original. We used to walk to Wilmington from our Westside of Long Beach homes. Back then, only big freighter trucks were what we had to watch for as we were close to the Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor. Walking down PCH to Wilmington was actually enjoyable. Big trucks, tons of old cars, buses for the ride home if we got tired, and great Mexican Food in several restaurants along the way. Our usual destination was the Banning Museum and Park, located on PCH. Banning Residence and Museum/Park in the background. “Manual Gonzalez and the Californian.” If anyone drove from Long Beach to the South Bay and Santa Monica along PCH, or vice versa, you could not go through Wilmington unless you drove by the Banning Park and the Museum. (across the street was/is the famous Phineas Banning High School) We were always told by the older guys in our Westside of Long Beach neighborhood that to stay out of the Letter streets in Wilmington. That meant L, M & N Streets. They just said it is a rough neighborhood and then mentioned something about the Pharaohs Car Club. We took their advice and stayed on PCH to the park and restaurants. We did see our share of Pharaohs plaques in plenty of cool custom cars. That was enough to last a lifetime. So, whatever form of Pharaohs Car Club plaque one has, this is the original, that is well known to all So Cal hot rod and custom car guys/girls. When we were 12, our friends all gathered at the local park called Silverado Park in the Westside of Long Beach. We were given the directive by some of our friends’ older brothers to be at the park after school. There must have been over 50 kids and older guys from the Westside sitting on the big grass area. Then in a few minutes, a long string of cars started the cruise around the whole park, as a show of force. It was an impressive site, as there were ordinary cruisers and cool custom cars, all lowered to the ground. They all parked and started walking toward the big gathering. Our local, older brother told everyone to stay sitting and that he would handle everything. Pharaohs in large numbers? Probably, but at the time, who was counting? There was some misunderstanding about some teenage stuff and the car club leader was going to get some things straight with our friend’s older brother. Why, the show of force with 50+ on the Westside group and about the same amount on the Wilmington group side? Who knows, we were just cannon fodder, but it looked impressive from both sides. Someone in the neighborhood must have called the police as soon as those two leaders stood face to face. The park was surrounded and the sirens blasted all over. Since we were not doing anything except just sitting around, there was no reason to run or hide. The police came up to the two leaders and straightened out the flare up. As little pre-teens, we were all scared, but our friend’s older brother came over and thanked us for showing up to support his side of the fiasco. A possible rumble in the Westside of the jungle, but cooler heads prevailed. Car clubs did not start with A.G.
The Jalopy Journal
