Art & Inspiration Traditional images that need no explanation.

The good old days….

 

. . . wonder what that sounds like.

 

I’d imagine it’s kinda a….. muffled sound

 

Hello,

In another thread about cruising grounds, this is one of our extended routes in South LA County. It is right on the border of Orange County and Los Angeles County. 2ND Street in the Belmont Shore area of Long Beach is a long straight drive through a little town with cool shops and restaurants. For us the main attraction was the famous Dominico’s Restaurant that served fabulous pizza and a secret ingredient salad.

But, also our friends from another high school that we met up the road on PCH location called Hody’s Drive-In Restaurant. That was the major hangout for another Long Beach high school and we did not regularly hang out there as we had our own in Bixby Knolls.

But, the Belmont Shore 2nd Street was well known to all teenagers in Long Beach and Seal Beach to the South. When my wife and I were in college up the road on PCH, this area served our shopping and dining needs. From the college to 2nd Street did not take long and the rewards were great. Add in the Alamitos Bay Beaches, the pristine harbor and the low bridge that is located at the bottom of the above photo.

It was scenic and a great place to grow up. The bridge was the entrance (or exit) to this cool long time teenage cruising area. Home to the traditional Long Beach hot rod/cruiser road trips to see the floating Christmas Trees on the harbor bayside.

Jnaki

When my wife/then girlfriend, moved into a small apartment on the Peninsula of Belmont Shore, now, this whole area was home to us 20 somethings to relax and enjoy. A little history for this 2nd Street: It has always been the major throughway from Long Beach to Orange County and the newly created 405 freeway.

But, as neighborhood streets are, this 2nd Street goes into Westminster as Westminster Blvd, then continues on into Santa Ana as 17th Street and ends up near the old Tustin Blimp Hangers. It was once the only way to the Orange County inland areas on a direct street.

The other way was to go down Ocean Blvd. out through the Peninsula and cross over the old Alamitos Bay Bridge. That led right to downtown Seal Beach and eventually PCH. But the bridge did not last long since it hindered the Alamitos Bay Harbor boat traffic during high tide. The Belmont Shore Peninsula (Ocean Blvd.) road now ends at the entrance to the bay.

The tall sailboats and huge power boats can now live and play in the quaint Alamitos Bay Harbor with direct access to the ocean to the West.

Note: The tree lined 2nd Street is/was the home to the long running 31st annual Belmont Shore Car Show until the pandemic hit with a vengeance in 2020. With wiser heads prevailing, the 2021 car show that normally happens in September has been cancelled. Just in line with the resurgence of a pandemic variant running rampant in So Cal. Now hopefully rescheduled to September 2022, if we all don’t do our parts and new variants don’t shut everything down, again.

 

Like my old one except mine had BLK interior. First car I ever painted a whole car did it at work after hours. Miss it.

 

Need a Hemi

 

Denver