There's no question that you are right when it comes to our cars. I have lived within a three mile radius (except for photography school in Santa Barbara) for 59 years. 22 years in Arcadia and 37 years, just north of there, in Sierra Madre. We are the City east of Pasadena. There is much that has changed, but much that has not...so it makes it easy to be here. There's still my local "landmarks", my elementary school, jr. high, and high schools are still there and look the same. Buildings, parks, even some cafes, the wonderful San Gabriel Mountains are even better today. There's so much less smog, you can actually see them all year. What has vanished is all the car dealerships. now there's only one, where Huntington Ford used to be. Now it's Rusnak Mercedes-Benz, catering to the wealthy. Also gone are about 80% of all of the gas stations that were here. There are only two in my town today. We ALL worked at gas stations when we were in high school. I have no idea where teens in high school work today. Still there are the buildings where I got the braces on my teeth 50 years ago, where my Dad bought my first 10-speed bike, the toy store where I entered my first model car contest, and on and on. So, there's still those important ties, the landmarks, buildings, the hay barn that's now an office building, etc.,.... you get my point. Thankfully they are plentiful, so it's still "my" part of the world and I still recognize it. But, as Mr. "Rat Bastard" stated, the cars offer us a wonderful "capsule" for which to travel in. Not only do I still have the comfort of all of my hundreds of "landmarks" from my childhood, but I can view them from a 1934 chopped sedan, which is the car I wanted when I was a teen, but couldn't have. Sure there was pain and and struggles when I was young. Orthopedic shoes, ulsers on my corneas, allergic to almost everything, mom died in a traffic accident one afternoon, and all the challenges that all of you faced along with me, trying to find our way in the world. Nobody gets through their teens without a fair amount of thorns. I will never forget the pain and all that it taught me. But I focus on all the joy of living in a time where we didn't have a key to the front door, milk was delivered to the front porch, and knowing that America would offer me opportunities that millions of others in foreign lands would never know. So, guys like "Rusty Gem", "Special Ed", "Stu Padasso", "Hollywood Graham", "Brerhair" and hundreds of other HAMBers who are somewhat "seasoned" in their years...well, they know what I mean. Our hot rod or custom is our time capsule to times that make us smile. We control the music coming out of our car speakers. Many of us just like to hear our car's "music". It's a world that we can control. Our cars have deep rooted importance in our ability to time-shift for a few hours into a place where the aches and pains, worries, and the "evening news" are NOT along for the ride. We feel younger when we are in our cars because we are younger. Maybe for just a few hours, but we are younger, and there's no questioning it. Life looks much better through an 8 inch windshield....no question. So, yeah Mr. "Rat Bastard"...you are absolutely right. And I'll bet we all agree. Here's where I call home today. Except for those wonderful old cars, it looks the same today, for which I am grateful. you may even recognize this little park as the location where they dropped off the "pods" in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", 1956)
No, I was 6 years old then...but I do know some of them. Some of them run this town now. The Pod people are taking over. They are hard to pick out of a crowd, except if you get near one, you can tell. They hum "Beach Boys" songs and carry folding chairs and crybaby dolls.
Even Taxi cabs were cool...For some reason De Soto's were real popular as cabs in L.A. and other areas.
Very poetic Doug and I am sure it hits very close to home for all of us. I may not be as seasoned as some but I agree, our cars give us the opportunity to revisit (or visit for some of us) a time and place where things were a little simpler and the world a little better, excluding the cold war thing. Thank you for stating so perfectly exactly what is in our hearts in minds. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
Kersting court; originally Sierra Madre's red car station site and where we show the float after the Rose Parade each year. Mazooma, come on by the barn sometime and say hi, I'm there Sundays from 10:00 'til whenever.
Mazooma1 Wonderfully put, I think alot here can connect with that statement. I shall look forward to my drive out tommorrow with even more enthusiasm. Thanks Keith . .
I'm with you Reverend Doug! I was born in '56 in Indianapolis. Family moved to Cali in '58 and the folks bought a house in Studio City in '59. That house and neighborhood is where all of my memories are. Everyone's parents seemed to work in entertainment or aerospace. Neighbor on one side was a writer for Disney and always had a Buick, usually a Riviera. Neighbor on the other side was a VP for Disney. One summer they had a pool party and put up a screen in their backyard and showed Fantasia. Neighbor across the street owned Val Surf surf shop next to him was a music writer and arranger, the son of a big band leader named Horace Heidt. I always rode my bike to school. We'd ride our bikes everywhere. We'd ride up Laurel Canyon into the hills and then bike on the fire roads. Spent all of my allowance at Kit Kraft Hobbies on models from Monogram and Revell and Aurora. Touch football in the park, fly Cox control line planes in the street. Movies at the Studio, or the La Reina or the El Portal. Buy comic books at Thrifty's and sometimes get a Cherry Coke at the lunch counter. Since there were lots of studio people around there were always cool cars. I remember a Chrysler Ghia parked at the house on the corner once. When I took auto shop at No. Hollywood High there was a Hudson Hornet Coupe with Twin-H in there. A '48 Buick with the straight 8. A split window VW. One guy drug in a '52 Aston Martin coupe he bought for $600, and we all thought he was nuts! Everybody knew everybody. Everyone looked out for everyone. The widowed lady next door's water heater went out and my Dad went to Sears and got another one and replaced it for her, and it was no big deal because thats the just way people were in the neighborhood. I don't think I have a single bad memory until the '70s. Kurt O.
I'll do just that........I''ll be in the red '34 If I don't get down to the Long Beach swap meet...I'll stop by
Amen Mazooma! While younger than some....I was born in L.A., Good Samaritain Hospital, 48 years ago. Cars, old and new, stock and modified were an intregal part of ourSoCal life! I think if one were to count(or could) all the racetracks and drag strips in the L.A./Orange County area over the years...no where else in the world could touch that number! Or car clubs for that matter...! While not L.A., how about driving an hour east over to Riverside County...Corona in the teens...Grand Ave. was a race track WAYYY back in the 1st years of organized auto racing... Great post guys! Much Aloha!
hahaha, yup, we laughed at the guys paying big bucks for cars. My neighbor bought a 289/Webers Cobra, Blue with white stripes for $4,000 in 1969. "what an idiot!"
1935, in the center is L.A. Police Chief James "Two Guns" Davis He was the leading figure in an L.A. corruption scandal. Shown here with members of his "Gun Squad"
Griffith Observatory after it's completion in the early 1930's used as the location of the "rumble" in "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955)
1927, Here's another photo of Police Chief James "Two Guns" Davis. He waged a war on crime, but was involved in corruption himself. He was one tough MoFo...telling his police officers and the press: "I will hold court on gunmen in the Los Angeles streets. I want them dead, not alive, and will reprimand any officer who shows the least mercy to any criminal" Yikes..
1926 Bootleggers cleverly disguise their truck to appear that it is carrying lumber instead of the 70 cases of Scotch. Busted!
No ass from this perspective. I worked with Bob Bowen at Lockheed Missiles and Space Co., Vandenberg AFB - he retired from there and now lives in Atascadero Ca. Which young gun is Bob in the pix you posted?
1932, the "Depression" still has ahold of America. Here a man enjoys a game of "pocket pool" while looking for work at Sunset And Vine...
a tip of the hat to Robert Petersen who founded Petersen Publishing. I, along with many HAMBers, enjoyed the magazines that he published. In the 60's, I subscribed to Hot Rod, Car Craft and Rod and Custom. Those were just some of his magazines. There were several more. He also was the driving force to build and fund the Petersen Automobile Museum in the Wilshire District of Los Angeles.
Man Doug, that is some clean, tight prose right there. Sorry about your mother, that had to be an awful period of time in your life. Now I'm gonna' go back and read it again.
Pershing Square or Central Park as it was before WW1. It has been reconfigured many times in it's life. There is an underground parking garage below it now. It was a gathering place for all of the radicals of the day to speak on their soap boxes. Note the AirFlow driving by.
The Jalopy Journal
