Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post: Ford Long Beach Assembly Plant in the 1930s Continue reading the Original Blog Post
Re: Okay, I'll take 2 from column A, 1 from column B, 1 from column C, 4 from column D, 3 from column E ...
Another one bit the wrecking ball, it is sad how automotive history has been/is being erased from the U.S. Like steel mills, tire plants, any 'dirty' industry, but not to worry it is being replaced with high paying 'clean' jobs at Mac Donald's.
Wow. Those are great photos. Thank you for sharing them. Look at all of those NOS Henry Ford steel bodies and parts!!!! I grew up in San Pedro, not too far from that plant. I vaguely remember the building. Thanks again.
Our 55 Sunliner bought new and the 56 Victoria I drive now were assembled in he plant. At the end it was a boat repair building. I traveled over the Henry Ford draw bridge for yrs going to work at th SCE generating station on Terminal Island. The plant was before the bridge.
I used to take my wife to supper at the Red Witch Inn, in the old Ford Building. When we were first married. Over 52 years ago. There was also a coffee shop called the Copper Penny there. Sadly, Long Beach has a long history of tearing down places that might ave been better preserved.
I’m the Ford Key Account Mgr. for 3M so I am in the assembly plants daily. I still love to drive into the Rouge and under the stamping building. I discovered a great picture of the bridge from WWII I’ll post up. I’m at Chicago at least 4 days a month and that’s the oldest plant still in use today. It started producing cars in 1924..
Well this seems to be the m.o. here in the Deep South, at least in the big cities. Hard to find 100 year old buildings down here. Good stuff, thanks Jay!
I should have worded that better- LB was one of 5 plants build as Ford production ramped up after the Model T. They were planned in the late 20s and opened up over a period of years during A production...
Hey CP, That Red Witch Inn was also part of our dating/married life history when we were 20 somethings. The location of the Ford Plant and the Red Witch Inn was only 4 miles from our Westside Long Beach house. The Red Witch Inn is located in such an obscure place that it was a wonder closing wasn’t in the picture back then. The "lore" of the Red Witch Inn, being isolated at night, and the draw of the giant harbor were all lures to give us an unexpected experience. We got the word that the clientele were the Ford Workers and the many fishermen that had boats all along the Cerritos Channel, leading to the San Pedro ocean exit. My wife’s mom and dad mentioned the Red Witch Inn in one of many conversations, due to the fact that they had an old power boat and earlier, a small sailboat, just down the channel. (pleasure boating only) (no prefixes or all number phones back then, just a word like HEmlock or GArfield and the phone number.) Somewhere in our memorabilia storage box in the attic. The first thing my wife noted back then was that it was very dark. It had dark walls, deep dark red booths, thick carpets, etc. We were introduced to a “Black Russian”, my drink and a “white Russian”, my wife’s drink by the cute waitress. After a while, the drinks got mixed up and it all tasted the same. The Cerritos Channel in front, running East-West. Jnaki The big drawbridge right next door on the Terminal Island Freeway is the Commodore Schuyler F. Heim Bridge. We called it a drawbridge, but the official name is a vertical-lift bridge. There is no exit for the Ford Plant or the old Red Witch Inn from the freeway. (Access was from Anaheim St and Henry Ford Ave.) 1920s A ground view showing the Badger Avenue Bridge (later named the Henry Ford Bridge). The name change occurred when the Ford Plant was built next to the bridge in 1930. 1930 (A view of the Henry Ford Bridge in operation.) It was the largest Bascule Bridge in the world and connected Terminal Island to the mainland. It was sometimes referred to as the “Jacknife Bridge”. The early photo of the Ford Assembly Plant in the rear section is shown under the open bridge. "As ridership on the “Red Cars” going to and from Terminal Island and San Pedro began to decrease due to the growing use of buses and personal automobiles, an unfortunate accident occurred that led to the demise of the Bascule Bridge. On September 28, 1955, a passing ship rammed into the bridge’s counterweight hinge mechanism, damaging it beyond repair. Passengers had to use the west basin line, which took about 10 minutes longer. The bridge could not be saved. It was deconstructed shortly thereafter and its iron sold for scrap.” Just like on the East Coast’s Inland Coastal Waterway, as a boat approaches the bridge(s) a horn or radio is sounded. The cross traffic is stopped, the Shuyler bridge center is lifted (the Ford bridge is raised) until a sailboat or freight liner passes by the structures. It stopped all traffic on both bridges until the sailboat or container ship passed the bridges. That in itself was very inconvenient for motorists. (and the heavy port shipping traffic) 2015 Looking toward the old Ford Plant where the big crane is shown. A new fixed structure bridge replaced the vertical lift bridge due to seismic defects and maintenance. Plus, the crossing traffic is no longer stopped for the bridge to lift and make way for passing ships below. Road traffic for big “container” trucks flows smoothly without any stoppages. Here is a synopsis of a story from two years ago about the Ford Plant.
THANK YOU, Jnaki, for your post. I was telling my granddaughter about the Red Witch Inn just two days ago. When I was 16, my friend Pat took advantage of the fact that I had a car and she convinced me to drive her to the Red Witch Inn to hear some motivational speaker. Week after week, we two young girls would drive to this DARK, OBSCURE restaurant to listen to him. Pat would listen, I would nap.
My father worked at the Atlanta assembly plant at Hapeville GA from 1952-82. He and the guys he rode with often ate breakfast at the Dwarf House Restaurant in Hapeville owned and operated by the late Truett Cathey who started Chick-fil-A. They ate many breakfasts at the Dwarf House when Truett himself was behind the counter, flipping eggs an pouring coffee.
We didn't have an assembly plant, but there's a small and very old Ford plant here in Brooklyn MI. Ol Henry had an office there, who knows if he ever saw the inside of it. I'll snap a few shots next time I drive by. It's a cool building, my buddy used to rent it for his upholstery business.
The floors of that plant look amazingly clean. The plant manager must have been on top of that tidiness aspect.
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