History The History Of Los Angeles

Jnaki,
Interesting post. And you said it: we all have to deal with change but the changes aren't always for the better.

 

Thanks Junji, you are an L.A. history treasure!

 

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Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Hello,

Now that our granddaughter is driving, she like her mom, have single minds in direction. As the digital age comes and makes inroads into the scene, the old maps and designs from maps have taken a step back. The Google Map is the center of all information on most phones and most everyone has a phone. But, reliance on digital signals can be most important when going to/from school, work and places we all like to visit, however limited we are today during the pandemic restrictions.

Visiting state parks, mountains and beaches is at an all time high as who the heck wants to fly or take a train, being enclosed with others? The open spaces calls, even if it is just to visit other safe locations and people. Most new drivers do not like the freeways. That also applies to old folks, too. We avoid the freeways as much as possible. We have been in So Cal for so long that there are always other ways to get where we want to go and return, without using the freeways at those dreaded time periods.

Back in the 50s and 60s, we lived in the Westside of Long Beach. When Disneyland opened up, our dad knew exactly how to get there from our Westside house. He knew from his love of driving all over So Cal from the 30s to the time he no longer drove that it was originally set up as a grid. Most major streets covered not just Los Angeles, but staying on those streets and roads led from the coastal areas directly to downtown Los Angeles and the white, "pointed" City Hall Building.

The major street nearest our house led down the coast to Orange County and San Diego coastlines. The same street PCH or 101 led North along the coast past Torrance and Santa Monica.

But, to get to Disneyland, we took the 2nd major ocean inland street near our house, Willow Street, East to a street name change (Katella) that ran directly to the Disneyland parking lot. No freeways involved. Once people started to rely on maps, then the grid pattern of streets East to West ended up in the ocean. The North to South major streets went from the mountains behind Los Angeles down to the coastline in Long Beach or San Pedro. This made it simple for us as we became teenagers and had to go to various places all over the So Cal basin.


Jnaki

So, in texting our granddaughter, it was mentioned about the grid pattern of major streets. She does not like freeways, as most new teenagers don’t either. So, alternative routes were always discussed and from our history of driving So Cal streets, we had some knowledge to give and hopefully those routes sink in for anytime usage.

In talking to her later in person, she thanked me and said she always knows where she is going and how to return home (short drives). At least, when my wife and I drove her around all of those early days in our daily drivers, she must have recorded all of the different ways we used the So Cal roads in that growing brain of hers.

This included wisdom of map reading may be lost on the new teenagers and their expertise of relying on Google vocal maps telling anyone where to turn. As late as 2011 in Florida, we tried my wife’s new phone and driving directions of a different city location. I looked on some standard paper maps and knew a route I wanted to take directly to the beach and pier restaurant. But, when we used the new phone directions, they told us to turn right, away from the beach to take a round about way of getting to the same place, adding time and frustration of a different city driving.

Recently, just before Halloween, my wife and I had an appointment in Northwest Orange County. We knew the 405 freeway was under siege as multiple lanes and bridges are being reconfigured from the South to the Northern end in Long Beach. So, we set aside extra time to avoid the congestion and knew of some roads that paralleled the freeway to get us where we needed to be.

It took us a 10 minute difference in travel, but were amazed at no traffic going to the appointment and returning. When we crossed over several bridges, we saw the bumper to bumper traffic caused by the 405 Freeway lane closures and detours. Of course, prior knowledge of the parallel streets comes from knowing the GRID pattern of major streets from way back then. Our granddaughter will learn the whole grid patterns with a little help from her grandparents. Until then, a little knowledge for her most traveled places will be learned and remembered.

It started in Los Angeles and as the communities spread to the open farming and ranching lands, all grids were now curving/winding roads in the new tracts and building sites. So, the new areas have their own designs in construction highways and surface streets... YRMV

 

Hello,

The Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena opened its doors to the public on July 4, 1959, with an intimate ceremony hosted by Republican Vice President Richard M. Nixon who dedicated the venue as a memorial to U.S. Armed Forces Veterans serving in all military conflicts.

The L.A. Sports Arena was used for obviously, sports, but also, car shows and conventions of all kinds. The tie in was a perfect location in the Exposition Park on South Figueroa Street. So, it functioned as all of the above and for us car enthusiasts, a home to call it a car show centrally located venue. It lasted until other larger convention centers and basketball arenas opened up nearby, therefore causing the old Sports Arena to be demolished in 2016. Currently, a large outdoor sports playing center is at the location.

So, what does the neighboring coastal city (Long Beach) do to attract the almighty conventions, concerts and of course, car shows to the city? We had already been accustomed to going to the old Municipal Auditorium for all of the above events, but the structure was limited in size of the conventions, concerts and car shows.

Gone was one of the coolest cruising piers in all of So Cal and elsewhere. A circular pier that jutted out in the ocean surrounding the whole auditorium center property. Inside of the circular pier had a cool lagoon that drew teens and families by the hundreds, for the electric powered boat rides in the calm waters.

Now the battle was on, for drawing conventions, concerts and continuing car shows to the latest sports arena.

The Sport Arena construction was in its final stages as we were in our last high school year. We knew we were going to be the last high school class to graduate in our ceremonies at the old Municipal Auditorium, where countless car shows were held. Even as the new Sports Arena was now almost complete, most of us wanted to be the last class in the old place plus, later in the evening, the graduating Senior, "All Night Dance" with the top recording artists of the day performing.

Today, the Long Beach High School Graduating Classes are staggered for each different day at the Veteran’s Memorial Stadium Football Field and Stands. (The stadium grounds where countless auto/hot rod swap meets have been held.) It met pandemic outdoor event rules.

Jnaki
Gone was the nice lagoon inside of the Rainbow Pier, as a matter of fact, the hot rod/cruiser road cruising circuit for all of us at the Rainbow Pier was taken out and a quarter mile land fill took its place. See the current Long Beach shoreline and marina complex for the latest photos. The whole area is the Eastern Gateway to the newly constructed Los Angeles Harbor Warehouse and Wharf Piers, including the new taller bridge to Terminal Island.

From the 1944 Pontoon Bridge in the channel, to Terminal Island, this bridge served its intended purpose until 2020. Just last week, the main channel span was lowered to signify its final end of service.


Opening day recorded hot rod cruise and publicity for the new cable stayed bridge. Now, the latest tall cable stayed bridge was built in place and can accommodate the largest container shipping boats from the world.

The Sports Arena is in the upper right corner of the photo.

The old LB Sports Arena is still standing in the old Rainbow Pier location, now, serving as a location for the LB Grand Prix race.

 

You should tell the story of across the street from the Convention Center.... the PIKE. It's gone now; the tattoo parlors, the carnival rides, the cyclone racer, all replaced by sterile, no character buildings.

 

The Pike 1947

Hello,

The Pike was a absolute favorite with our whole family. (As well as thousands of So Cal locals.) It was the Disneyland before Disneyland. It had character provided by the “unusual” locals. What more could anyone ask? The Rainbow Pier at one side of the Pike, the harbor and Terminal Island on the other side of the LA River… It was a great place to go when little and into our teens. Luckily, our high school cruising scene was just a few miles from the Pike and the ocean. The whole area was a usual Friday or Saturday night cruising involved area that led to Belmont Shore and the Southerly OC coastline.

Originally, the Pike was a family entertainment center. An indoor “plunge” along with access to the sandy beach was a draw. But, as time moved on, the “seedy” portion of society slowly crept in and made the place not as safe and fun as it was originally. Then places like Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm as well as the Palos Verdes Peninsula Marineland Aquarium drew people in a family entertainment value.

It was sad to see the whole area go downhill and then disappear altogether. In our road trip after we got married, we had to conduct some business in Long Beach. This is the last photo of the world famous Pike Cyclone Racer, as we saw it and said goodbye in 1968.
Vnak photo
The last time we saw the famous Cyclone Racer was when my wife took this shot from the alley way near the now, closed Pike (and close to) the total destruction phase. As we walked around the barren, deserted walkway and alleys, we came upon a room with a photo op we could not pass up.
Pentax 35mm color film camera and two mirrors on the walls.

We could actually walk along the L.A. River from our Westside of Long Beach house to the shoreline area without getting accosted by anyone. Some would say it was a walking river trail that should have been publicized as a “outdoorsy place.” When the river was not flowing to the brim during the rainy season, it was white sands and grassy growth. The sandy bottom had a “clear water meandering river” snaking its way to the ocean from as far back as Griffith Park and the LA Zoo (and beyond).

Long Beach had its long white sandy shoreline (as its namesake goes). The Municipal Auditorium was demolished in 1975 to make way for the all mighty dollar Convention Center that brings in lots of money to the city. That was past our daily involvement in the city cruising scene as teens. Later on, as we still visited our mom in the Westside of Long Beach, we drove down the Ocean Blvd and Shorline Drive not to look at the buildings, but to see and visit the sailboats in the Shoreline Marina.

At first, it was the 58 Impala making its cruising drives all along the shoreline and side streets. Then it was the Flathead 40 Sedan Delivery, the progression of the 65 El Camino and 327 powered 40 Ford Sedan Delivery knew the streets of Long Beach quite well.

It was a fun place to grow up and discover. These days, it is a throughfare with no stops other than gasoline and a few quick bites to eat for lunch/dinner. The old place is just not quite the same.
1947-48 early hot rod
Note:

"The Long Beach City Council refused to renew the land leases and demolished all of the structures and attractions it could. The structures and rides that weren't trucked away at the long time favorite, The Pike Amusement Park, near the harbor and ocean."

Today, there is a PIKE, but in name only. "You can't go home, again."

 

The Cyclone Racer was made entirely of wood and would flex an ungodly amount and that would add to the scary ride. Bert Grimms Tattoo parlor on Chestnut was always full on the weekends, The decline was fairly rapid though. Thank you for your comments.

 

1958 in red
Itow’s Automotive 5201 S. Normandie Avenue Los Angeles, Calif.

Hello,

When we saw photos of anything that had Itow’s Automotive on the side, we knew it has some quality to the build. The whole area of the Los Angeles community was packed full of old time hot rod repair, sales and build shops in the 1930s to the 1950s. It was not called “South Central,” although, it was located South of downtown city center Los Angeles.
old Friday Art
One of the most popular and winning drag racers was the Herman Brothers blown Oldsmobile powered 1929 roadster… (which is now being rebuilt from @wheeltramp brian and his great working skills… yea!)
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...-altered-with-an-injected-olds-motor.1248739/
Then:
South Los Angeles 1958
NOW: No longer open, but the building is still there on the corner.


Herman Bros. Roadster in action:


Clay Smith engineering was located at 1301 W. Gaylord Street in Long Beach. It was a half mile away from our Westside of Long Beach house. The history of the 1929 roadster was well documented in magazines and the weekly Drag News paper when the results of competition was posted from each of the dragstrips in So Cal and elsewhere. Joe Itow Automotive was front and center in this roadster build.


Jnaki

Then, the Itow’s Automotive Willys Coupe popped into my search and it got me to try and figure out which version was posted or was simply a black and white photo .

The presumed color looked black, but was possibly a dark purple. No color photos have arrived or have been colorized. So, with the magic of new colorized editing, here is the closest color not from a real color photo.

At least, the color program got a nice looking Red, checked shirt in the photo.

Other variations I tried for the Itow’s Automotive Willys Coupe.
As listed, it was originally a "Metallic Purple paint" color range for the #7 Willys Coupe

 

Hermosa Beach ... Pier Ave & PCH

 

@Bullet Nose I love that picture!

 

The view from the Seal Beach side of the Alamitos Bay Entrance. The bridge was a building sample of a “road to nowhere.” Nothing led to either side of the bridge from the Belmont Shore side or the Orange County side. It was there before the road was put in place.


Hello,

In our high school teenage days of cruising our hot rods and daily drivers, Belmont Shore was the 2nd place to be as a far away place for those that called Bixby Knolls home court. When we started our surf adventures, it was more fun to drive down Ocean Blvd from downtown Long Beach, down the coast to and through Belmont Shore to all points South on PCH where it connected.

Then the countless hours of cruising to the best pizza restaurant in the whole area just made us take the extra miles for a wonderful experience on dates and just hanging around in the cruising zone. The downtown Belmont Shore main drag, 2nd Street was a popular place during the winter holidays. The lighting of the endless rows of the famous “Floating Christmas Trees" on the Alamitos Bay drew thousands from Thanksgiving on to January. It was the journey, as well as the destination with our friends and hot rods/cruisers.
1960-65

When we were little kids, our dad used to take us to the 72nd Street beach on the Belmont Shore Peninsula for some surf fishing. Then as he knew we liked going to the beach, he kept going South the next few times to his next favorite place at 13th Street in Seal Beach. He did not take PCH from the Westside of Long Beach, but the Ocean Blvd. from downtown Long Beach East towards Seal Beach. At the inlet to Alamitos Bay, there was a bridge heading to and from Seal Beach to Long Beach.

In the photo, the lonely, first bridge photo by itself, is the second from the top. A bridge before its time as the main thoroughfare through Long Beach to the big OC to the East.

So, the traffic into Alamitos Bay was restricted to low level row boats or small outboard motor boats. No big sailboats or cabin cruisers, like today. Our last three sailboats, had they been made back then, would have to go to San Pedro Harbor or South in the Newport Bay Harbor for docking. The mainsail masts were much too tall to clear the low bridge for Alamitos Bay. The bridge was a short span and got us to Seal Beach quickly.

The early photo of a “boatless” Alamitos Bay Harbor. The lonely bridge is to the top left of the photo. The early steam processing plant has the tall smokestack. Right in front of the steam plant it the famous “Ray Bay” at the Seal Beach Jetty surf spot. The flat sting rays liked the warm water coming from the steam plant and consequently, lay low in the bottom sand below the stomping waves during the summer months.

Now, the busiest bridge in the whole area. (with a history of teenage jumpers late at night)

 

Long Beach landmark.....Villa Rivera

 

For you Burbank guys....Olive Ave. in Burbank....

 

Hello,

That is a nice historic photo of one of the iconic tall buildings in the Long Beach skyline/shoreline.

“Built in 1928 as homage to Gothic revivalism, the Villa Riviera has survived as a symbol of world-class living-from "own-your-own" cooperatives and fine hotel luxury, to the condominium association of today-and, after more than 80 years, remains a beacon of the West.”

For my wife and I, when we were sailing deep outside of the Breakwater going North or South, we could use the Villa Riviera as a navigation point. Since we have been cruising around that Ocean Blvd area since the teenage years, it was good to know we can still see it from out in the ocean and used it to set the angle of sail with or against the wind.

Old, but still standing…much like us old hot rod folks… old but still wobbling… ha!

The old Rainbow Pier (circular) in front of the Pike, on the shoreline.

When the days of cruising around the whole coastal area near our house and down the coast to the plentiful surf spots, the main drag, Ocean Blvd. went right in front of the Villa Riviera. Next door is the once famous private beachfront club called the Pacific Coast Club.
Pacific Coast Club
Because it was right next door to the tall Villa Riviera Resort, people thought it was a part of the whole complex.

The exclusivity of the club was similar to the famous Los Angeles Athletic Club. But, this one is on the coast cliffside overlooking the calm waters of the Pacific Ocean protected by the massive breakwater rocks. What was once a thriving surf beach is/was now a calm sea and waters edge with an occasional ankle lapper of what looks like a miniature wave.

Jnaki

In my early 20s, I was invited to go to the club to play handball and enjoy the amenities. Well, the one time visit turned into several more visits, always playing handball against some older members with their club, skill set on beating some young whipper snappers… us.

A friend had some connections and I went along for the added handball skill set. So, the regiment was arriving in the 58 Impala, the only one parked on the street, playing handball, beating the snot out of those old guys and sometimes giving them a run of a few points to make sure we got invited again.

The @themoose look of my old Impala from 63-64. At least, it was a nice highly polished, fast cruiser, but not the same as the Caddies, Mercedes, Jags and other foreign sporty cars in the general area.

Then, it was relaxing steam bath, and a nice lunch on the sand below the club on the lower level. This flat, waveless beach was also leading into a very public beach that our dad used to take us little kids to every time he had a day off. But, the parking was usually packed and we had to use the alley way below Vila Riviera, as it was our dad’s secret parking spot.

Villa Riviera from Linden Ave. South

It was a place that always had a few spots left on any busy day. It was a short walk to the public portion of the beach. Our mom liked the beach, calm, white sand, and only a few people due to limited parking.

Villa Riviera was located on the right side of the photo… on the tall cliffside...

 

Ha!
I just stumbled upon this surfing the web!
I worked at Russell's Flying M gas station as a teenager (14-16yrs) during the summers of 1974 and 75 and weekends during the school year.
Alton Russell was the owner (originally from OK) and Gene Russell (his son) was my stepdad.
Alton Russell was a real savvy business man, when he arrived in W. Los Angeles sometime in the '30s he bought up large pieces of property, some as large as city blocks (one was over by the SM Airport which he held on to and was worth a $hit ton of money in the 70s.
Gene, was a pretty OK guy but could be a real a$$ hole sometimes.
His oldest son, Richard, was a few years older than I and we got along well.
He and I raced MX together and worked on our bikes at the Flying M gas station often, Gene, who also rode dirt bikes helped us fix and work on our motorcycles.
Good times indeed! I learned almost everything I know about auto repair from Gene.
FYI...
Gene Russell was also co-owner/mechanic of the A&W Special AA/Fuel altered dragster sponsored by the A&W on Pico Blvd. They would show the dragster on weekends at the drive-in when it wasn't out racing.
Kervin and his little sister were $hitheads

 

Hello,

Having lived in Long Beach, CA since 1946 has opened our world of fun and excitement. Even when we were little, there were things to do and places to go. It was a good thing our dad was adventurous and took us to places he enjoyed as a little kid and also an active teen. But, as teens my brother and I heard stories of our dad swimming across the main channel in San Pedro with friends, just to go to a cool little beach called Brighton Beach on Terminal Island. If they had saved enough money, they took the ferry back across the channel. Otherwise, it was swim across the channel with their plastic enclosed clothes bags. Such teenage activity !!!

But, my brother and I always questioned the validity of our dad’s stories of the waves at the Long Beach Pier and L.A. River mouth being good and sometimes rather large. We should have acknowledged the fact that there was no long breakwater jetty built across the whole Long Beach beachfront, back then. As know it all teens, anything our parents told us was questionable. Ha!

My brother and I did see waves in the Long Beach Harbor and beach front sands. But that was when the Southern Hemisphere swells lined up at the South entrance to the safe harbor area and blasted the beach with definite swells. We did ride those unusual swells. But, those stories our dad told us were still questionable.

Long Beach has gone through so many heavy changes that fascinated me. The surf was always good and there were all these historical stories about the destruction that the waves caused. I randomly found this photo (above) with no year or any info, and I figured out the time period based on the distinct architecture and the absence of the Rainbow Pier, which was a major tourist attraction in the early 1900s.

This photo shows the second version of the pier — check out the wood siding, it’s already falling apart. The elephants on the beach are most likely there because the Cyclone Roller Coaster and Pike Amusement zone are right next door. The pier got demolished by the surf in 1934. As for that bombing left, surf riders probably didn’t want to try it on the planks they were riding at the time.

Photo: Los Angeles Times Photographic Archives

This amazing photo showing the debris of the destroyed Pine Avenue Pier came with the description: ‘Raging seas wreck pier and undermine homes, seven periled in razing of edifice and children marooned by waves; boat crushed, roads flooded’ Los Angeles Times, 6 Sept. 1934.”

“Huge groundswells swept the debris toward shore after demolishing the structure and periling the lives of its occupants, who escaped by running along the disintegrating structure to shore. The photographer must’ve been standing on a part of the dilapidated pier to get this shot. Dangerous. Just past the Cyclone Racer Roller Coaster would’ve been Flood Control. The waves must’ve been bombing on the outside and just reeling along that historic sandbar.”

Jnaki

In our time period, when those unusual South swells came into the harbor, they had some of the intensity taken away by the breakwater. But the waves did come in. Not, like the very old photos.

So, all of these years later, my brother and I should have apologized to our dad for his stories of overhead waves in Long Beach along the old piers and jetties along the Los Angeles River out flow.

I know, we would not have driven 20 to 40 miles South or North to get our share of 1960s waves if he Long Beach Harbor had the above photo style of waves. It would have been a two mile jaunt to the beach near our house and a different kind of adventure. That is for sure. No “shooting the pier” as the spindly structures were too narrow for safe passage to the other side. But, the line up and peak is outstanding… YRMV

without the elephants…