Vintage shots from days gone by!

The Speck drive-in Portland Or.--1953





Portland--1955

 

… Gee you think maybe a tad too light up front making for a
fishy front end ? ...

 

Can't see many WW2 Harley's in that photo....

All I can see is surplus British WD bikes, BSA M20's, Norton's, Matchless G3L's etc.

All the trucks in the background are British as well.

 

The caption was "Harley Davidsons", dunno I'm not a bike guy.

 

1950's view of the overhead signs at the old south end of the Golden State Freeway. Bridge at center is the San Fernando Road OH.

 

The classic shot of downtown LA and the Hollywood Fwy. I have driven this a billion times, still recognizable even today.

 

This is a photo of Paul Peffer and Ida Leah Peffer(Tanner), taken in the late 1940's or early 1950's at Eliot Woods in Hood River,Oregon.

 

Hood River. Snowy Oak Street, 1950's
Now home of Google's servers I believe.

 

When logging was King.

 

This photo taken in the 1940's or early 1950's in Hood River,Oregon at the AGA(Now is called "Diamond Fruit"). The two men are,Harlan Sparks an Conrad Cooper.

 

Aunt Elaine & Uncle John

It's interesting how many photo's of the 30'-40's and 50's are posed with the family car. Cars were special then, they are just appliances to most folks now. Sad.

 

Ida Leah Peffer(Tanner) married to Paul Peffer in Hood River,Oregon again.

 

It's hard to imagine Los Angeles as sparsely populated as it was in the 30's and 40's.
Except for rampant air pollution, what a paradise! I love LA!!!!

 

View of Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood, looking north from Chandler Blvd. Various small retail shops are seen. 1927

 

Somewhere in Woodland Hills 1954 I was one year old!

 

Van Nuys Blvd. at Friar, Van Nuys, CA, 1950

 

There is something just COOL about old trucks and construction equipment!
Constructing the Valley Municipal Building, 1932. My adopted home of Van nuys.

 

Then, as now, LA certainly has it's share of the rich.

 

The Van Nuys General Motors plant in 1949.

The GM Plant in 1954. Note how much the city has grown up around the factory!
It's now a crummy shopping center called "The Plant".

 

Rampant pollution...no not here in SoCal.
I lived (and do again) about 6-1/2 or 7 miles from the San Gabriel mountain foothills in Covina. On "many" days, you could NOT see the mountains...not even the outline of them..!
Foot ball practice in High School was murder. NOT because of the hitting and tackling and laps run, but because your eyes burned and your lungs could not get any "real" air in from the pollution.
Mike

 

Outside view of the Van Nuys Drive-in Theater located at 15040 Roscoe Boulevard.
A fun place, it lasted until the late 80's. It was closed because of gang violence and rowdiness, plus rising real estate values.

 

View of cars parked in front of the Nordvord Building located at 6420 Van Nuys Blvd., just north of Victory Blvd. Some of the stores in the building include (left to right): Arnold W. Leveen Hardware, Dr. Stretch Chiropractor, Mode O’ Day, and the Van Nuys Stationary Store. Note the ornamental streetlight in front of the building.

 

(ca. 1946)* - View looking north on Van Nuys Boulevard near Delano Street. The Rivoli Theatre can be seen on the east side of the Boulevard.
The Rivoli Theatre, at 6258 Van Nuys Boulevard, was opened in 1921 as a Fox theater. It was renamed Capri Theatre around 1960. In the early-1970’s the theatre was razed for a parking lot for the Federal Building.

 

(ca. 1945)#^*^ – View showing an early model car parked in front of the Pump Room Restaurant, located at 14445 Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks. A man is seen exitng the restaurant.
In early 1945, Roy Harlow opened a restaurant at 14445 Ventura Blvd, near Van Nuys Blvd, which he named the Pump Room, inspired by the Pump Room in Bath, England. In 1948, Harlow moved the restaurant to 13003 Ventura Blvd, just west of Coldwater Cyn Blvd. For many years, the Pump Room was a popular Valley restaurant, patronized by local residents for parties and meetings. Celebrities and sports stars were often seen here. In a quote from a 1953 news article, “hardly a day goes by without seeing a flock of Rams football players, Hollywood Stars and Los Angeles Angels baseball players in the café."

In 1954, Harlow sold the business, leased the premises to the purchaser for ten years, and granted to the purchaser the right to use the name "Pump Room" during the term of the lease. In 1956, this purchaser sold the business and another party operated the business until either late 1956 or early 1957 when the premises were abandoned and closed for a short period of time. Harlow, as landlord, repossessed the premises early in 1957. About this time Harlow found some partners named Bob Waterfield, Bob Kelley, and Don Paul (all sports stars) and re-opened the restaurant in April of 1957.

The Pump Room appears to have closed around 1978. In June of 1979, Ali Rabbani opened the Marrakesh at this location. Remember when buildings had charachter?
I should mention that these photos and text are from the excellent LA Dept of Water & Power site.