Vintage shots from days gone by!

That will run like crap with that piston clanging around in the oil pan...…………..

 

With apologies to J.J. Cale..."When your cousin is hot...And your trailer is not...Propane..."

 

I remember the original Station 7. If I'm not mistaken, the new one is the third Fire Station 7. The first one was not much more than a single car garage. When Fire Station 8 was built (1953), it was one of the most advanced Fire Stations in the country, modern in every way with tall ceilings, and deep apparatus bays. I was in Grade School when they brought their new ALF ladder truck (the one in the photo) to our school to show it off, put the spreaders out and raise the aerial. I was mesmorized. I also remember that Fire Station 8 was used to film the pilot for the "Emergency" TV show.

The movie studio you were thinking about was the Samuel Goldwyn Studios, on Santa Monica Blvd. and Formosa Ave. Sometime in the 1960's, the largest sound stage in the country (Sound Stage 8) caught fire at around 3 or 4:00 AM in the morning. Inside Stage 8, they had just finished the construction of a two and three story complex of buildings (all wood) which were going to be "Catfish Row" for the movie that they were making, "Porgy & Bess". It was a huge movie set, almost the size of a city block, and there was no sprinkler system in the building. Fire Station 8 was first in, they were less than a half a mile from the studio. It was one hell of a fire. LAFD was called in on the mutual aid deal and the fire burned all morning long. It may have been the biggest structure fire in Hollywood at the time and maybe for all time. I remember my dad woke me up (my dad was a fire buff), he heard the horn going off at the studio (we lived about four blocks away), and we got dressed and went down to watch.

The sound stage was 400' x 200' x 70' tall and was completely involved when 8's arrived. Immediate attention was given to protecting all exposures, which included the studio mill, power houses, two other sound stages and prop storage next to stage 8.

There has always been a controversy about how the fire started, some saying that it was some kind racisim, regarding the all black cast of actors...

 

With a couple of responses from L.A. County Firefighters, I feel it's my duty to present a few photos from my archive of LA Co FD vintage apparatus.






LA CoFD is a first class department in every respect, with 174 fire stations, protecting 2,035 square miles of unincorporated cities and communities, plus 59 incorporated cities that have contracted with the department. The department was founded in 1920. They have 171 Engine Companies, 30 Ladder Companies (actually, all their ladder trucks are Quints), 71 Rescue Squads, 10 Bulldozers, 14 Water Tenders, 11 Helicopters, 2 Fireboats, plus Hazmat and USAR, Heavy Rescue, Swift Water Rescue, etc.

 

Tom McMullen & brother in law rehearsing their next photo op.

 

Taft, OR

 

Looks like no one is willing to step up to the plate on running the Corvette

 

Hey, does the Sedan Delivery have the chrome coming off the long spear on the quarter panel. I have a sedan delivery without and no indication if there was ever a chrome strip there coming off of the spear.

 

Electrical fishing