Art & Inspiration Traditional images that need no explanation.

5th and Flower, Los Angeles, March 1948...Los Angeles Times photo

Ascot, maybe the original.


Beverly Hills board track


Dodgers come to LA, '58. Not sure if Edsels were the right cars to welcome them in...



B-47 at March advertising road races


Wally Parks tried to make fenders acceptable after the California fender law


Accident on Colorado Street, Pasadena, J. Allen Hawkins photo


Pasadena, CA, looking south from Colorado St.


Eric Rickman in the roadster pickup he drove to photo shoots, with a frame in the bed for his camera.


Barney Oldfield at Lakeside, San Diego


Rain, 7th and Hill, Los Angeles, 1938.

 

Hey D,

The time period was one big holiday event at our Westside Long Beach house. (probably in most sports minded homes in So Cal.) Our dad had been listening to baseball games on his little portable hand held radio and now, he had a local team to cheer. He was a baseball fanatic, as he played semi pro baseball in the 30s. He taught us the finer thing about defensive baseball and all of the tricks to give us an advantage in our little league to high school baseball teams.

All of So Cal was happy to have the Brooklyn Dodgers now in Los Angeles. But, where would they play?

The Los Angeles Coliseum was built for the 1932 Olympics and our dad went there as a college kid to enjoy a little bit of sports history. The Coliseum was primarily used for track/field events and college/pro football games on the nice grassy field.

But to create a baseball field on that sacred grassy field? Sportswriters, football fanatics and fans were aghast at the sacrilege. So, the baseball field was built in the Western end zone of the football field, near the famous Tunnel. Watching football being played in dirt from the baseball field was quite something. It was not the best situation for the FB players.

In the upper left portion of the photo, was the primary public parking lots at the time. We got there early in the summer of 1958 in our dad’s 1957 Buick. The food was standard L.A. Coliseum hot dogs and Cokes. What a meal! Similar to the hot dogs and Cokes at our local Lion’s Dragstrip food stands.


Jnaki

The whole family went to our first pro baseball game here in the Coliseum. We sat in some seats along the 1st base line, just above the first circular walkway that went all around the whole stadium. For us, they were good seats.

Thanks for posting that historic photo of the Dodgers in Los Angeles. Great times and memories. Now, our dad had a local team to watch on TV. But, he still listened to his ever present Sony hand held portable AM radio. Old habits are hard to break.