I should mention... That plaque art looks more late 1950's to me than early, but Al seems certain this was the early 1950s at the latest.
I guess you could go down the rabbit hole of searching the Blackburn Sporting goods store. See when it was in business.
Dang that dress code is so cool. They must've been a sharp looking bunch. I'm hopeful that info/pictures of what they ran turn up.
Our club is turning 50 this year and we had white dress shirts that wee embroidered with our name on the front and the club logo on the back, we had seen the North Atlanta Street Rods guys all specked out at shows, they all had white embroidered shirts, white pants and black. I remember thinking at that time they looked like Hess station attendants but then again, you knew they where a sharp looking club. I will make an attempt at finding my old Tri-City Rod & Custom embroidered dress shirt. HRP
Shophats from Gene's. Could be a hat with logo from Gene's Automotive in Anaheim? Or a type of hat from a department store named Gene's?
@Jalopy Joker - Sooner was a term used for folks that snuck in and left early during the land run. They called them Sooners. Basically, it was a negative term for cheaters. Over time it lost its negative vibe. That’s your Oklahoma history lesson for the day. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sooners That probably explains the wagon on the tag as well.
Wow ' G****s of Wrath' Sooners . I though most anyone in California would know the term but guess they don't teach Dust Bowl history anymore
Goes with my theory that a lot of the early California Hot Rodders were actually “Okies”, “Arkies” , and Missouri outlaws, hoodlems transplanted from the dust bowl days of the great migration of the 1930’s.
The Cotton-Pickin' Library of Congress to the rescue... I found this in a 1946 edition of the Bakersfield Californian: I know Bakersfield is a couple of hours from Burbank... but it looks as though Genes was a short-lived chain - 1945 to 1952. I haven't found one in Burbank though...
Bakersfield topography looks like Oklahoma minus the tornadoes and dust storms.There are tons of Okies out there.
That was the type of cap that I was thinking fit with the rest of the "uniform". There were others that were from the timeframe, but wouldn't quite fit in with the rest (think early motorcycle brimmed hat). Carcheology, Love it! The Power of The HAMB!!
I've searched high and low for more information on the Sooners. Last night, I spent about 2-hours huddled up by the fire on my iPad going over thousands of query results in the So-Cal area from the library of congress. Absolutely no results... Just a minute ago, I did a deep dive in my archives looking at car club plaque images I've stolen from the internet over the years and found this: I'm guessing the Sooners were short-lived. Kids got excited and motivated enough to do plaques, make shirts, make a few rules, etc... and then other priorities ruined it all... I just wish I could verify the years it all went down. For some reason, it would make my world a little better.
Okies are good people…. For those that are lost on the wagon, let me present the Sooner Schooner. That's your second Oklahoma history lesson. Please p*** your papers to the front and put your pencils down.
In the mid 1950s,I joined the first of 3 car clubs I was in through the 50s n 60s. Road Saints had 37 members when I joined,an I had to be sponsored by a member to get in ! All the car clubs I join worked at having good reputation as much as poss in the public eye. We all knew how much ,a lot of the news papers,radio an movies were painting a hoodlum face on our loved car hobbie. So one of the things talked about at meetings,was how we could work at making a good impression by improving the finish look of our cars and members clean dress appearance at club get togethers in public. A very real benefit of being in the clubs,was getting help an know how from other members,trading off your own help of things you could do,for stuff you were not as good at !=Your car got shiny paint sooner,**So your's could be part of club display list* 3 to 5 club members cars got picked for the big indoor car shows at Dinner Key a few times a year. Shows were often 3days long. OK,that maybe enough rambling for now,about keeping up a good look.
Ok... working the Oklahoma angle. Found these clippings for Blackburn's: Blackburn's was located in Wilmington - about half and hour from Burbank. The owner, Charles Blackburn, appears to have been an Oklahoma transplant. Then, I found this: The way the search query works is that it returns images of search blocks. And the Blackburn's header and C.R.A. Hot Rods header are in different blocks... but, they appear to be related when I s***ch them together. Carrell Speedway was in Gardena... and this event appears to have been a small one sponsored by Blackburn's. Charles was too old to be in a car club in the 1950's... So I am guessing he had a son that was of age. Waiting on Al to confirm... It does, however, make sense to conclude that the Sooners were based around Oklahoma transplants to the LA area... Al's family was from Tulsa...
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