Art & Inspiration Traditional images that need no explanation.

Junior Johnson maybe? He ran a 40 Ford.

 

Pete Eastwood's coupe ?

 

1961
Hello,

This photo is one of the best to showcase So Cal teenage/twenty something stomping grounds along the coast. It is/was taken in Huntington Beach on PCH at the intersection of Main Street and PCH. The photo shows a ton of different things from the So Cal timeline. The location was a popular coveted parking spot facing the Huntington Beach pier and great surf. Below were the stairs leading to the sand and waves. (The teen in the middle sure looks like this guy we knew called Herbie T.)

A white 58 Impala on Main Street. a 34 Ford sedan with longboards and several local teenage surfers enjoying a break from the surf sessions. Right next to them is a hot rod guy that just got out of his 61 Impala, possibly a 409 wearing his Clay Smith Cams Jacket. Across the street is a cool 57 Ford station wagon that could hold a ton of surfboards.

But, the background is a historic place that most older So Cal locals will remember is one great place for food and entertainment at night. It was called the Golden Bear Café and doubled as an music venue to showcase the up and coming traveling bands/singers. For us, it was an inexpensive place to have some spaghetti for an early dinner if we stayed all day at the pier activities.
It has been around on the coast since the very early days...

Then later, when we were 20 somethings, the music venue took over and became one of the South Coast area’s number one entertainment venue. The dinner shows were classic and the food was ok. The rock musicians were the main attraction. With the venue so small inside, it was as if you + partner were eating dinner with the singer coming over for a rollicking conversation a few steps away. (Sometimes, they did come up to your table to give you a wink or touch of sorts.)


Jnaki

Our favorite memory of this place was that one evening, my wife and I were having dinner and the showcase attraction was a San Francisco Group that was becoming a big deal back then. Big Brother and The Holding Company was in town for several shows and the lead singer was Janis Joplin. All of our LP albums came alive on that night. She was loud, gritty and pretty intense just a few steps away from our table.

As fast as the memory arrives, when driving down the current Coast Highway from North or South, the historic building is now gone and replace by commercial ventures. Not the best way to remember such a historic moment in time.
2022

 

I was sad when the Bear closed. Saw Hoyt Axton every time he came. Linda Ronstat would open for him after she left the Stone Ponys. That girl had some pipes….
Craziest night we ever spent was in 1967 when my wife was pregnant with our son and we saw the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Paul didn’t turn around until the 3rd song. He only saw the band.
The wife said the baby didn’t stop kicking her for 2 weeks. Those were the days..

 

Hoyt Axton also played up the road in Seal Beach at a coffee house called Cosmo's.

 

Love the Healey with the engine swap!

 

This guy is obviously not superstitious!

 

That was the very 1st thing I thought when I saw the picture. It fit in well with his past, where he came from, and what he looked like at a younger age.