Sears, Pasadena, the newer one, the payphone there was the first time I ever saw a push button phone.
A letter followed by two numbers with a space and then three normal pressed in numbers makes a commercial truck plate. Hello, When I got my new 1965 El Camino, the salesman at Cormier Chevrolet in downtown Long Beach convinced me to get a commercial license plate. When I asked why, he said the registration will be less and there are advantages to using the plate in normal driving. But, I had to convince my insurance company that is how the new car came from the factory. Commercial usage for the insurance industry is higher risk and more daily usages, so more cost for insurance. I told him that it was my college transportation and that I had a motorcycle that needed a loading platform. But, over time, the commercial plate did come in handy. If and when we were in crowded downtown Los Angeles and there were no street parking spaces, all I had to do was find a yellow marked curb designated as commercial and it was parking legally for my commercial plates. We usually did not stay long, but parking was close to our businesses for the visit. Commercial plates had a letter plus the two number designation stamping, a space, then the normal 3 number stamping At night, there were no loading trucks running the streets, except for grocery stores. So, there were plenty of extra parking spaces in every city where the red 1965 El Camino was going to park. Sometimes the LP record stores in Los Angeles Pico/La Brea area were so packed, but, the yellow curb was always empty at night. According to the California DMV, night time parking in yellow curbs is ok for commercial plate vehicles. (usually, no commercial business takes place at night or normal working hours) Jnaki The one thing we had to do initially was to pull into the "off site" freeway weigh stations when we were loaded with two motorcycles and gear. Then the guy in the booth chuckled and said to be on our way. But, we had to stop since the commercial plates required all vehicles to stop. Most truck vehicle inspection stations had a CHP car just waiting for some commercial truck to by pass the station requirements... We took no chances of getting stopped. Ha! In the last two years of college, when my knee had a torn cartilage surgery, I got a medical sticker to park as close to the classroom buildings as possible. Also, the commercial plates allowed me to park in the truck parking area, in the area designated for trucks. A plus factor for me since the climb up the long sidewalk from the student parking lot was at least a 1/2 mile to the closest classrooms and almost a mile uphill to the far reaches of the campus. Despite being healthy other than cartilage surgery, the close parking spaces were a great place to be for all classes. My wife and I were just college kids doing what was necessary to get through the last years of school... YRMV
The Jalopy Journal
