Hello, Foster’s Freeze locations were like a 31 flavors of the late 40s and 50s. They were in most So Cal neighborhoods. When we moved to our first house in 1948, on the busy corner of Hill Street and Santa Fe Avenue was the only Foster’s Freeze place we knew of in Long Beach. It was a short walk to our house. On the way home from our elementary school, we knew it was there and if we had saved some lunch money, it was well spent on a cold soft ice cream cone. Across the street, the famous Santa Fe Theater was on the diagonal corner. When the movies got out on a Saturday matinee, this place was packed. Even during the summer movie times, the nearby ice cream drew hundreds to cross the street for the best ice cream ever. In the late 50s and all through the early 60s, our friend, with the 1934 5 window Ford Coupe/Oldsmobile motor lived just a few steps from the ice cream shop. There was a open door garage access on the block long alleyway. It was a short walk to the Foster’s Freeze window for a quick snack while doing something to the hot rod(s). Jnaki As we started driving, the popularity of the soft ice cream service cones, sundaes and even banana splits was waning. We could get all kinds of ice cream at our local hot rod drive-in restaurant in Bixby Knolls any time and so, we no longer stopped at the Foster’s Freeze place. Soon, it was gone, replaced by apartments and condos. The movie theater closed, then turned into a bowling alley and that too closed with the waning family participation. All corners of this intersection are residential with only one restaurant a few doors down. Note: Most of the Foster’s Freeze places looked like this one, blue with white paint and the ever present soft ice cream cone cartoon sign. But, stopping on any day was a big treat, so, on hot days, one had to eat the melting ice cream cone swirls as fast as possible. there was always room for more varieties of drinks, and other goodies available, too.
The cute little tile roofed house has been replaced, but the one farthest away in the photo is still there.
1950 built Black Ball Ferry Terminal at Horseshoe Bay several years before the BC Government bought it and expanded it. When the ferries had to do a 180° turn either leaving the berth or landing depending on how the cars were loaded.
Contrary to urban legend, these were quite successful. The families that had them loved them and they were fine in daily use. The general public liked them.too. However, after the experiment ended, Chrysler decided the cost to build a new plant to.manufacture them was too great to proceed further and scrapped the entire program. Of course, not long after that, the gov't stsrted interfering with the car business and probably would have killed the turbines in their zeal.
The Jalopy Journal
