"If only I could get him to pay as much attention to ME as he does to that distribulator or carbydoodle or whatever it is!"
Transporting the wings of Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose to Long Beach, June 11 1946 location is near the current Loyola Marymount University. Back then in 1946, it was just the Loyola University of Los Angeles until 1973. On old Lincoln Blvd, in the Playa Vista area which is now called the Marina Del Rey area. They are on the way to Long Beach to get attached to the huge body that was being moved next week, down Santa Fe Avenue on the Westside of Long Beach. “On June 11, 1946, Star House Movers began driving the 160-foot-long wing sections on a 28-mile route to Terminal Island. From the 15th to the 16th, the hull of the plane was moved. Utility companies had to raise or cut 2,300 power and phone lines along the route, which took the hull down Santa Fe Avenue and eventually over the Pontoon Bridge onto Terminal Island.” Hello, It was the biggest thing to hit Long Beach since the 1939 hurricane/tropical storm that hit the area with a fury. 1939 L.A. Herald Examiner photo of Belmont Shore area of Long Beach JUNE 12 1946. The left wing of the Hughes H-4 Hercules rounds turn off Pacific Coast Highway onto Santa Fe Avenue in Long Beach on its way to the harbor. This intersection was closer to our house on the Westside of Long Beach a few years later. It is/was on the same block on Santa Fe Avenue as the last Mickey Thompson Speed Shop. Mickey Thompson expanded his old shop to another larger unit a short block away and then finally, moved everything to Santa Fe Avenue, right next door to our favorite Italian Deli and Sandwich Shop. (Santa Fe Importers is still there in the same location.) Then: Moving such a big project would have been big news in Long Beach. In 1946, we were living about 1.5 miles away in a gov’t sponsored trailer court housing project. We were clueless as to the goings on around us. It was just living in the time period. But, in 1947-60, we were now living in a real house(s) about 1 mile away from this intersection of Santa Fe Avenue and Anaheim St. The Spruce Goose moving was a big thing, but we missed it due to just arriving in Long Beach. It was a harried time period for our family after a long North to South California car trip in a 41 Buick Fastback sedan, including two little brothers in the back seat. The intersection of the main street running from inland to the ocean in the Westside of Long Beach is Santa Fe Avenue. It is/was/still is the main Westside street. It still looks similar to those old days, only the cars are different. Some of the historic old industrial buildings are still there. One of the old steel companies owned by a friend’s dad had been on the block down Anaheim Street. The industrial steel company was the place where we purchased our sheet metal panels for the 1940 Willys Coupe interior firewall and thick plates later on for added traction weight over the rear wheels. That business is still there as of this year. The definite Coca Cola Bottling Plant on the corner, was a favorite stop over whenever we could get there on our bikes or cars in the later years of our first and second houses. Free samples and a tour anytime was always a treat. This was one of the biggest public spectacles to happen in early Long Beach, California...specifically, the Westside. Now: The star shows where the original 1946 Coca Cola image photo was taken from, based on the sight angles in the original photo. The general structure of the original Coca Cola Bottling Factory still stands, but is a different company and products. This corner Anaheim Street and Santa Fe Avenue was the start of the close by harbor industries. Heading west on Anaheim, it became the “junkyard” row all the way to Wilmington city areas. Jnaki Note: In 1946, we had just moved to Long Beach. The location was a wartime, federal housing trailers for workers involved in the aircraft industry in So Cal. It was located just over the Anaheim Street bridge, crossing the LA River and up a few blocks. It covered quite a few city blocks near industrial buildings and some residential areas bordering the LA riverbank. It was the largest gathering of trailers in the local region during this time in history. Later on in high school, I found out that my brother's friend's family owned the huge, blocks long, lumber yard all along the same street bordering the trailer housing development. We did not know of this big time event (Spruce Goose) going on over on the Westside of Long Beach. It certainly was a historic move that became as big as it gets and never to be done again. This whole area is near our 2 houses that we eventually lived in, when growing up on the Westside of Long Beach. (Westside of the LA River) It is primarily industrial, with the close proximity to the Long Beach, Terminal Island, Wilmington, and Los Angeles Harbors. Growing up, we always thought this area was a major boat building area, a metal structure manufacturing area and general industry. The smells from all of the industries permeated the air every afternoon. One of the two favorite places within bicycling distance was the Coca Cola Bottling Plant that was on the corner of Anaheim St. and Santa Fe Avenue. (IN THE PHOTO) They used to give tours and free bottles of Coca Cola to us. (The historic building has been re-purposed into an electrical advertising company) Just back up the Santa Fe Avenue was the famous Weber’s Bread Company with their bakery storefront, tours, and free samples. Living on the edge of the industrial areas had its advantages. (later, Santa Fe Importers, Mickey Thompson, Joe Mailliard Speed Shops, and Bill Williams Welding, etc. all moved in and opened up their buildings) All of the massive effort down from Playa Vista/Marina Del Rey area, to the Westside of Long Beach, to the LA/LB Harbor hangar, to the ocean waters off of downtown Long Beach shoreline and the resulting flight was a lot of work for the short time in the air… “In front of the Long Beach City shoreline with the Villa Riviera Hotel on the beach. 1 mile flight West toward San Pedro for 26 seconds… ! Impressive ???”
The Jalopy Journal
