#2 that could be Australia.think I recognise the longneck labels...feels right......Or,I just might need a beer!
@Sky Six Hello, How I learned to live with the results of the most interesting and dangerous road obstacle in driving history. When we were little, our dad did all of the driving in his Buick sedans. We went everywhere. One of the most interesting places was down PCH or Highway 101 South to the Seal Beach area and further down the coast. As our dad approached the steep drop down highway getting near this giant circle down below, we all grabbed the door arm rests and hung on for dear life… ha! Cars on the left, cars ahead coming at you, all going in circles to their directions. 4 major highways all coming to a giant circle. The "Traffic Circle…" Coming down PCH from the top of the Signal Hill portion of Long Beach and if one stays in the far right lane (in the photo, but right lane when driving), it takes the cars South to the coastal areas of Long Beach and Seal Beach. That was our usual course on our local, weekly surf trips or the longer ones down PCH to Camp Pendleton and further south. Stay on the right lane and it leads us to “the road most traveled…” We also drove this Traffic Circle plenty of times in the 58 Impala due to the fact that it leads, via Ximeno, next to the Circle Drive-In theater, right to Belmont Shore on an inland short cut. The downhill route from the Westside of Long Beach or farther West from the Los Angeles County beach communities, the direct access from Lakewood or the LB Airport or farther inland from the Eastern portion of Long Beach, it all centered on this traffic circle. We learned to cope with the constant moving traffic and blend in without any mishaps for the years of going through the location on our cruising road trips. From 1966 to the time we sold the 125k miles Red 1965 El Camino, it too, had made countless trips to the college up on the next big hill, just a short drive South. Although she did drive on it a couple of times, the traffic circle was not one of my wife's preferred route during those college days. But, rain or shine, the 65 El Camino made the trip to the college campus daily for several more years, twice or more times per day. The large, graded, area with the dark circle in the middle is the popular Circle Drive-in Theater. Not only was the traffic circle, itself a distraction, but at night, coming downhill, the sight of the super large screen with a color movie playing certainly was a major distraction. Our Westside of Long Beach house area (red arrow) in relation to the traffic circle, about 5+ miles away to the West. Our high school was about 3 miles away. The early start of the Circle Drive-In Theater that is/was on the Southwestern side of the circle heading toward the coastline and the ocean. We knew of the Traffic Circle as we had been on that road with our dad’s southerly road trips to go surf fishing. He was an old hat at that circular traffic divider. But, our high school driver’s education teacher would not go near that circle with a car load of young teenagers. We always turned off on the last big street to go back toward the ocean or left to turn into the Signal Hill area, not straight ahead downhill to our possible doom!!! Yikes! Jnaki So, it was left up to the parents to show their teens or older folks to use the Traffic Circle correctly. Some teens never used that traffic circle as they learned all of the by pass roads leading to that central location in Long Beach. Any outside of the area teens or new drivers were always surprised to see this circular place and some did panic. It was just safe to not follow anyone closely and to be ready for anything. @Scarebird Note: Currently, the city of Long Beach is still thinking of putting in a brand new design of a so called turnabout at the far reaches of the city next to the Long Beach Freeway exit and Ocean Boulevard. A zillion dollar new suspension bridge and smoother flow from the end of the freeway is necessary to bring the traffic into the downtown area safely. Safely? In a “roundabout” greeting thousands of cars daily? At the end of a fast moving freeway? With the distraction of the ocean/bay and the Queen Mary sitting right there staring you in the face? It seems like it will surprise plenty of new drivers from inland heading to the ocean for a day’s activities at the beach…Whoa!!! YRMV
The Jalopy Journal
