U-2 spy plane at Van Nuys airport. Francis Gary Powers who was shot down over Russia flying this thing, once released, became a traffic reporter over the skies of Los Angeles!
A 36-year-old pastor of Emmanuel Lutheran Church in North Hollywood, happened to pass an outdoor movie emporium one day in 1949 and was struck with the idea: Why not hold summer church services in such a setting? He figured it would be perfect for the balmy, open spaces of car-happy Southern California. "A lot of people like to head for the beach or mountains on Sunday," he explained later. "It's hard to get them dressed up and into the church. This way, they come dressed for an outing and can leave for the out-of-doors right after the service." -QUOTES FROM LATIMES.com
I have always liked those old trolleys of L.A. even though the last ones stop running the year I was born. Here are some photos. I hope they haven't already been posted.
at the local library we have a video of the los angeles red car! on sundays you could ride the train for 5 cents i think? and transfer to different trains for free, i think some kids held the record for riding it all day! they lodged 600 plus miles for the one day ride!
Thanks for the memories. That's Rancho Chevrolet on Reseda Blvd., south of Sherman Way. That '67 Impala is almost exactly like the one my parents bought new there for my Mom (hers was Capri Cream and had full wheel covers) and I drove, in high school in '70 and '71. ...and drifted into a tree one rainy morning when I tried to break the rear end loose just a little bit. It was fixed and I had to pay the $100 deductible out of money I earned writing articles for Model Car Science magazine.
To put Los Angeles into perspective for you, just the San Fernando Valley by itself (which is a small fraction of Los Angeles County) is 260 square miles. Here is Van Nuys Blvd. in 1918... Van Nuys Blvd in 1949... Van Nuys Blvd in the '70's...
this one really jogged memories...Captain Jet had a cartoon show on LA television, had little kids in a dummy rocket cockpit and served them his sponsors drink, "Bosco," while they showed old cartoon shows. One day he thought the camera was off after the show ended and said into the still-live mike, "guess that'll hold the little bastards for a while." That was his last show....
Super L.A movie- 'CHINATOWN'- dir; Roman Polanski. Fine L.A setting for Robert Towne's stylish noir story. Star cars- Darrin Packard, '37 Cadillac, '35 Ford. Correct engine sound effects.
GM, Standard Oil and Firestone were all responsible for the demise of the Pacific Electric. That and other things, too. The three were brought to court to prove just that and about 20 years ago, they were all fined $1 each. "They', of course wanted people to drive cars, not take the trolley. The PE system had more than 1200 miles of track at their peak. The last line was the "4 track" line that went to Long Beach, which was shut down in 1963.
Man these pics make me homesick! Here's a picture of me in front of my pops 1954 Ford Crestline from 1962, we lived at 319 N Hicks Avenue near Brooklyn Avenue and Indiana Street, Los Angeles..
Any chance that the 17 year old Earl Wade listed on the arrest sheet is the legendary Earl Wade who built engines and tuned for the legendary Dyno Don Nicholson throughout his drag racing career?
This is a racers party from 1950 in Venice, CA. Driver, owners, wifes, and girlfriends. Whatever is going on has produced a priceless reaction from everyone.
Yep, that's what happened and as I mention, I was born the year the last line shut down but my parents came of age in East L.A. back in the 30s and 40s as well Uncles, Aunts, etc...so I became interested in those old trolleys by listening to their stories. Funny how now, the City of Los Angeles is spending millions to restore the system. There is a Train Museum in Perris, CA were you can ride some of old trolleys. Heres the website http://www.oerm.org/
The Pacific Electric reminded me of a story my father told about riding the pacific electric from LA to Long Beach just after WWII. Just before he got into down town Long Beach he noticed that His fly was down so he put his news paper over his lap and zipped up his fly. The trolley was very crowded and they were sitting 3 to a seat so when they got to 10th street the young woman next to him got up to get off at her stop only to realize that her very puffy sleeve was zipped up in his fly. They were both very embarrassed and even though he intended to ride down to 4th street to go home he also got off at 10th st. After they got off the trolley they were laughing about what happened when her husband got there to pick her up to take her the rest of the way home. She told her husband what had happened and he gave my father a ride home on their way home even it was out of his way. Several times after that he saw the same woman ridding on the same trolley and they always smiled and waved remembering their embarrassing moment together. In L.A. it was not the Politicians that ran the Pacific Electric out of business. For once they were not to blame. It was GM, a tire and an oil company that did it. They first bought up the stock of P.E. and then let the business go to heck by not fixing or modernizing any of the rolling stock and by cutting down on the schedules so that it was not convenient for those working to ride on it. They then raised the fares until it was cheaper and easier to ride the buses than the P.E. cars. The seats became ripped and the cars needed paint and were dirty. My brother and a friend rode to LA and back on the last day that it ran just for the fun of it. Dick
we moved out of El Montie 1957 to get away from the Smog. we went out to Yucaipa it took about 10 years for the smog to catch up with us. we left there in 68 went to wash state
You would be SHOCKED to see (not see?) how clean the air is these days. I'm amazed at the air quality, and the visiblity in Los Angeles since they cracked down on emissions from automobiles and industry.
The Jalopy Journal
