Hard to believe that the hot rod car clubs of the 50's had the attitudes that have normally been associated with the bikers of that era, fighting over a burger joint with knives,hatchets,baseball bats and throw in a gun to top it off. I can imagine the police at that time kept a close watch on all the young guys that drove a hot rod, I'm thankful that todays hot rodders and custom guys don't have these problems. HRP
Brian’s movie “this is Long Beach” touches on that a fair amount. Here’s a trailer I believe you can find it streaming in full in the usual places.
This was a far reaching fight that included cities from Hollydale (which no longer exists and where dad grew up) to Signal Hill to Los Al which is another county. Robert Burdette lived on Castana a half of block from our house. I was only 3 when this happened but dad knew several of the people involved and the story was told and re told throughout my childhood by neighborhood kids. Dad was 23 at the time and he and his friends were involved is several club territorial fights earlier in that decade. Such a different era.
True crime in hot rod circles is elusive, slippery, and most times, pure myth—tall tales swapped over stale beer and cigarette butts. But then you stumble onto something like the Moose Lodge ambush, and suddenly, it’s all real... This isn’t some Hollywood fiction; it’s one of the few, rare moments where a hot rod club crossed that fine, grim line into gangland territory, fists clenched, and weapons firing. And, hell, it’s the only one I’ve found where murder didn’t just hover in the air like exhaust fumes but came down in cold, legal black-and-white. I've been searching for other such instances for over five years... and haven't found a single one credibly reported. I've talked to three different people that were in the building that night. And all of them told me the Moose lodge incident was spawned by one kid - Ed Brick. According to them, without his pushing and prodding, none of it would have ever happened.
That’s a crazy story , would love to know how Ed Brick fueled the fire and what the back story was . Story time . when I was in high school the area I grew up was and still is a blue collar kind of town . Mostly European ( Italian , Portuguese and Greek) From grade 9 to grade 12 all the pot smoking beer drinking gear head “ hooligans “ all hung out together at a certain coffee shop , would head out to the illegal street races and pretty much fuck around and get into trouble together . Over the years the group got larger and larger ‘till grade 12 there was probably a heard of 50 of us that would get together . Of course not everyone got along and the group did splinter off into smaller groups of “ close friends “ but always hung out and we all pretty much got along . that is untill one day a “ Greek” got into a fight with a guy and about 15 Greek guys said “ fuck you “ to the group and left . Created some animosity between a bunch of guys which led to name calling and chirping , few incidents of road rage , some small one on one scuffles or small fights . And culminated into one crazy night where me and about 15-20 guys where hanging out at the “ coffee shop “ and the Greeks showed up . What started as chirps across the parking lot ended up with smashed car windows a full on brawl between all of us One guy got stabbed ( albeit very minor thank god ) And me almost breaking that guys neck by lassoing him with a length of chain slamming him to the ground and proceeding to stomp the shit out of him. What made me stop killing this guy ? A 55 gallon steel drum across my face ! Brocken nose , 2 black eyes and blood everywhere , it was that point we all kind of realized we went wayyyyyy beyond name calling and chirps . All 40-50 of us got out of there pretty quick and headed home . My 2 best friends lived in front of and directly behind my house. Well I got home and as much as I tried there was no hiding my smashed in face from my parents. my Dad lost it went over to Bert and Chris’ house wrangled up their dads and we went on a mission to about 10 other houses ( along with the guy who threw the drum at me and the guy I almost killed . so 10 kids and 10 fathers hashing out the complete stupidity we did that night , and how lucky we all where no one really got hurt or the cops did not get called as we where all 17-19 years old would have been charged as adults and have our futures fucked right out from under us . the last few months of high school nothing happened . There was a stone cold silence and abject respect when ever anyone passed down the halls , they hung out at another spot in town , we hung out at the coffee shop. At the races we were at one end and them the other end of the street been there , done that . Real easy for gang mentality to take over when there are a bunch of testosterone and booze fueled boys egging each other on. I’m sure there is a lot more to the “ Lodge” story then anyone is letting on.
Rumble; 1950's JD's, Car Clubs and Switch Blades +, the real deal! Cool story, superbly delivered. More stories here:https://www.rockinswing.com/post/rebels-without-a-cause-the-lost-history-of-1950-s-youth-gangs 1950s juvenile delinquents handing over their studded belts to an officer.
"...Most wore black derby hats, white T-shirts and khaki pants. Most had goatees, beards or long sideburns..." Where was Von Franco that night?
I would bet none of them did their own laundry. Boys. To Vandenplas I say sorry for your pain. Enough
Holydale was between the cities of Southgate and Downey off Paramount Blvd. wasn’t it Rich? Not too far of a drive to the crime scene….
I too have a curiosity about that era. Here in Vancouver we had a number of independent gangs with one serious group called the Clark Park Gang. NOBODY messed with them. Even VPD had a special squad to counter their activities. If anyone wants a good read "The Last Gang in Town" is one to have!
Hello, Nice story of a "portion" of Long Beach/Lakewood. Not all of us that grew up there were in car clubs nor associated with such activities. Fist fights, perhaps, as stemmed from athletics confrontations, but no out and out teenage battles. What for? The closest thing to this scenario was when we were in junior high school. The toughest kid in 9th grade was notorious in the whole Westside of Long Beach. His family was well known and he was friendly to all of us. We all were Westside kids and played in sports and had neighborhood activities. But, at one time, the kid had approached a girl from Wilmington at a teen gathering and it did not go over well with her neighbors, also in a well known, Wilmington Club. In response to this approaching "threat," we were all told to go to the community park and gather on the South grass field in a huge group. Size makes might, in theory only. The group was well spread out with friends and "other" friends not in our school group. As the hour was approaching, we were all nervous at what was happening. But, like the other number of kids there, we were all in support of our friend. Jnaki As the day wore on, a group of custom cars came rolling into view of everyone. The group of cars were pretty nice looking and they continued to circle the whole park, where we were all sitting. Now, it was a moving larger "might" that was impressive and each car had several kids/adults inside. Our friend told all of us to just sit and be calm... That was hard to do, but we all did as were told. Soon, the cars parked in the open spots and the lot. In mass, walked towards the gathered group. It was hard to miss, but it looked like a "front moving on another weather front." We felt like targets, but no one moved. The other large teen was the leader and the two top opposing teens met with some trepidation. We were all sitting at a disadvantage, just from a fighting response stand point. Out numbered was more like it. As the two leaders were talking, the groups were starting to get antsy. But, the chest bump up moves from the two leaders relaxed a bit and now, were apart. The odd thing happened. The two leaders stepped back from the face to face status and actually shook hands. Then, the sirens sounded as a large gathering was overpowering the neighborhood park and some one must have called the local police. The B/W cars came in droves and although it was a massive gathering of teens. The loudspeaker announced that we all had 10 minutes to disperse or someone would get arrested for loitering. No police were on the grass field and in minutes, 10 to be exact, the grass was able to breathe again and we were all walking home or back to our nearby school. The cars were gone, just as fast and it was some sort of history in the making with so many teens gathering and nothing happened, other than a handshake. No smiles, as there was still some teenage angst floating around to give some credit to the action. It was a tale we all kept inside and talked about it at school. By the time high school started, it was a topic of nothing, as our hot rod culture and cruising took over like gangbusters. We were driving fast cars and our goal was to get faster... YRMV
I had heard my dad tell of a "raid" at a local luncheonette up the street from where we lived. My dad drove past as the cops had the local hooligans lined up outside against the building. This was around 1958 or 1959. The owner of the luncheonette was a slippery character, said to be running a bookie service out of the back room. Fast forward to around 1974, I ran into one of the guys who was caught up in the so called raid. He told me their side of the story. They apparently had a beef with another group of car guys from another town and recently had a brawl. Nobody killed but some split skulls and a few torched cars.
Yes, that's where Hollydale was and evidently an easier drive to Artesia blvd. Dad told me when he was dating mom the drive from Hollydale to Lakewood was driving through bean fields and Dairys. Lot's of wide open places, lots of unpaved roads. Even when we were kids there were dairy's everywhere but by the '70s most of them were on the move to Cerritos, then out to the 909. I can still remember the sign over Paramount Blvd claiming Paramount was the hay capitol of CA. We still had a dairy across the street from Paramount High when I graduated in '74. Little Paramount rental that we lived in before my parents bought in Lakewood in '59. Their '54, stolen twice.
I highly recommend this particular film from 1979. It depicts the time period of 1963 in the Bronx. If you have seen this film, then you know what I am talking about. If you haven't seen this film, then by all means, check it out. This film is the gold standard, that covers a lot of bases when it comes to the element of turf wars and conflicts, and rival gangs. My favorite character is "Emilio" Joeys father. This is one bad ass Italian that knew how to deal with the situation at hand, and he does it with style! You wont be disappointed! Thanks from Dennis.
Out driving the day after the infamous 1956 Crystal Beach Boat Riot, this group of accused juvenile delinquents may have just picked the wrong day to cruise Buffalo’s West Side. https://buffalonews.com/news/local/...cle_58bb2d6b-da48-532a-8aac-8f673fce0a34.html
Hollydale was a place for hayrides and I enjoyed quite a few there on Saturday nights. There were more fights after football games as I remember…… but that could have been just Inglewood or Dorsey’s way of handling things..
The Jalopy Journal
