Saw many St. Pat's Day parades in Holyoke , it was one of the biggest St.Pat's Day Parades in the nation.
Not 100% sure but those look like four Gerhardt chassis being built for the 1967 Indianapolis 500. Fred Gerhardt and his company built some of the better cars in that era and won some races on the Indy circuit. The company was based in the Fresno area.
Early 1960S as per newer Ford Econoline van/GMC van next to the larger converted busses and commercial van. Hello, For all of those college classes all over the USA, Spring Break is starting. The colleges started randomly in March. But, the local high school, one week off school vacations won’t start until April, still in time for the end of the college days off and back to the final grind to May, final exam days. If memory serves us today, our Spring Break was one week all over the USA for both colleges and high school kids. So, if one chose Fort Lauderdale, there were college age as well as teens in place. For the West coast So Cal area, it was Palm Springs or “Bal Week,” better known as “Balboa Beach Week.’ In our own teenage days, we had choices to go where we wanted, but left the revelry of those aimless parties for those that had nothing else to do. We had a purpose for our week long vacations. Whether it was staying locally and hitting all of the spring swells arriving at the local beach surf spots or traveling down South into Baja Mexico for some pristine waves and solitude. Yes, some of the college age folks still wandered down to Baja resorts to continue their endless beer escapades. It was lower cost for sure, but it needed to be controlled for total enjoyment of such pristine beaches and long sandy shorelines into the various small towns and cities along the shore line. If for some reason we could not go to Baja Mexico for a week, after our Camp Pendleton Spring swell surf days, we traveled a short distance South for some relaxing times and fun waves. It was not as good as the Camp Pendleton surf spots just up the beach coastline. But ,the idea was a nice lunch/snack, surf for a couple of hours, take a nice long nap and then go out surfing again… It was just that kind of place where the atmosphere was not supercharged and one could nap, eat and surf to our hearts’ content. This original wind direction contraption would show primitive ways to gauge the windspeed and direction at the famous San Onofre State Beach. "Guess-estimates" in direction, was the best, but at least we knew where to look. At the time, it was not a state beach, but U.S. Marine Corps owned private beach. The location was leased out to the San Onofre Surf Club for their headquarters and club gathering place. Recently, in 2024, the original lease was up and renewed again for posterity in action. Now, the state of California owns the beach access and property as a “State Beach” designation. “The new lease between the Navy and California State Parks for San Onofre State Beach and San Mateo Campground is good for 25 years, at a cost of $90 million. Despite the price tag, no actual money will change hands, says a coastal superintendent for California State Parks.” The new lease, which will maintain public access to surf beach until 2049. One can easily pay at the booth, enter a quiet, secluded surf spot and nice environment with no visual sight of the freeway. It becomes a little eerie in the morning hours. “... the U.S. Department of the Navy and the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton today announced a new 25-year lease agreement for San Onofre State Beach and San Mateo Campground. The popular beach in San Diego County is renowned for its world-class surf breaks and diverse outdoor recreation opportunities, attracting nearly 2.5 million visitors each year.” Whew... Jnaki On a different day at the same beach, a nice 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery is on the front row, enjoying the surroundings. Look at the area on the beach where there are people in front of the car on the right. A well tanned teen in some black trunks. My brother used to wear Everlast boxer shorts as his beach baggies. By design, those made people stay away from him and that was fine for his point of view. HA! If one had good knees, the paddle form is in the upper left... So, we happen to be at San Onofre at Camp Pendleton at just the right moment to have a relaxing day and someone takes a photo of that particular moment? What are the odds of that? YRM Out of all of the cool old surf transportation being used and parked, one shows a newish metal surf rack in this photo. Look at the 3rd photograph and see the ingenious way for a surfer to create his own surf rack on a small two door coupe for his 10 foot+ long surfboards versus space... YRMV
The Jalopy Journal
