Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post: Mystery Film of the Week: Oceanfront Drags Continue reading the Original Blog Post
At 0:32 in there's a shot that might help identify. Also video switches abruptly to a different location at about 2:30 looks about 4 years later or so judging by the cars. @jnaki any thoughts?
Hello, To my tired old eyes, it is a So Cal location. I am working on it for more details. If it is where I think it is, we have been there a million times in all sorts of conditions. But, it is/was a strange set up... possible promotion for a teenage movie or tv show... Jnaki Thanks for thinking of me in the short time we have for a couple of days prior to the storm system brewing in the Pacific Ocean, headed our way... MORE RESULTS... SOON..
Hello, I have lived in So Cal since 1946 and as a teen, my second house was the coastal beaches from Santa Barbara to San Diego and beyond going across the border. In that time, we constantly surfed almost every breaking wave spot along the Los Angeles beaches, Long Beach waves and the huge OC shoreline. It was a geography lesson as we explored those surf spots. learning those spots and weather allowed us to make important decisions to go to a specific place or not. So, with that in mind, my old brain started the mental coastal surf spots and surrounding locations with notable centers to remember Los Angeles County has a long shoreline, but no specific islands far away in the horizon. Although the song Catalina Island is "26 miles across the sea." Actually, it is 22 miles across from the L.A./L.B. Harbor. The Long Beach shoreline is also long and it does have oil islands close to shore and one can see Catalina. But, the farther one goes down the coastline toward San Diego, the OC coastline is very long and one can still see the remnant outline of Catalina. Jnaki So, the island is a give-away and my choice is Huntington Beach from the Bolsa Chica State Beach to the border of Newport Beach for flat roadways along the shore and waves. No one, besides the lifeguards drove on those roadways along the shore waves. But, up above, the PCH road parallels the coast all the way to San Diego. NOTE: In the world of fantasy TV programs, anything is possible. A pier in Oklahoma? With waist high waves crashing on a shoreline with cliffs and small mountains in the background? This must have been the first wave pool created for the world, in OKC and it was only 1962. We thought the wave pool in Arizona was the first one, later in 1967, but this was a hidden gem. Ha! People see what they see on TV shows as real, whether or not it actually is real in movie or TV. It was all fantasy tied in with reality. Where else were they going to film waves, a pier and tall cliffs with easy to block off for some private movie sets? Route 66, very popular on TV and real in our universe as a cross country open road adventure location(s). Familiarity with paddling inside those pilings and outside on calm days gave us a direct route to the peaks and wall of waves heading into the tall structure. We did not “shoot the pier” from this side until much later. For some reason, the North side was easier to line up the wave track and go right through the tall pilings. If the waves crashing on both sides on a large swell, we found out that as scary as it is with the oncoming waves, the direct center opening of the pilings was a relatively safe place to paddle out to the waiting area. Why? When the waves came into the pilings from both sides, the pilings helped slow down the waves and were blocking poles creating an opening in the middle to paddle out. Once the fear of getting shoved back into the crusty piling was learned, it was all power paddling to the outside area. At the Northern end of Huntington Beach are the oil derrick fields across from "The Cliffs." Huntington Beach “Cliffs” in 1962 Upon approaching Huntington Beach from Seal Beach going south down PCH, the cliffs were part of a wonderful drive and parking along the open road area was easy pickings to match the peak waves locations. But, now, the paved parking spot prevents any parking other than in specific parking lots. hand held surf rack in a Corvette… A private beachfront road for the Corvette… (Lifeguard use only in real time) After dropping off the surfboard and third guy, they backed up 1000 ft to drive over the same spot again, as folks think there are two piers in the long white sand beach in “coastal Oklahoma.” Jnaki At the time this program was shown, everyone in the local surfing circles had a great laugh and ***ociated with the surfing scenes. Route 66 was the main cross country theme of the TV show. But, we all knew and drove on the main So Cal Coast Highway to get to those prime waves. A surprise was the inclusion of what certainly looked like So Cal surf legend, Corky Carroll in a Hollywood “****” style hairdo. Note 2: In the later portion of the movie, some surfing scenes were taken at San Onofre Beach with the rolling waves, good for filming action. Since the surf at San Onofre was not open to the public as the surf club beach was private, the scenes could take water preference. Huntington Beach is a public beach and it was hard to keep surfers out of the background scenes. A 1961 typical summer surf day at the Pier: On another day, with different coastal weather during 1962, real surfers in great waves at Huntington Beach Pier, North side. Note 3: Are there waves in Oklahoma? Is there a nice long pier? The only area with water my wife and I saw in OKC was Lake Hefner and we were going to go sailing, not surfing... So, there is that! But, back in 1961-62, for us young teens, that Route 66 TV series was a good one and the inclusion of surfing was a surprise at the time. “Catch a wave and you are sitting on top of the world…”
Hello, Not everything that has a comment makes sense for the video. We have been on the Coronado Strand from the 1960 to last year. No way does it show that it is the Strand roadway. Also, where is the ocean in Kearny Mesa? The mountain in the background is Catalina Island. Look at the shape of the East end point. And the 2:36 time is not Lion's Dragstrip. There are no large warehouse buildings next to the dragstrip. But, in Pomona, there are those similar buildings in the recorded Pomona Drags films and photos. Jnaki Most comments on those You Tube videos are not always from facts. Coronado Island is not a real island, but a peninsula. The roadway goes from San Diego city harbor, to the city across the bridge and over to the so called island. But, the roadway goes down the Strand to meet up with the freeway going back to San Diego downtown city. So, where is the island? YRMV Thanks, @Phillips
The first portion is definitely the Silver Strand or "The Strand", a thin strip of land which connects Coronado 'Island' to the San Diego southern mainland at Imperial Beach. They're racing North to South with the Pacific ocean and Point Loma in the background. To the racer's left is San Diego bay. At 0.24 is San Diegan **** Boynton's 413 Dodge Drag Truck. The second portion is most likely current day Kearney Villa road which runs North/South just East of NAS Miramar along side I-15 (previously old 395 route). The old buildings in the background are most likely the old Camp Kearney base. In the 70's and 80's Kearney Villa rd. was a hot bed for late night street racing
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