Art & Inspiration Cowboys and hotrods & customs

It’s 4:00 am and I’m reading this wondering if I stumbled into the twilight zone. Cowboys and Aliens maybe…haha!

 

At first, in 1947 it was just a chrome plated gun and holster. We did not know of any big time cowboys, but the shiny gun was the first thing my brother and I were able to get one Christmas.

“The golden age of hot Rodding and customs coincided with the golden age of western movies. Each one was a huge part of American culture at approximately the same era but they don’t seem to intertwine very much.”


Hello,

Prior to the 40s, not much was available to anyone, other than family cars. It was the real “daily drivers” that made society move. Drive to work and drive home. If there was enough left over for the next several months, then perhaps, a short vacation for the whole family. But, was there a golden age of hot rodding, anyway?
1947 Eastside of Long Beach trailer court, a 1941 Buick fastback sedan...

At the time of the photo, we did not have any extra cash to buy things like cowboy hats, metal guns or even a pair of boots. So, it was finding a nice curved stick for a make-believe rifle and shoot pretend rabbits that were plentiful in real time, around the vast trailer court location.


No one we knew at the time had anything other than a pickup truck for delivery jobs or sedans for family uses. A 25 foot long trailer was a nice home for us at the time. It was as if a whole new area in Long Beach was open for exploration, but being near a lumber yard, a bustling Los Angeles River that flowed most of the year around was fun enough to wander around on our walks.
Within two years, our dad had bought a real home on the far reaches of the Westside of Long Beach. It was as far West as one could go in the city limits. It was bordered by an elevated railroad tracks from the local harbor area. (Today, 77 years later, it is as busy as ever coming from the busy harbor.)

Now, our cowboy days were starting to come alive, with Saturday morning matinee showings of cowboy movies and holiday gifts of various cowboy paraphernalia. Hats, shiny metal guns and rifles. But, as we saw it, our dad’s 41 Buick was as fast looking as a grey train. But, his 49 Buick Roadmaster 4 door, a few years later prior to us having to sell and move, was a huge play area that we used as a cave and cowboy hideout.
1948-49
A cowboy and his trusty sidekick. Webster Avenue cowboy play area from 1947 to 53.

No one had custom cars or hot rod cars in our neighborhood. Not even the 20 somethings as they had to work in various jobs and had no time to spend on hot rods or custom cars. It was not until 1955 and after a few years of living in our 2nd house did we see a custom truck that was the most beautiful color (Tahitian Red/Candy Apple Red) on any car we ever saw. By this time, we had seen hot rods and customs in the little R&C magazines. But, to see a full custom 56 Ford Truck in our own neighborhood daily was really something.

The owner was a fairly young guy who was the optometrist in the whole neighborhood and had a lock on all of the families that needed glasses. But, outside of his shop, the Tahitian Red/Candy Apple Ford Truck was parked for all to see. (pun intended) The truck always got serviced and had custom building ties to our neighborhood Mobil Gas Station that had a rear multi-garage set up for builds and repair.

Jnaki

We lived in that old Craftsman House until we were forced to sell it and move to our last Westside of Long Beach house. By the time the late 50s came along and we were able to see more TV and movies with cowboys, we outgrew the whole dress up scene. It was our last house, where we grew up and our mom stayed until 1998. There, our history of cars and hot rod/drag race was incorporated into our lives.

This series we watched was instrumental in our cowboy days, leading up to our next house activities in the Westside of Long Beach.

But, sadly, the cowboy dress up days were history and hot rods/drag racing took on a new meaning for both of us. YRMV

 

Hoppy.