Business district with Jack's Tavern and Gospel Tabernacle on Adams Ave. in Los Angeles, Calif., 1962 downtown Los Angeles, circa 1928 fifth street, downtown Los Angeles, Calif. circa 1920 Union Station site grading work and surroundin<WBR>g buildings in Los Angeles, Calif., 1935 Firefighte<WBR>rs on ladder fighting fire on 5th floor of Newmark Bros. building in Los Angeles, Calif., 1928
Borax ! Crowd watching twenty-mul<WBR>e-team wagon from Death Valley parading down Broadway during Centennial event for Los Angeles, Calif., 1950
Cummings Block building on the northwest corner of E 1st St. and Boyle Ave Los Angeles, Calif. Listening post and air raid lights positioned in Perishing Square, Los Angeles, Calif., 1941 Majestic Theater building, circa 1920 Main Street in Burbank, Calif. covered in debris from flooding caused by rainstorm, 1928 Martz Flats building at 7th and Flower Streets, Los Angeles, Calif., 1965 Los Angeles, Calif., 1949
More, "Then and Now".... Another great drag strip that is no more is Irwindale Drag Strip, about 25 miles east of downtown Los Angeles and 7 miles west of Pomona.. The strip opened in 1965 after San Gabriel Drag Strip closed down. Irwindale staged some of the best events during some great years of drag racing. It was the end of the altered wheelbase era and the beginning of the true flopper funny cars. The first flopper funny car that I ever say was the Logghe Bros. chassis, 'glass Comet powered by the Ford 427 SOHC motor guided by Don Nicholson. It's debut at Irwindale gave us a fright when as he went through the traps, the entire body flew up in the air and crashed into pieces. From my vantage point, it appeared that the entire car took off. All through the late 60's and into the 70's, Irwindale packed the house with 32 fueler fields, 64 funny cars and the Coca-Cola Calvacade races. They, like Lions and Fontana had some historic match races...lots of great stuff that I won't bore you with. Sadly, like anything that's too much fun, Irwindale closed in 1977 and is now the site of the Miller Brewing Plant. "In 'n Out" Burgers sold here... the Dusty Rhodes fueler on the pit side of the fire-up road the pale yellow tower now this will give you goosebumps...right before the first round, all the funnies would parade down the fire-up road and then circle around onto the track and stop for the crowds...and of course, we all thought this would go on forever...little did we know... looking north Irwindale was one of the longer strips at 3800 feet...looking south-west and today... looking south from the Foothill Freeway
Too good, Doug. I get the impression that you took alot or most of these shots. You really grew up right smack in the middle of Hotrod Central and it appears you were wide awake the entire time! Great stuff, really enjoying this.
. . .and then you found the HAMB. My Dad took me to my first stock car race in '65 (I was 12), the Dixie 500 in Atlanta and I was hooked. We went to both Atl races for years. Occasionally went to the drag strip in Dallas, GA in high school (we'd hide in the trunk to escape fees). Have always loved cars and speed, etc. But you are a freaking hotrod lunatic!! Man, you do need to write a book. Think you could find some buyers on the HAMB? Jimmy
I always found it ironic that miller beer plowed up a great drag strip and they became one of the big sponsors for a time.. must have been some sort of retribution...
Although Lions was our home track,and the place where I spent most of my misspent youth, Irwindale was probably no 2, it was one of the last tracks where you could get up real close to the action, and going there from Gardena was like a road trip...
Growing up in the 50s this is where our family went for a big outting in Downtown LA. Don't know if it is still there but if it is I am sure it is not the same...
Great pics. Never knew where Irwindale was but been by the Miller plant many times. Guess I'll have a moment of silence next time I drive by it.
Just want to say thanks to Mazooma for waxing so poetic about the San Gabriel Valley area pics. My Dad's family came to LA in 1882 and my Mom's to Arcadia in the 1930's and we have no pics like yours. It is nice to see things my foggy mind tries to remember. From the drive-ins to Irwindale, 605 Speedway, San Gabriel Dragstrip (all of which I rode my bike to and snuck in as a kid, before tearing up trannies at Irwindale.) Really, thanks man!!!
Mazooma1 Rest assured, your not boring this reader, all great stuff.............did someone mention a book. . .
That photo is awesome.. My uncle Jack owned that station for a while in the 50's.. A little before my time but he had a photo of him and his wife with their new black over pink '54 Plymouth sitting on the island. That station was in Cypress Park.
A few years ago, cliftons was still there... It's kind of a "dive" now.. When I was a kid, My mother would take us there on the "6" bus from Highland Park. It would be Clifton's or the Pig-N-Whistle.. Family night out.. This thread rocks...
All you can eat for 64 cents ! Funny how prices stayed low right into the early 70s. Buying gas in Atlanta in '72 for 31.9 Hi-test and 29.9 regular. Still had Meat + 3's all-you-can-eat for $ 1.69, milk 98 cents/gallon, etc. Nice shot TUMBLEWEED GARAGE
the Clifton's on Olive closed many years ago, but the one on Broadway is still there. I went a few years ago with a friend and it is a place that everyone must go to at least once. It is decorated like a lodge in Yosemite or a huge cabin. There was also a Cliftons in West Covina which closed a few years ago. For those of you not familiar with Clifton's, it was one of the last cafeterias. You'd slide your tray down the ledge and watch all the little bowls of Jello wiggle. Little did I know as a kid that it was just like going to a topless bar and watching the dancers. The Clifton family had a policy that nobody would ever be turned aay because they didn't have money. Everyone who came to Clifton's was fed regardless of their ability to pay. Last time I went, they still had the little tubs of ice cream with the little wooden spoon....the little wooden spoon...good grief, I never thought I'd ever see one of those again. I have some Clifton goodies downstairs...I see if I can find them
this pic is flippin unbelievable. Now we taxpayers are paying millions and millions of dollars to put the metro back in!!! Every morning and afternoon on my commute, there is one part that traffic slows down really bad becuase they are building a bridge over the street and tearing up the road.
Here is a link to a pretty good free L.A. radio station that I listen to when I an on-line. This is an awesome thread! http://www.kingsrockla.com/
Awesome photos I've been here many times. Gone now, but a great theater. Went to a Battle of the Bands here in the late 60's
Funny how so many of us with fond memories of LA don't live there anymore... I still would not trade growing up in So. Cal. for any place else. We had it all beaches, drive-in's, the mountains, deserts, half a dozen dragstrips, Ascot, Riverside, Hollywood in the 60's, Disneyland, Knotts, Marineland, POP, there was nothing missing. Most of my friends in Central Ca. are from down south, most of us left in the late 70's or 80's I fled in 1981, by then the So. Cal. we loved was mostly gone and the roadways were a snarled mess. The great thing about this tread is the photos and the memories. Thanks to all that contribute and please keep them coming.
Contestant<WBR>s for queen of Newport Beach Tournament of Lights, Calif., 1947 Crowd and stage full of beauty contestant<WBR>s at Venice Beach, Calif, circa 1925 Long Beach "Queen of the Beaches" Power Parade float in Los Angeles, Calif., 1936 Policeman measuring length of early 1900s bathing suit to determine if the suit is in accordance with 1933 Redondo Beach, Calif. ordinance Three finalists of Seashore Day, Elks National Convention Bathing Beauty Contest in Los Angeles, Calif., 1935
Women auditionin<WBR>g at the Biltmore Hotel for Billy Rose's Aquacade featured at the 1940 Golden Gate Internatio<WBR>nal Exposition Pat Hall, "Miss 7-Cent Cup of Coffee, 1950," serving William E. Kinman coffee while wearing a bikini, Los Angeles, Calif., 1950 Santa Monica, Calif., 1934 Santa Monica Pier, Calif., circa 1923
Depositors standing outside the Pan American Bank doors the day of its closing 1929 Los Angeles' Grand Central Market in 1946 Cahuenga Pass highway in Los Angeles, Calif., 1936 Various bumper stickers, California<WBR>, 1966 Earl Carroll and his dancing girls at California Amusement Machine Operators Associatio<WBR>n Party in Los Angeles, Calif., 1939 Rows of oil pumps stretching along Pacific Coast Highway near Huntington Beach, Calif., 1958 Welder Alfred Barnes displaying safety and morale signage at California Shipbuildi<WBR>ng Corp. yard in Terminal Island, Calif., circa 1943
The Jalopy Journal
