Riverside Drive looking east from Glendale Bl.. Nice long straight street, perfect for a drag race. believe me there were many a drag race here. This would be the finish/shut off area. Officers Of The Law would block off the other end at Fletcher Dr. and this end then write everyone in between. No side street to escape on. There is a Stop sign now in the middle if I remember right.
my buddy bob bistagne and his brother would race here. doesn't happen anymore, but great story. any of you older cats guys race here?
HA...when the cops were here we'd go to Forest Lawn Drive and visa versa... there were times when they would just go away and look the other way, same down on Crenshaw Blvd.
A big difference between the 60's and the kids with the imports street racing today is back in the 60's, two guys would challenge eachother, pick a location and most of the time, just those two cars and no more than 2 or 3 of the friends cars would tag along. We'd stop get someone to flag us off and then not return again. We would have a place to meetup after the race and have a "soda" together. That would be it. Go. Race. Vanish. The import kids congregate in the middle of the night in the industrial areas and sometimes draw a couple of hundred people and they'll have dozens of races. Shit, no wonder they get caught and have their cars impounded and some cars are even sent to the crusher. It's not a party. It's a street race. Big difference. As dumb as we were, we weren't completely stupid rolleyes Another place to race was way out in Cucamunga/Fontana in the grape vineyards along Highland or Baseline. There wasn't squat there back then.
There was a aritcle in "Car Kulture Deluxe" magazine a couple of issues back about someones experience on Riverside. It was a interesting read
1961, 2, 3, 4, and 5 is my experience. Riverside was convienent to Van de Kamps drive in and Bob's Glendale. If it was watched then the Rt. 2 freeway, which was under construction and little used late at night, was next. Other places were Forrest Lawn Dr., Silver Lake Bl. by the lake and believe it or not the 134 freeway where it begins from the 5. Mid-Night there was little traffic so it was pretty easy to stop and run a 1/4. Today is a different story, even 4 in the morning there are cars now.
so crazy to hear about what you guys did where i grew up! i didnt race in high school cause we was poor folk! no car till after high school. and even then, my car was too much of a hunk of shit! not cool at all. just a different time then! way cool! thanks for sharing guys!!!
Hope this isn't too much of a stretch here, but I found this photo set of an all-day beach outing of a group of Glendale college kids, 1947 style. It's a great snapshot into the culture of 18-22 year-olds in April, 1947. No story in words, only in pictures. Left campus as a group, spent all day at the beach, had the use of somebody's beach house, then back to campus or someplace else for a dance. Balboa Beach Party (Glendale College And Calif. Misc.) 1947
Balboa Beach Party 1947 More than likely, the dance was somewhere there near Balboa Beach, what with the arcade and all.
No doubt one of MM's divorce proceedings. Photograph<WBR>ers Awaiting Marilyn Monroe Press Conference
Barry's Jewelry store was having an anniversary sale. Barry was obviously a good marketer. Barry'S Jewery Store Sale Glendale, California 1947
Does he tote his amps and gear around in that thing? Awful little doors. Maybe he smuggles in Cubans.
ggg living in Riverside we went to the vinyards many times it was an excellent place to race, could see all around for long distances and was usually no traffic with few side streets. Last street race i witnessed there was in '64 after i got out of the navy. Last race of an era, 57 Tbird against a local bad ass flathead T roadster. the Tbird had a big FE motor and Ray Bocce,s T was a 304" full house flatty. The T was leading but the the bird got him on top end. I was looking around the area after they went by, it was a pitch black nite but i noticed the lite of a cigarette near an old shack nearby. then i saw this flash and then the familiar blast of a 12 ga. shotgun! it was 5 guys trying to get in a 57 chevy 2dr on one side, like trying to get 10 pounds of 'stuff' in a 5 pound bag. It all comes back now after reading this. gggg
Nope. That's a Douglas Skyraider, looks like the EA-1F variant. Also known as Able Dog, Spad, Sandy and Flying Dump Truck among others. A damn fine airplane. Kurt O.
The black building was the Atlantic Richfield Building.It was torn down to build the Arco Towers. It was a beautiful Art Deco build. that should have been saved.
[/ The third Navy ship to be named USS Los Angeles was a WW2 Heavy Cruiser. Decommissioned and later scraped all that remains is anchor, bow, 1 barrel and other misc. artifacts at the city museum in San Pedro.
The second ship to bare the USS Los Angeles name was an airship. A Zepplin made in Germany after WW1 as war reparations to the U.S..
The 4th and last USS Los Angeles was recently decommissioned it is a nuclear submarine. The 1st USS L.A. was a WW1 tanker but I was unable to locate a photo.
The Jalopy Journal
