Kurtis-Kraft was mentioned earlier in this thread, but here's another photo. Frank Kurtis standing behind his 1941 Buick Roadmaster. You read that correctly. Kurtis created this out of a nearly-new, totaled, 4-door Buick. He finished it in 1948, and promptly drove it from his shop in Los Angeles to Indianapolis for Memorial Day.
I see these pics came back up. Is it just me or are these photos altered? . Looks like a bad job of photoshop cut and paste with outlines around the people and missing shadows. Hmmm...
These were photos for newspaper or magazine publication ... the photo editors back in the day were pretty creative in "retouching" photographs to make them stand out more on the page. Sort of pre-photoshop....
Mazooma, the lines are gone but the right of ways are still in place. Some are being used for biking and walking. Maybe some day the little Red cars will return, but not in my life time.
Nope. Just a handful are left. Very few of the "right-of-ways" still exist. Most all have been absorbed into adjoining properties. Out of the 1200 miles, the vast majority are all gone. Main streets such as Huntington Drive in the San Gabriel Valley still have the large medium in the middle of the street, now with grass and trees, but for the most part they are gone. A right-of-way existed along Ramona Blvd. in El Monte into the 1980s, but it now is condos. Southern Pacific owned the right-of-ways until most were sold off. The Red Cars are now being replaced by the network of MTA's light rail lines. One, the Gold Line, now ends in Pasadena, but in a few years will connect to Claremont. The line is using the circa 1885 ATSF (Santa Fe) route that was disbanded by the railroad in January of 1995. I photographed the last steam locomotive to pass through the Pasadena, Monrovia, Duarte area in Sept. 1993. It was the ATSF #3751 with only a tool car in tow. So, the right-of-ways? You can still spot some from the ATSF, but the, PE? They are all gone except for the grass areas of a few main roads. Here's a photo taken by my good friend and photography mentor, J. Allen Hawking. (RIP) 1949 snowfall in Pasadena, the last time it snowed here. This is a PE car headed south to connect with the main line into Los Angeles along Huntington Drive.
Mazooma, now that's a cool photo and speaking of right-a-ways, the P.E. right-a-way from Claremont to I believe Rialto has been converted to bikepath/walkpath. I am looking forward to the goldline hitting Claremont.
I am down ther a few times a year your right about the air.But my god where did all the peopel come from and the crime
Smog in Yucaipa? In 68?! Whew, you guys must've had sensitive sinuses and lungs! But yeah we dont need people coming back. It's crowded enough as it is.
The late Jiro Horikoshi - designer of the "Type 0" would beg to differ and so would I. I spent years with Hughes Aircraft and no one would say yea or neigh. No one would believe that Japan could design and build a world class aircraft without stealing the idea. Pity When the HFB1 flying boat was displayed in LB, the H1 was there too.
The one and only Capelis XC12 (top) Built as a prototype for China but never caught on. This plane was used in a bunch of films in the 30's and 40's then scrapped.
They're from the Los Angeles Public Library, go here and search 'caught hot rod racing' and you'll get all three.
And the track is...Looks a lot like Trojan Speedway in South Gate right at the 710 fwy and Firestone blvd.
Was that the Name of the place there across from where they made roofing material. Just South of Worthington Dodge? (Long Beach FRWY, Firestone exit, South Gate) I use to watch cart racing there.
That's it! Trojan Speedway. Many a star got his start there. Used to go to the TQ (threequarter midget) races there in the late 60's.
I cut my teeth going to the arboretum from 9 years old and know it as well as anyone. Baldwin died of old age I believe in 1907. I've never heard of the shooting incident or read about it. Oh yeah, I've been through the Queen Anne "cottage" and seen the painting of his last wife who died of illness at 23! She's still there BTW! The place is haunted, as is the horse barn!
That's not true. Capt. Jet never uttered those words! He later went on to play "The Mighty Zolar" on CH9 circa 1964. That was a kids radio host in the 1930's named "Uncle Don" who made the reference!
Here is my photo from the "Great Pasadena Snow Storm" of 1949. It shows my Hudson in our backyard in La Canada. The bumper poster advertised the Hot Rod show to be held in the Los Angeles Armory - in Expostion Park. It was the only time we got snow there in my "time". In regards to J. Allen Hawkins-he came up and took our junior high graduation photo in 1946. Many guys do not know, but he had a speed shop in Pasadena in the early 1940s and took lots of dry lakes photos, in addition to having a large collection of Pasadena area photos. One of the '32 cabriolet Fords he ran around with is still appearing at some rod runs. Don www.montgomeryhotrodbooks.com
a Los Angeles Icon of the 60's Dick Allen - - - - the one & only Dick Allen - Pioneer Harley Davidson "Chopper" Designer & Builder- - Legendary "L.A. -Cali" Biker ...from the heart of South Bay- - - - - * below the Shelby Factory at the LAX off Imperial Hwy. & Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose in the 70's & Harbie the Seal - Harbor Gasoline Mascot logo Icon
Don, Thanks for posting that snow picture. I love when you post on the board as you are a true hot rodding legend. Maybe we'll catch up again at the GNRS this year. Jim
Not withstanding Dick Allen used one of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth's Custom Trikes as the vehicle for his Cobra Trike ...now we all know Ed Roth was a major player in Auto History of Los Angeles...
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