Art & Inspiration Traditional images that need no explanation.

I'm wondering about the location of this photo. There are several others that seem to be in the same place, looks like L.A. Roadsters cars. Is that the Rose Bowl parking lot?

 

Yes, I believe you are correct.

 

Is that the Rootlieb custom roadster in the center of the picture ?

 

The Phil Macchia / Lou Banta roadster.

 

"Buzz "Sawyer.

 

This is the Eliminator dragster owned by Bill and Al Dahms of Glastonbury, Connecticut. The brothers owned New Trend Machine of Glastonbury, Connecticut. The supercharger was of their own design and manufacture. I worked for them twice, and the patterns for the supercharger were still in the shop. They later sold the dragster minus the supercharger. I remember seeing the dragster sitting in the grass, minus engine on Hebron Avenue in Glastonbury.

 

@65pacecar

Hello,

When we graduated from high school, the newly built Long Beach Sports Arena was almost complete. We were the last graduating class to use the old Municipal Auditorium for our ceremonies in June of 1962. The odd thing was the old auditorium was attached to the new Sports Arena. We could see the whole structure as we practiced prior to the graduation and on graduation day.
1961 The old Municipal Auditorium attached to the new Sports Arena

Sneaking a quick look inside of the new arena was pretty cool. A huge open area floor, built in seating and lots of space for sports and car shows we normally saw inside of the old Municipal Auditorium we were standing inside. It was larger and the whole scene was brand new!

Darn, we missed being the first ones to graduate inside the new arena. But, as history allowed us, we ended up the last graduating class to walk the aisle and stage in the old historic auditorium. We even were the last graduating class to have our “all night dance” (Grad Night in those days) in the same auditorium hours later with the top names performing live, that were in popularity back then.

So, when the Sports Arena was completely finished, now, the rock concerts and multitude of car shows, hot rod shows and even motorcycle shows were a happening thing. Yes, it was used for some sports and industry gatherings, but for us, it was primarily the best new place for car shows and rock concerts.


1963 LB Sports Arena
The main floor was the center piece as it spread far and wide for display space. The more into the center your hot rod or custom car was, the more people saw the display. For a time, the custom motorcycles were “given” their own space under the 2nd story walkway balcony. It was the place for all custom motorcycles that were in the same show as custom cars and hot rods. Also, when the shows were starting to draw so many more people, the upstairs wide walkways were also used for displays.

As a photographer, access to the empty seating upstairs gave plenty of panorama photo opportunities, but also listening to the grumbling of custom motorcyclists wanting to be on the main floor directly downstairs.

Jnaki

The show sign for this little T-bucket read: 1924 T roadster pickup, 1956 Buick engine, 1937 LaSalle trans, Halibrand quick-change rear end, 60 coats of Cobalt Blue lacquer, owned by Reliable Auto Wreckers of Riverside, CA. This of course is "TV Tommy" Ivo's T in its later version. YRMV

 

LOL I posted a whole series of cars from this shoot with L.A. Roadsters cars and it IS The Rose Bowl parking lot. BUT now I can't find where I posted all of them I checked all my threads and nope no sign of them all and did a search of the HAMB nada.

So you are correct and there are probably 70-80 photos in a series SOMEWHERE on the HAMB

 

Getting closer LOL yes that is a L.A. roadster show now to try and find more but that photo shows some of the cars I posted.

 

Look closely...
Someone going to get a tuck and roll job?

 

W engine? Drive ratio on the blower looks to be at least 6:1, probably closer to 8:1. Did it work at all?

 

Those pics of the L.A. Roadsters at the Rose Bowl really bring back good memories of how L.A. used to be. It looks so clean and new, little traffic. It appears to be a clear Chamber of Commerce day with a bunch of guys out driving their first class hot rods.
I won’t spoil the scene by describing how it would be today.