Anyone remember the sound of these? (Sacramento, Glendale: school, tornado, living in)

[Fontucky]

I recall hearing them back in the fifties and early sixties. Very eerie sound to them.

air raid sirens

[BayAreaHillbilly]

We were foolish to end Civil Defense drills and other preparations for nasty dealings between nations. It is not a matter of if but when.

[DewDropInn]

Totally remember them. My town ran them the third friday of every month at 10:00am to test them. In school we'd do the "duck and cover" drills when the sirens came on.

I remember thinking if Kruschev or Castro had any sense at all they'd bomb us right after the tests when we'd all be sitting at our desks again. Sitting ducks to be vaporized.

There were areas in town that were designated as air raid shelters. One of them was in the basement of the Cal Fed bank building at Euclid and Crescent. Years later (90's) I was talking with a teller and I mentioned the bomb shelters. She got a funny look and said, "Is that what those were? We found a bunch of boxes of moldy crackers down in the basement and nobody could figure out how they got there."

[Charles]

Originally Posted by DewDropInn

Totally remember them. My town ran them the third friday of every month at 10:00am to test them. In school we'd do the "duck and cover" drills when the sirens came on.

I remember thinking if Kruschev or Castro had any sense at all they'd bomb us right after the tests when we'd all be sitting at our desks again. Sitting ducks to be vaporized.

There were areas in town that were designated as air raid shelters. One of them was in the basement of the Cal Fed bank building at Euclid and Crescent. Years later (90's) I was talking with a teller and I mentioned the bomb shelters. She got a funny look and said, "Is that what those were? We found a bunch of boxes of moldy crackers down in the basement and nobody could figure out how they got there."

That ain't a siren.

This is a siren. Located at the Cerro Negro lookout in Glendale/LaCanada Flintridge it was audible in Catalina.


YouTube - ‪AIR RAID SIREN Walk around tour...(The worlds loudest siren ever made..CHRYSLER-BELL AIR RAID SIREN)‬‏



I totally remember them too (Though i thought it was the last Friday of the month???) Those structures are still standing. (We had something very similar in Alabama for tornado warnings - very spooky sounding - and they went off during real warnings).

[Fontucky]

It was the last Friday... in L.A.

[Curmudgeon]

Remember them well. Now we call them tornado sirens here in the Aux Arcs!

[415_s2k]

Originally Posted by Fontucky

I recall hearing them back in the fifties and early sixties. Very eerie sound to them.

air raid sirens

We still have ones in SF that are operational. Every once in awhile in Union Square they sound it...

I recall driving through Hancock Park and noticing that some were still attached to poles as late as '07, before I moved. Don't know if they're still up.

[luckodeirish]

I recall doing "duck and cover", as if a small desk somehow could protect a child from a nuclear attack.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by 415_s2k

We still have ones in SF that are operational. Every once in awhile in Union Square they sound it...

I recall driving through Hancock Park and noticing that some were still attached to poles as late as '07, before I moved. Don't know if they're still up.

They're still up in Sacramento and tested for a minute or two at 11:00 a.m,. on the last Friday of each month. But then again, one has to protect the sterling leadership gathered in the great white asylum in the middle of town, right?

[maggie2101]

Absolutely! However, after living in central Arkansas for 20 years I now think of them as tornado sirens.