Tell me what L.A. was like back in the 1950's/1960's (Los Angeles: buying, movies)

[1937Gal]

Originally Posted by nmnita

Charles, there was good shopping in Glendale though. yes, we too did most of our shopping downtown or in Pasadena, but many times went to Glendale from Eagle Rock.

Someone mentioned the ultimate was shopping on So Lake street in Pasadena. This was so true and then to have lunch at the Tea Room at Bullocks.

Nita

I was born in 1937, This is 2013, almost 2014 and I wandered onto this site with glee. My aunt and uncle lived off of Huntington Blvd in So. Pas and all my life (until they passed on in 1990s, I delighted in visiting them. I loved So. Pasadena, their streets lined with huge Magnolia trees with blossoms the size of Texas or so it seemed. Ralphs' Market and back then Arizona did not have Thrifty Drugs. They had a Thrifty Drug by my relative's house and my Aunt would give my cousin and me $1 and we would have more fun spending that little buck. My cousin graduated in about 1956 from So.Pas/San Marino High. My Aunt would take me downtown Pas and oh yeah, having lunch in the Bullock's tea room was the ultimate. When Bullocks came to Phoenix, I called my aunt to tell her AZ was now in the 'big leagues'. Eating at Woody's off Huntington Blvd was a wonderful experience. So many memories.. Thanks for reminding me.

[Pacifico]

Unable to describe as I wasn't born yet.

[Steve Bagu]

Take home pay was $98.00 a week (40 hrs) 1958-60...house Mortgage payment $78 a month...later owned 3 Cads all at one time, 3/4 ton PU with camper, 26 ft Travel trailer, four day vacation every three months, cupboard full of canned goods at 5/$1, 6/$1, 7/$1, 8/$1 etc when on sale.

Will have to say I quit my job in 1960 to go into business for myself thus all the nice things it afforded my family.

No future working for just a paycheck every Friday as many today have found out....nothing like the good old days.

[animatedmartian]

Figure this might be relevant to this thread. Los Angeles circa 1961.


L.A. From the Air, 1961 - YouTube

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by 1937Gal

Eating at Woody's off Huntington Blvd was a wonderful experience. So many memories..

I had forgotten about Woody and Eddy's on Huntington Drive. I wonder when they closed.

[panderson1988]

I know this is an old thread, but watching movies like LA Confidential or Gangster Squad makes me wonder if people would like to go back to a 1950s LA, or like it is today, or maybe somewhere in between like the 70s and 80s.

I've been to LA, and I like visiting the area, but I wouldn't want to live there. I feel like it's too sprawled out, and surpringsly how segregated it is. I know every city has neighborhoods that are mostly one race, but it felt more segregated as you'll be in a neighborhood that is mostly Asian, then 2 miles down the road it is all Hispanic. I was amazed how there isn't the typical mix areas, but it's cool how you have a so many different culture neighborhoods like Korea town.

Also when I see the old pictures and videos it seems like LA was a perfect size. It was big, but it didn't seem like you needed a car everywhere. That is my biggest complaint is getting around LA. Then back then it seem like you had proper downtown or squares with your neighborhoods where you'll run into people you know. Now, and most American suburbs, it's all spread out with these big plazas and how everyone has to drive everywhere. Even central LA feels like most cities now in which people head down for work, but leave when 5pm rolls around.

Anyway, it's just interesting reading how things have changed so much in the last 50 years.

[nick1218]

Originally Posted by fastfilm

My pat answer is for folks way younger than me to watch "L.A. Confidential" for the bad, and "American Graffiti" for the good (its smaller Calif. town persona matches the non-inner-city mien of '60's L.A. Wild kids then had raucous but innocent fun, and didn't become violent gangmembers as they now do.) No one misses the horrid racism and corruption of "L.A Confidential;" likewise, no one should condone what L.A. morphed into with never-to-be-solved overpowering of infrastructure problems (public transportion will never catch up,) insistance on density destroying all quality of life for the non-rich, and illegal immigration (200-300 arrive daily) overburdening the city services and creating an overtaxed citizenry who will never receive the same services for which they increasingly are taxed exponentially.

The major differences betwixt L.A. then and now also were relative expense, significantly less congestion, (the freeways actually worked!) and assimilation of legal immigrants into American culture, wherein their contributions were celebrated by all and welcomed, which happened then but not now. (Foreign nationals are less likely to even want to associate with anyone not from their prior country now.) Xenophobic social aberrations of the distant past, a la Chavez Ravine and housing covenants, thankfully were not the norm by the late 50s/60s, which was more like "Let's have a barbecue for our new neighbors the Wongs from Taiwan!"

Here's a link for The Inflation Calculator so one can have a better idea of what oldtime prices really reflected, which underscores how unjustifiably expensive L.A. has become.

For instance, my first friend to buy a house, in 1969, paid 25K which would translate to 132K in today's dollars, and no, you can't buy a nice 2-bd. house in a nice part of Venice like they did for that today, despite the downturn. When I lived in Venice, my neighbors were a postal worker and stay at home mom who bought their house there in the 1950s. A one-income family of a postal carrier could not afford more than a tiny condo in a non-dangerous locale today. Rich people bought houses in the late 50's here for 80K, which translates to 525K today. Nowadays, that buys a starter shack in a good neighborhood, or 2-3bd. house in a not-good one.

The aforementioned aspect of the California dream is gone forever, as is hope of anything beyond a dysfunctional city lumbering on in the pretense that it is working. To me, just surviving is not indicative of a good quality of life, especially for the non-wealthy like me.

damn, what a downer

[LuvSouthOC]

In case anyone missed it, there is a great KCET about LA titled "Things that aren't here anymore", found
here. Great stuff for anyone who has lived in LA.

[GatsbyGatz]

Originally Posted by panderson1988

I know this is an old thread, but watching movies like LA Confidential or Gangster Squad makes me wonder if people would like to go back to a 1950s LA, or like it is today, or maybe somewhere in between like the 70s and 80s.

I've been to LA, and I like visiting the area, but I wouldn't want to live there. I feel like it's too sprawled out, and surpringsly how segregated it is. I know every city has neighborhoods that are mostly one race, but it felt more segregated as you'll be in a neighborhood that is mostly Asian, then 2 miles down the road it is all Hispanic. I was amazed how there isn't the typical mix areas, but it's cool how you have a so many different culture neighborhoods like Korea town.

Also when I see the old pictures and videos it seems like LA was a perfect size. It was big, but it didn't seem like you needed a car everywhere. That is my biggest complaint is getting around LA. Then back then it seem like you had proper downtown or squares with your neighborhoods where you'll run into people you know. Now, and most American suburbs, it's all spread out with these big plazas and how everyone has to drive everywhere. Even central LA feels like most cities now in which people head down for work, but leave when 5pm rolls around.

Anyway, it's just interesting reading how things have changed so much in the last 50 years.

LA is a major gateway city where flocks of immigrants move to in order to become US citizens. Naturally when someone decides to move to a new country, they typically aim for these gateway cities (when an American plans to move to England or France, they aim for London or Paris, which are both much more diverse than purely English/French.) For that reason, LA comes across as being more segregated.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by nick1218

damn, what a downer

One thing to keep in mind about Fastfilm and certain other posters: they not only blame immigrants, especially illegal immigrants, for every single problem L.A. has, but they act like the native born white population during the last several decades was as disenfranchised as South Africa's black population under apartheid...