Tell me what L.A. was like back in the 1950's/1960's (Huntington Beach: movers, condo)

[Charles]

Here's an even better one (you really need to click the resize bars at the top to get the full size):

[majoun]

Originally Posted by ahugecat

It resembled a nice city, not a third world dump.

The loss of high paying blue collar jobs doesn't have a good affect on ANY city.

L.A. in those years was awash in blue collar jobs that paid good salaries, at the film studios, defense plants, auto factories, etc. and thus had more of a working class culture than the extreme polarization one sees today. There was also less distancing between classes like one sees nowadays.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Steve Bagu

In the mid 50's you could drive thru central Watts at 2-3 AM with out any problems. I would drive thru there there at least twice a week on the way to work. So many people on the streets...like it was mid afternoon on a Sat.

East LA had it's share of latinos but nothing compared to today.

Eagle Rock and Glendale never had the Armenians like they have today.

Monterey Park had some Asians but moreso today.

The Arroyo Seco from Pasadena changed into the Pasadena Fwy gradually. At beginning the word out was that it would be 20 yrs ahead of it's time...by completion it was obsolete. Used to drive down Colorado Blvd thru Pasadena to Aroyo Seco Blvd which started the Fwy winding to LA.

101 Hwy changed from three lanes to a FWY over the yrs going towards San Frisco.

Alligater farm just north of Knotts Berry Farm on Beach Blvd.

Many time drove down Beach Blve (old Hwy 39) on the way to Huntington Beach.

I was in the Grocery Inventory field as such went to Grocery mkts all over the LA basin and to San Diego.

210 Fwy never existed and I drove foothill blvd all the way to San Bernardino many times.

San Bernardino Fwy never existed.

Could go on some more...in 1955 bought my first house in Covina after getting married in 1954...lived there for 20yrs.

Could say lots and lots. Steve

steve, there is someone on this thread older than me: I graduated from Highschool just after you bought your first home. We bought our in Covina sa well, but it was 1961. I think San Bernardino Fwy was there in the mid 50s. Wasn't that about the time both San Bernardino Freeway and Santa Ana was opened..??
talking about the Pasa freeway, first it was called the Arroyo Seco speedway, then the Arroyo Seco freeway and yes, eventually the Pasa freeway...

As for Watts, I am not sure I would have driven there at night even in the 50s, certainly not the early 60s. There was a butcher shop right on the border of Watts and L.A. I think on Century BLVD. We lived in Gardena then, our second home and I would go there to buy fresh meat (probably about late 63 to 65) it was pretty scary..We sold our house in 65 and it was a very long escrow. BY then we were living in NO Calif. It actually closed escrow 2 days before Watts riots and was in the curview zone. Boy am I glad it closed when it did..

Nita

[Charles]

Originally Posted by nmnita

Before the 60s we hung out at Bob's Big Boy, skating rinks, and even In and Out burgers and McDonalds were coming onto the scene.

IN-N-OUT Burger History

[TrueDat]

Originally Posted by nmnita

wow, you couldn't have found a better person to be the first responder than me:

I was born at the now defunk, Queen of Angeles hospital and lived in Ca, both no and south for the first 40 years of my life, mainly the southern part.

Heh, I was born at Queen of Angels, too. I love LA history and find pics from the 50s/60s inherently fascinating. Grew up on the westside, not too far from what was Gilmore Field and is now the Grove. I especially remember all the old, single-screen, neighborhood movie theaters that used to be on the west side (even though some of them were on their last legs by the time I got to them): The Meralta, The Picfair, the Del-Mar, The Lido, the Picwood, the Oriental. The Fairfax is the only one left and it's now a multiplex. Ah, good times.

[Steve Bagu]

My home in Covina was 150 ft south of Arrow Hwy near Hollenbeck St if that rings a bell. Paid $10,250 for it then on the GI bill and today homes on the same street are $375,000 AVG with the down market.
San Berdu and Santa Ana Fwy's were being slowly built in sections in the 50's and 60's.

Recall driving to Santa Monica and southwards many times via Sunset Blvd...Wilshire Blvd...Slauseon Blvd...Firestone Blvd (old Chrysler plant)...Imperial Blvd...they were all major east/west streets.

Roesmead Blvd was a major north/south street towards Long Beach.

LA was and still is a great grid system when it came to the streets.

Those days the city did not have the traffic signals to slow traffic like they have today.

When taking the Pasadena Fwy (old Arroyo Seco) during it's construction to downtown (central) got on Figuerea St all the way to Long Beach many times at 2-3 AM on the way to a job.

Just remembered the 24 hr Pantry Restaurant where they had sawdust on the floor and people would wait in line at 2 AM for steak or breakfast. Former city Mayor Sam Yorty bought the place for a lot of BIG money after he left the job as mayor. I stopped there a couple of times for pancakes served by men waiters with white aprons.

Gosh...it's been a long time since then...over 55 yrs. Steve

[happ]

I didn't live in Los Angeles in the 1960's but my family visited SoCal several times a year. I remember the Tejon Pass\ Interstate 5 was much slower & you would see cars on the side of the highway over-heated. The drive from Chico was long since much of Highway 99 went right into each city's main drag. This is when the Big Orange was "fast food" & provided fresh juice. Fruit stands were everywhere along the highway. Air conditioning in cars & buildings was just starting otherwise my parents had a cylinder cooler that fit in the car window [mini-swamp cooler

We always stopped at my uncle\ aunt's in Woodland Hills for the night & swim non-stop in their pool until leaving for Long Beach. My cousins swam\surfed in Seal Beach where you could accidentally step on a sting ray or dodge jelly fish [though rarely]. Our days revolved around the beach. There were still oil wells all over the Huntington Beach area & the air was foul.

I did see Pacific Ocean Park before it was torn down. The roller coaster at POP was just as exciting as the Pike [both areas were full of sailors at night w/ prostitution & kind of a wild feel.

I really wasn't familiar with downtown LA until I moved here in the late 1970's.

Here's what the San Fernando Valley looks like now [no more smog

[Charles]

Originally Posted by happ

Here's what the San Fernando Valley looks like now [no more smog

Here's a similar shot going in the same direction (west) in 1963

That's Topanga Plaza under construction in the background on the top right. View is looking west over Victory. The street with the pepper trees running left and right about in the middle is Canoga. Now Warner Center is where all those fields are. The biggest building was May Company anchoring the north side with the Broadway (not built yet in this photo) anchoring the eastside. "Monkey" Wards was in the middle.

The railway which goes up from the bottom and and curves to the right is now the busway.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Steve Bagu

My home in Covina was 150 ft south of Arrow Hwy near Hollenbeck St if that rings a bell. Paid $10,250 for it then on the GI bill and today homes on the same street are $375,000 AVG with the down market.
San Berdu and Santa Ana Fwy's were being slowly built in sections in the 50's and 60's.

Recall driving to Santa Monica and southwards many times via Sunset Blvd...Wilshire Blvd...Slauseon Blvd...Firestone Blvd (old Chrysler plant)...Imperial Blvd...they were all major east/west streets.

Roesmead Blvd was a major north/south street towards Long Beach.

LA was and still is a great grid system when it came to the streets.

Those days the city did not have the traffic signals to slow traffic like they have today.

When taking the Pasadena Fwy (old Arroyo Seco) during it's construction to downtown (central) got on Figuerea St all the way to Long Beach many times at 2-3 AM on the way to a job.

Just remembered the 24 hr Pantry Restaurant where they had sawdust on the floor and people would wait in line at 2 AM for steak or breakfast. Former city Mayor Sam Yorty bought the place for a lot of BIG money after he left the job as mayor. I stopped there a couple of times for pancakes served by men waiters with white aprons.

Gosh...it's been a long time since then...over 55 yrs. Steve

you probably lived closer to Citrus ave, we lived just south of Arrow and west of Azusa, I think your sub-division might have been a step up from ours.

Do you know all the years I lived in L.A area I never ate at the Pantry, but hubby did, so did my dad? He loved the lunches and I guess it is still there. I swear the next time we get to SoCa, not only will we do INandOut, but we will do the Pantry and of course Phillipes. We do that everytime we end up in the area..

As for InandOut, we will be in No Ca next month, the first thing Pat will do is stop at InandOut. He remembers the first one in Baldwin Park but I don't think he ever ate there, Azusa was the one he and his friends used to love..

So much for those days,

Nita

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by happ

I didn't live in Los Angeles in the 1960's but my family visited SoCal several times a year. I remember the Tejon Pass\ Interstate 5 was much slower & you would see cars on the side of the highway over-heated. The drive from Chico was long since much of Highway 99 went right into each city's main drag. This is when the Big Orange was "fast food" & provided fresh juice. Fruit stands were everywhere along the highway. Air conditioning in cars & buildings was just starting otherwise my parents had a cylinder cooler that fit in the car window [mini-swamp cooler

We always stopped at my uncle\ aunt's in Woodland Hills for the night & swim non-stop in their pool until leaving for Long Beach. My cousins swam\surfed in Seal Beach where you could accidentally step on a sting ray or dodge jelly fish [though rarely]. Our days revolved around the beach. There were still oil wells all over the Huntington Beach area & the air was foul.

I did see Pacific Ocean Park before it was torn down. The roller coaster at POP was just as exciting as the Pike [both areas were full of sailors at night w/ prostitution & kind of a wild feel.

I really wasn't familiar with downtown LA until I moved here in the late 1970's.

Here's what the San Fernando Valley looks like now [no more smog

yep, we remember the Cajon pass and the Grapevine climb. Luckily we never heated up, but you are right about all those cars at the side of the road and the small towns we would go through. I remember the Big Orange (I had forgotten it) and oh the Pike as well as POP. As a teen ager POP was the coolest!!!!

You mention the cooler on the window of the car. When we were driving from Ca to Fl (in the 40s, dad had returned from over seas and was going to be stationed in Miami) we had one on moms side of the car. Anyway we got into the south, Al I think and stopped for gas. The old hillbillies who worked at the station had never seen one. As the story goes, 1st guy said to 2nd guy, look at those people from Ca, they have thier radio on the outside of the window, second guy says to first guy, that ain't no radio you idiot, that is their mail box. I really don't remember this, but do remember my parents laughing for hours...

Nita