Los Angeles in the 50s (video)

youtube ^

[lowbridge]

Motoring through LA in the early 1950s one's shocked to see freeways that are wide open, streetcars, even Model A Fords still on the streets, a bustling downtown and the first malls, a Ford and Chevrolet Factory and it all looks so clean.

[posterchild]

It was like another planet. Everyone got the same webpage and they had to print it out on paper and deliver each webpage by hand.

[Fiji Hill]

Even in the ‘60s, the Pasadena Freeway (built in the ‘30s) had stop signs on some of the on-ramps just before you had to merge with traffic.

It still does.

[Fiji Hill]

The video shows the old Ford and Chevy factories that were located in Los Angeles. When those two shut down, that created a lot of economic problems in L.A. from what my father told me - he was born in L.A. in the mid-1920s, and he was blessed with a good memory.

I once had a Ford LTD that was made in the factory in Pico Rivera. There were also three tire factories in LA.

[Fiji Hill]

The Rock of that time was great though. The Doors, the Who, the Stones and some other band...I think they were called the potato bugs or something...

I wasn't listening to that at the time. I kept my radio tuned to KWIZ, blasting out "oldies" from Santa Ana at 1480 kilocycles.

[ErnBatavia]

kaiser steel in fontana

It took decades for that slag-heap "mountain" to finally fade away....

[Dr. Sivana]

Well, the Turtles were cool but I was thinking more along the lines of a band named after an insect...

Hmmm . . . the Mosquitoes aren't from the 60s-70s, both bands known as "The Flys" are a bit late,

I know, "The Ladybugs" from Petticoat Junction. They were cute, but not exactly earth-shattering.

[HerrBlucher]

Wasn’t there a band called the Beatles? Or is it just my imagination?

[Dr. Sivana]

Wasn’t there a band called the Beatles? Or is it just my imagination?

Those blokes? They need a haircut.

[Fiji Hill]

we won’t see an America like that again. Imagine eight and nine year old kids delivering newspapers, people lined up to go to work making large lumbering rustbuckets everywhere burning gas, people shopping in strip malls and just living their lives.

It’s a democrat’s nightmare.

Southern California was a hotbed of conservatism in the 1950's and 1960's. Norris Poulson, a Republican, served as mayor of LA from 1953 to 1961, and he was succeeded by Sam Yorty, a Democrat who was to the right of most other Democrats at the time and of just about all Republicans today.

[3Fingas]

I really envy you old timers. I am old enough to remember somethings, but my parent’s generation, the boomers, had it all. I know you can’t affix blame to one generation for everything that has happened since then, so I won’t even try. However, I get a little mad about it sometimes. We lost the culture war and all we have been doing since has been fighting a rear-guard action to protect what we have left.

[Fiji Hill]

Well, the Turtles were cool but I was thinking more along the lines of a band named after an insect.

Could it be:

The Bees?

The Crickets?

The Hornets?

[Fiji Hill]

Wasn’t there a band called the Beatles? Or is it just my imagination?

Yes, there was. And this is my favorite song by the group:

The Girl that I Love--The Beatles (1965)

[Fiji Hill]

I will give L.A. some credit for having cleaned up the air a bit.

One might also remember the eye irritation forecasts that were part of the weather reports on the radio--for example, "light to moderate eye irritation can be expected today."

[notaliberal]

Remember when you drove through Norwalk it smelled like a dairy, especially on a foggy night!…..P…U

[dfwgator]

Wasn’t there a band called the Beatles?

I think that was the name of the band Paul McCartney was in before he was in Wings.

[Vaduz]

Pre liberal days were a fine time and now lost forever.

[lowbridge]

The Mosquitoes?

[Rebelbase]

At 1:17 shows a cashier ringing up groceries. $1.39 for a lb. of coffee and .45 for six of small coke bottles.

[Freestate316]

I seem to remember an episode where Harry Morgan went undercover to make a drug buy wearing a headband and fringe jacket

[Lazamataz]

Remember when you drove through Norwalk it smelled like a dairy, especially on a foggy night!…..P…U

Yeah, and now it smells like a fairy, especially on a doggy night!…..P…U