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Cruising Hollywood Blvd Circa 1957


HOrnbrod
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Nice video.  Had forgotten how many buses used to be in Los Angeles of the 1950's  Also not shown, were the electric buses in the Downtown area.  Then there were the fixed rail Pacific Electric rail cars.  All most got myself killed by one of those when I was a kid.

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Cool vid.  Unfortunately, the edit guy has it wrong.  That footage was shot much later than 1953.  Several '57 Chevys and Caddys.  

 

Apparently they hadn't come up with left turn arrows at intersections yet......saw several left turns that were sketchy as the traffic moved forward...... and that powder blue T-Bird nearly got mangled by the film car....... lol.

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Cool vid.  Unfortunately, the edit guy has it wrong.  That footage was shot much later than 1953.  Several '57 Chevys and Caddys.  

 

Agree - had to be 57 or 58 when the video was filmed. What surprised me most were the cars I thought appeared more than any others were the 49-51 "shoebox" Ford flathead V8s. And they were at least six years old at that time. There were quite a few Mercurys too. I really enjoyed watching this and just had to share.

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Not so Rob.  Bet you never had to practice "Duck and Cover" when you were in school.  Never had to get polio shots in school either.  And you never had to worry about getting drafted...

I looked at a bit differently back then. The Cold War was in high gear, Nam was gearing up, so the "Duck and Cover" drill was US-wide. SOP, no problem.

 

I didn't worry about getting drafted, but wanted to control my own destiny. Instead of being drafted, or running away to Canada, I joined the Navy. Ended up on a diesel submarine and my first cruise was a run down south to Cuba during the Bay of Pigs crisis. Our boat evacuated a lot of US folks there, and I think to this day that operation was the beginning of the eventual downfall of the Russian Bear menace.

 

Lots of political crap going on then and in retrospect seems ridiculous now, but you did what you had to do where I came from. I think Rob understands.

 

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I get it. I am born in a generation that has been branded with a sense of entitlement. Participation awards. Laziness. Lack of common sense with anything but a computer. Disrespectful. Don't get me wrong, not everyone in my era is an idiot, just more than not...

 

I got lost for 4 minutes while watching that video. I saw a time that I longed for.

 

Rob

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Not so Rob.  Bet you never had to practice "Duck and Cover" when you were in school.  Never had to get polio shots in school either.  And you never had to worry about getting drafted...

I looked at a bit differently back then. The Cold War was in high gear, Nam was gearing up, so the "Duck and Cover" drill was US-wide. SOP, no problem.

 

I didn't worry about getting drafted, but wanted to control my own destiny. Instead of being drafted, or running away to Canada, I joined the Navy. Ended up on a diesel submarine and my first cruise was a run down south to Cuba during the Bay of Pigs crisis. Our boat evacuated a lot of US folks there, and I think to this day that operation was the beginning of the eventual downfall of the Russian Bear menace.

 

Lots of political crap going on then and in retrospect seems ridiculous now, but you did what you had to do where I came from. I think Rob understands.

 

 

Don, 1961 in the navy?  You are a couple years older than me.  I volunteered for the army, but got a medical discharge in 1969 before I could finish basic.

 

Rob, what I was trying to say is that we have only today and we all live in today.  the 1950's and 60's are good to look back on.

 

JohnnyC, I was looking for the Chinese theater - think it is/was a couple of blocks away from Pantages.  Didn't see the Capital Records building at Hollywood and Vine.  It was not built till April 1956, but should have been there.  Maybe a different corner?

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Let this old fart do some reminiscing. Bought my first car when I was 14. A 1934 Chevy Master DeLuxe. 4dr.Cost me $35. Been driving a farm truck for a couple years so knew how to drive. Traded it off for a 1938 Chevy 2dr. Drove the holy piss out of that sucker for a couple months until Freddy, The local cop, caught me and made it very plain what was going to happen if he ever caught me driving it again without pates or a drivers license. Next was a 1938 Buick Century, convertable straight 8, 3 speed with overdrive. The hood on that baby was longer than most cars are today. Dual side mounts. A real chic magnet. Cost me $75 and had to call my uncle to drag it home. Seems it wasn't running at the time. Took me 3 days to figure out what was wrong and get it running. Parked it in the back yard in April, 1953 and joined the Army and went to jump school and wound up in the 11th Abn.  When I went on leave for Christmas the car was gone. Nobody knew what happened to it. I have a good idea what happened but a car just isn't worth killing your little brother over. . :MJ 1: .

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Good to hear you chime in Jim-san. I learned to drive on my Grand-Dads 39 Chevy sedan three-on-the-tree vacuum shift ripping up the dirt roads in NH when I was 12 years old. The "stick shift vs. auto" thread humors me - back then you didn't have a choice - that's all there was.  :yes:  

 

Went into the Navy because they offered me the most $$ to start - guaranteed hazardous duty pay on subs if I could qualify for the boats. I did, reported to the USS Dogfish after sub school, and the next day got underway for Cuba. Best thing I ever did. Spent the rest of my working career working for Uncle in one capacity or another. 

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The style of those cars was far superior but as to the cars themselves? Maybe not. 100,000 miles used to be a major milestone. Now your cheapest econocar better best that handily. Tires? Sucked. Heck flat tires are almost unheard of nowadays. Brakes? Not much better. Handling? On the average car a turn at any speed left all four tires on the ground and the door handle dragging. Reliability? Overheating issues. Points sucked. Period. You used to spend a lot of time keeping a car in tune and now you spend basically none. Performance? A dime a dozen 2014 Honda Accord V6 would beat a '58 vette at the drag strip and maybe a road course while hauling 5 people and getting great mileage for 200,000 miles. No, the heyday of cars is probably right now...accept that gawd they were pretty back then. I spent about 100 miles in a 1956 Dodge Custom Royal Sedan yesterday: 315 V8, push button automatic, power windows and brakes, loaded. 56,000 original miles. Smiled all day.

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Every thing you say is true. You just can't stop progress. However there is one thing you can say about the cars of the '50's that can't be said of the cars today. They had CLASS! How many of you can identify a fifties Ford, Buick, Henry J just by looking at them. Remove or cover up the two bits worth of chrome on todays modern cars and I'm willing to bet half the people reading this couldn't identify a Ford from a Toyota.

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INCOMMANDO

 

" I spent about 100 miles in a 1956 Dodge Custom Royal Sedan yesterday: 315 V8, push button automatic, power windows and brakes, loaded. 56,000 original miles. Smiled all day."

 

Bet you made some others smile also - - Did you catch the '56 Imperial ? - - 302 or thereabouts on the vid counter - -  Any pics of the Dodge?

 

 

Yeah, the 50's cars were a mixed bag - Looking back that is - You can compare 'em to modern, but why?  They were it back then - The new models unveiling event  every September was right up there with the world series & the Kaiser's birthday - - - waxing - scrubbing wide white walls - points & dual points - 10-15K onna set of tires was good & all kinds other stuff -  But that's the way it was - Nothing better commonly available - About all you had to go on was the new issue of Popular Mechanics & their insight of things to come - - - There is ONE thing about the cars back then that will/can never be beat - matched by some like a minivan for inst but never surpassed - - Those big back seats - - Drive Ins - Lovers Lanes - The Fat Man had it right about Blueberry Hill - - I did get some inna Triumph Spitfire once - but that wasn't the 50's - Couple a weeks ago - No?  Would you believe Years?  Decades?  Oh well, It did happen - Just another seems like yesterday & youngsters don't scoff - It gets there for us all.

. :MJ 1: . 

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Not so Rob.  Bet you never had to practice "Duck and Cover" when you were in school.  Never had to get polio shots in school either.  And you never had to worry about getting drafted...

 

I looked at a bit differently back then. The Cold War was in high gear, Nam was gearing up, so the "Duck and Cover" drill was US-wide. SOP, no problem.

I didn't worry about getting drafted, but wanted to control my own destiny. Instead of being drafted, or running away to Canada, I joined the Navy. Ended up on a diesel submarine and my first cruise was a run down south to Cuba during the Bay of Pigs crisis. Our boat evacuated a lot of US folks there, and I think to this day that operation was the beginning of the eventual downfall of the Russian Bear menace.

Lots of political crap going on then and in retrospect seems ridiculous now, but you did what you had to do where I came from. I think Rob understands.

Don, 1961 in the navy?  You are a couple years older than me.  I volunteered for the army, but got a medical discharge in 1969 before I could finish basic.

 

Rob, what I was trying to say is that we have only today and we all live in today.  the 1950's and 60's are good to look back on.

 

JohnnyC, I was looking for the Chinese theater - think it is/was a couple of blocks away from Pantages.  Didn't see the Capital Records building at Hollywood and Vine.  It was not built till April 1956, but should have been there.  Maybe a different corner?

 

Looks like the car was going west-to-east, away from the Chinese Theater, which is several blocks west of the Pantages. And the Capital Records building is north of Hollywood/Vine, so it wouldn't be visible from that viewpoint.

 

Last time I was at the Pantages was three years ago, when I saw a production of Phantom. What great old theaters are the Pantages and Chinese. Makes one really wax nostalgic. :)

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JohnnyC, I went to High School in La Mirada.  Used to go to Hollywood to see the "big" movies, like James Bond, 2001 Space Odyessy,  Saw Gone with the Wind for the first time at Pantages, think the Bond movies opened at Grauman's Chinese.  Lot's of fun for high school kids!  Would sometimes go to Will Rodgers State Beach in Santa Monica.  Have not been back to Hollywood since I moved to San Diego in 1981, other than just driving thru.  Was surprised to see/read that Whiskey A Go Go was still open!  I really need to get back up that way and play tourist and take a visit to the Peterson Muesum, what ever it is called now.

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Yeah, I remember seeing Star Wars and Superman at the Chinese. Last summer, I played like a tourist and took the TMZ bus tour through Hollywood and Beverly Hills. It was fun. I'd also like to check out the Petersen Museum.

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