You Can't Go Back (California Dreaming) a Box of Photos

[Omaha Steve]

Sent to me by a friend. Enjoy.

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/g_cliser/sets/72157625895927403/

[Capt.Rocky300]

1. Holy Crap Batman...........

It's de ja vu all over again for this 63 year old SoCal boy. Earlier this evening I was lamenting via email to my best friend from high school the disappearance of the Bob's Big Boy we used to frequent back in the 60's. Thanks for the trip down memory lane Steve.

[OxQQme]

21. Me too Capt.

Born 1940 in LA General.
Burbank High School class of '58.
Toluca Lake Bob's Big Boy was fave hangout.
Drag racing on finished but not opened freeway segments, and the river beds.
Cruising Hollywood weekend nights.
Whew.
Flash back city.
9 yrs old walking to school in that snow storm.
Choking on the first smog bank rolling into the valley.

I also thank you for the memories Steve.

[shanti]

25. bob's big boy

yes, everyone used to go there. it was the "after game" hangout for me and my friends in the early 70's. remember the chili spaghetti?

[pinboy3niner]

30. For some of us Valley Boys the after-game hangout was Mike's Pizza on Van Nuys Bl. at Roscoe

Van Nuys Bl. also was the cruising strip, so that was very convenient.

We also did Bob's, but McDonald's was capturing our cohort with restaurants popping up everywhere (the old red-and-white tiled ones with the huge arches).

I think it was in the early '60s that a SoCal Bob's (I think it was in Glendale or thereabouts) was busted for serving horsemeat.

Today, North of L.A. on the 14 Freeway, you can see an old Big Boy statue visible from the freeway in a junkyard...though I think we still have some Big Boy restaurants around in SoCal to this day.

[Capt.Rocky300]

31. The Chili Size............my favorite, followed by a hot fudge sundae.

[kelliekat44]

32. YESTERDAY!!!

[tinymontgomery]

2. Very cool

Thanks. Love old pictures. Just got a stack of old family pictures from the 50's and 60's, and "m scanning and then sending to family. Their loving it.

[Mojorabbit]

3. Very Cool! nt

[Sedona]

4. Fantastic Steve, thank you.

from a frustrated Angelino

[Buns_of_Fire]

5. Thank you. Loved 'em. (And I've never even BEEN to Los Angeles!)

Back in the days when supermarket openings were a big enough deal to have searchlights announcing it, there were streetcar tracks everywhere, there was still drag racing in the L.A. River, and Cucamonga was... well, I guess it was still Cucamonga.

[NJCher]

6. does that bring back memories!

I so enjoyed that. I remember going to the Thrifty Drug in Pomona with my great aunt, who lived in Pomona.

It's just amazing how these pictures bring back memories, feelings, smells...


Cher

[NV Whino]

7. Boy, that brings back memories.

[BlueCaliDem]

57. The Covina Bowling center is still there, nearly unchanged!

And still operational as a bowling alley!





http://www.city-data.com/businesses/484931688-brunswick-covina-bowl-covina-ca.html

[BlueJazz]

8. Wonderful!

[left on green only]

9. Thanks for posting this Ohaha Steve

[Iggo]

10. Yeah, you can.

Thanks.

[LeftInTX]

11. It's so clean!!!!

ETA: The 1950's were very clean, not a scrap of litter anywhere, but as I scroll down the page into the 60's, it is developing a modern patina.

[retrogal]

12. Thanks for sharing!

I have bookmarked the pics to show my mother. We moved to Garden Grove in 1960 but had family in other parts of the area that we visited. A lot of memories.

[OldDem2012]

13. Stanley....set the Wayback Machine to 1950!....

The images from the 1950s and early 1960s with the palm trees reminded me a lot of St. Pete, FL, at that time. My family lived in that city for 8 years from 1956-1963. Great memories for a kid of an endless summer.

[NBachers]

14. Wow- what a story. This is great - Thanks, Steve!

[Contrary1]

15. You can always go back..you just did.

And I go back whenever I want.

We just can't stay.

[DakotaLady]

16. A Box of Photos Indeed ...

Thank you so much for sharing this with us.

A thank you to your friend as well.

I have sent it on to a few of my high school chums who will be over the moon with this trip down memory lane.

[Tikki]

17. Been here since the mid-60's...No place I'd rather be....THANK YOU..

Favs were the pixs of drag racing in the LA River bottom. We still have an end table we bought at a White Front.

Tikki

[Aristus]

18. Fantastic pics. Thanks!

[diane in sf]

19. Thanks! Pretty awesome collection!

[Wilms]

20. :thumbsup:

[petronius]

22. Fantastic photos, thank you for posting! (nt)

[lunatica]

23. Except for the cars that looks exactly the same today in a lot of places

The suburbs in south Oakland and the towns further south look like that now. I always thought it looked like the 50s. I lived in a neighborhood that looks just like that first photo when I was married. It was and still is the American dream house.

Fortunately I liberated myself 20 years ago.

[shanti]

24. amazing photos!

i'm a 3rd gen native californian, and found these photos very interesting, especially the ones from orange county. my hometown is santa ana. loved the pics of the old, closed stores/restaurants: white front, market basket, alpha beta, bob's big boy.

thanks for sharing!

[Logical]

26. Wonderful! Thanks for posting. That house on bunker hill is amazing. Assume it is gone. n-t

[OldDem2012]

29. It might be on this website....

On Bunker Hill

Scroll down...the house may be in the color photos, but I didn't take the time to check it out.

Another set of great pictures!

[tjwash]

27. LOL...La Hermosa Beach. Made (in)famous in the Big Lebowski

STAY OUT OF MALIBU LEBOWSKI!

[redwitch]

28. I did enjoy.

Fascinating look at time gone by. I wish I had a time machine!

[2naSalit]

33. Wow

That's amazing, thank you.

[senseandsensibility]

34. Great pictures

Thanks.

[BuddhaGirl]

35. This SoCal native enjoyed these very much!

I was born in L.A. in 1962 so a lot of them were before my time, but it was so cool to see how downtown L.A. and O.C. looked way back then.

I'm forwarding this to my mom and dad, both of them grew up in L.A....my mom worked in downtown from the early fifties until I was born and she in particular will enjoy the downtown shots!

Thanks for sharing!!

[LWolf]

36. Hey, in some of those photos

you can actually see the mountains!

[gateley]

37. I was enchanted and enthralled -- and I'm not from LA! Thanks!

[Duer 157099]

38. White Front! Alpha Beta! Market Basket! Thrifty! Helms trucks!

My heart aches

[indepat]

39. Priceless collection of photos that brings back so much nostalgia. Thanks for

sharing.

[pinboy3niner]

40. I still can hear the whistle of the Helms Bakery truck driver...

Calling me, calling me....

And when Helms partnered with the L.A. Times in sponsoring a journalism scholarship contest, I won a $100 scholarship in sportswriting--for the first sports story I ever wrote, lol.

Good times, and great pics to document them.

[shanti]

44. ah yes, the helms man!

we used to love the chocolate covered donuts during summer vacation.

[pinboy3niner]

45. Wouldn't it be great to have the Helms man coming around today?

I may not be a kid any more, but I never lost my appreciation for fresh doughnuts!

Wish I could hear that whistle blow right now...

[ucralum]

41. Wow...

I find myself surprisingly moved by these. I was born in Lynwood in 1960 and have lived in LA, Orange, or Riverside County my whole life. I need to forward the link to my dad (born in Arkansas, moved here during the war at age 6 so my grandpa could work in a defense plant.)

Thank you so much!

[Bucky]

42. Back when California looked new.

[pinboy3niner]

43. And when my new housing tract in the Valley was surrounded by orange groves

Try finding an orange grove there now.

When I returned on a visit in 1986 they were bulldozing the ranch at the end of our street. The Falk Ranch--once owned by Betty Grable and Harry James--had trained quarterhorses for racing.

The beautiful eucalyptus trees around the perimeter, the white fences around the paddocks--all were disappeared for a tacky housing development.

Now there's a new "new" as the old gives way to new development in an unending process...

[CTyankee]

46. Wonderful! This CT Yankee loves Los Angeles!

One of our greatest cities...thanks so much. I loved every one of these photos!

[pinboy3niner]

47. You'e just saying that so some of us will continue to endure the torture of your Challenges

[CTyankee]

48. Of course! It has nothing to do with my grandson, daughter and son in law living there!

Plus the fact that I love the city, as a place of creativity and art.

There are wonderful and loving people in that city and its greater area....

that includes YOU, Pinboy!

[pinboy3niner]

49. You know I love you, CTyankee...despite your tortures :)

And yes, I happen to be located in the GREATER area.

[MineralMan]

50. Was there. Remember it all.

CA1945-2004.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

51. SO MANY fantastic photos!

The pix of the 110 construction were amazing to me. It looks the same and is much more of a parkway than a freeway, especially with its' "suicide ramps." Always have to warn visitors coming from north or west, my exit is a hairpin turn - TAKE IT SLOW!

Thanks, Omaha Steve, just a wonderful collection.

[villager]

52. Amazing. The freeways used to move!

Sitting in a coffee shop on Hollywood Blvd., after running a somewhat iconic L.A. errand. Good context for these.

Though the overall effect is to make me want to write noir.

[WillyT]

53. K & R !!! - Thank You For That !!!

[CrazyOrangeCat]

54. Those beautiful cars . . .

I recognize almost all of them. Thanks for posting!

[liberal N proud]

55. Awesome

That is why people wanted to move to California.

[ThoughtCriminal]

56. Nice to see L.A. City Hall

before the Martians destroyed it.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pNZb_DiYubI/SguQYAr_BiI/AAAAAAAABnc/xhN661x0hOU/s400/Capture+15.JPG