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  #18961  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2014, 1:28 AM
Retired_in_Texas Retired_in_Texas is offline
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Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire View Post


But since you persist... I have to tell you, FredH's top photo is emphatically not a Roadmaster. It is a Century--the red underscore of the model id on the bodyside is almost visible (this red highlight is not on Special or Super side ids, and of course, not on RMs because they carried no such side id). RMs carried its model id in script across the trunk and also carries two chrome handles low on the lid instead of the larger single chrome emblem assembly on the other three series, visible in both of FredH's photos. In addition, the RM has two large chrome shields on its lower rear fenders behind the wheel openings.

Gaylord you would be correct! I managed to get myself fixated on the roof turret "C" pillar forgetting/ignoring that the 2 door hardtop (Riviera) models roof turret in '55 for other than Super and Roadmaster was different while the 4 door hardtop (Riviera) models was of the same appearance, though of a different dimension, across all Buick products. (for non car nuts; in Buick's vernacular in the time the term "Riviera" signified the absence of a post to the roof in the "B" pillar position.)
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  #18962  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2014, 2:09 AM
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GaylordWilshire GaylordWilshire is offline
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Now, back to the City of Angeles...


ebay

The cover of a 1956 brochure
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  #18963  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2014, 3:02 AM
Retired_in_Texas Retired_in_Texas is offline
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http://hollywoodlocations.com/100-wi...nica-ca-90401/


http://hollywoodlocations.com/100-wi...nica-ca-90401/

Anyone want to take a guess on who had this 21 story Santa Monica building constructed that is often called the "Refrigerator" and resided in it for number of years?

Last edited by Retired_in_Texas; Jan 19, 2014 at 5:14 AM. Reason: Correction of immage and source on the Internet
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  #18964  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2014, 3:45 AM
CityBoyDoug CityBoyDoug is offline
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End of an era............

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Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire View Post

Now, back to the City of Angeles...
ebay
The cover of a 1956 brochure
This plant is totally closed. The market for US made cars died a slow death. I toured this plant in 1968.....it was really a frenzy of production. A friend of mine was a department manager at this plant in the 1960s. He used to call the company ''Generous Motors". The bonus and salaries were sky high. GM was rolling in cash. That era is finished...over....kaput.

c'est la vie
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  #18965  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2014, 5:19 AM
CityBoyDoug CityBoyDoug is offline
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Brochure a la 1955

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Originally Posted by FredH View Post


OK, guys. How about this one. They say it is a 1955 Buick Century.


http://cdm16003.contentdm.oclc.org/c...id/6292/rec/48

Here's a 1955 Buick brochure.... Century Riviera model 63.

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  #18966  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2014, 6:16 AM
Lorendoc Lorendoc is offline
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Who Lived There?

Hello Retired_in_Texas

Lawrence Welk???

P.S. You and Earl_B and GW and others provide amazingly useful expertise with the cars to the thread. In these Found photos of LA, cars are everywhere and dates are frequently nowhere. So keep at it, guys!

Last edited by Lorendoc; Jan 19, 2014 at 6:29 AM.
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  #18967  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2014, 7:05 AM
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Those Who Squirm! Those Who Squirm! is offline
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It seems entirely possible; county records give a build date of 1924 for the structure at 3601 S. Western Avenue. However, in the 1928 photo it seems that most of the property is just a loggia-like open space with no actual building as such. Maybe they added in some lath and plaster between the original posts, but if they did that, it's rather odd that such an extensive remodel isn't listed on the record.

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Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire View Post
GSV

Can't help but speculate that the wooden Western Market might still stand under stucco. The massing is the same.... It also appears that the building to its left may be the same--note the horizontal detailing; and behind it from the corner perspective in the then and the now shots there seems to be another survivor. If anyone is driving by the corner of Western and 36th, perhaps you'll stop by and check out the interior of the market for clews (as the papers used to spell it).


GSV
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  #18968  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2014, 5:13 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire View Post



Now, back to the City of Angeles...


ebay

The cover of a 1956 brochure
This is why i love this board! With the car auctions on TV yesterday and all the talk about Buicks, I wanted to see where my 66 Wildcat was built. I knew it was made in South Gate but finding pics of the plant has been hard, I did find out the plant produced BOP and Later Chevys and closed in the early 80s. So you can understand my surprise today when i checked the board and GW posted the flyer. Many thanks to all of you for knowing what i wanted when i wanted it....and here is my work in progress.

[IMG][/IMG]
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  #18969  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2014, 6:49 PM
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USC has a series of assembly line pictures that it says were taken at the General Motors South Gate Plant in 1952. They give the address as 7700 Tweedy Boulevard, but this is obviously a typo as the GM plant was actually at 2700 Tweedy Boulevard (confirmed by the 1956 CD). Most of the pictures show Pontiacs, and I don't want to start another argument, but I believe the car at the front is a Dodge Coronet. It's picture eight in a series of ten, so could this Dodge really be in a GM plant, of has the picture been placed in the wrong set?


USC Digital Library

Here's how the plant looked in 1952.


Historic Aerials

Not long to go - this aerial shows how the plant had grown slightly by 1980.


Historic Aerials

After the plant was demolished, the site was cleaned up before the South East High School opened in 2005. This is what the former assembly plant site looks like today.


Google Maps

Last edited by HossC; Jan 19, 2014 at 7:38 PM.
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  #18970  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2014, 7:28 PM
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alester young alester young is offline
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Originally Posted by unihikid View Post
This is why i love this board! With the car auctions on TV yas made in South Gate but finding pics of the plant has been hard, I did find out the plant produced BOP and Later Chevys and closed in the early esterday and all the talk about Buicks, I wanted to see where my 66 Wildcat was built.

[/URL][/IMG]
Like your car, unihikid. I have always liked the '65 and '66 pillarless Chevrolet Impalas and Buick Wildcats. There's a timeless elegance about them. They look really good in the period metallic turquoise. Good to know that some were built at South Gate -is there an identifier on the Vehicle Identifiction Plate for the plant to look out for? Would be good to know if and when I ever get around to finding one. It would be great to have a Californian built one.

Last edited by alester young; Jan 19, 2014 at 8:40 PM. Reason: Word Buick added.
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  #18971  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2014, 8:08 PM
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GaylordWilshire GaylordWilshire is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by unihikid View Post
This is why i love this board! With the car auctions on TV yesterday and all the talk about Buicks, I wanted to see where my 66 Wildcat was built. I knew it was made in South Gate but finding pics of the plant has been hard, I did find out the plant produced BOP and Later Chevys and closed in the early 80s. So you can understand my surprise today when i checked the board and GW posted the flyer. Many thanks to all of you for knowing what i wanted when i wanted it....and here is my work in progress.

[IMG][/IMG]
unihikid: There are a number of websites on which you can decode your car's data plate, which should be riveted to the left front door hinge pillar, and, if your engine is original to the car, matches the one stamped on it.

The first six digits of your serial number (VIN) should be 464396--followed by a letter, which, if built at South Gate, is "C"--followed by a six-digit production number.

EDIT: Sorry--now I realize you weren't even asking. You probably already know how to decode. Btw, if you're not already a member, you might want to consider joining the Buick Club of America--great support, home of the real Buick aficionado.


HossC: The labeling of that picture with the Dodge ('51 or '52) is in error--there is no chance that a GM plant would have built Chrysler products.

Last edited by GaylordWilshire; Jan 19, 2014 at 9:08 PM.
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  #18972  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2014, 8:53 PM
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Interesting musing that easily raises the same question about every aging city in the country with a more than aging central business districts and nearby housing areas. From personal observation and feeling I would somewhat liken today's "urbanists" to not being too unlike sewer rats that never see the light of day. They, like the rats will have adapted to the environment they are in and will remain until something forces them out. I view them as a throw back to the thinking of the horse and buggy days where the idea of being able to sustain life to a level acceptable to them is based on work place access and access to some level of shopping on foot and/or via public transportation.
For perhaps the first fifty years after the second World War, cities didn't work in America because nobody in power really wanted them to work. While most of the country was becoming car-dependent and suburbanized, Robert Moses was trying to turn even NYC into L.A. as far as urban planning and transit (or the lack of it) went. Among other things, according to the Wiki article, he intentionally placed recreational facilities like swimming pools far from mass transit, so you had to have a car to go there--as many pointed out, a not-too-subtle way of favoring Anglos. We all remember now that, in the 1970s, NYC was the poster child for all of America's urban ills. More recently, in the early 1990s it was L.A., and far too many still think the entire city south of the 10 and east of the 405 is "the ghetto", if not an all-out war zone.

What's different today is that more people are attracted to the idea of urban living if it means not having to spend so much of your cash, time, and patience on your car, and not having to pony up $15 or $20 just to park at the museum or the football game--or for that matter, five days a week at the office. Even the process of driving, itself, becomes a burden when you are doing 15 mph on the 10, or when it takes you a half hour to crawl from Barrington Avenue to Sepulveda because the 405 on-ramp is backed up to Bundy. You just want to keep your windows up and the AC on so you can hear the radio or music player and frankly it's depressing. In such conditions, the original appeal of being able to drive everywhere loses a lot of its luster.

It's certainly not as if everyone wants to move back to living in city apartments, but then it's not necessary for everyone to do so to make it viable. It only needs enough people.

As for me, I'll gladly endure this:


(Own work)

…and this


(Own work)


if it means I don't have to do this:


L.A. Weekly (http://www.laweekly.com/binary/b29a/traffic.jam_prv.jpg)

Granted there are times when using transit is isn’t practical, but without it being one of those times I’ll never drive myself into DTLA again.
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  #18973  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2014, 8:53 PM
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No worries GW i found out all that info when i was trying to figure out the original color (silver with a black vinyl top),and thanks AL,i bought the car less than a mile from the old plant on alemeda and the place was about to crush it. Im not a memeber of BCOA yet,but one day soon. But like GW back to los angeles...although i do keep an eye out for 66 buicks in all of the post.
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  #18974  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2014, 9:34 PM
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Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire View Post
HossC: The labeling of that picture with the Dodge ('51 or '52) is in error--there is no chance that a GM plant would have built Chrysler products.
Thanks, GW. I couldn't think of a good reason for a Dodge to be in a GM factory. I assume the photo was probably taken at the Chrysler plant in Commerce which operated between 1932 and 1971. There's a good article about the Commerce site on allpar.com. Here's how that factory looked in 1953.


Historic Aerials

And how the site looks today.


Google Maps

This picture is another one from the USC set. It's far more plausible that this Pontiac was being built in the GM plant at South Gate.


USC Digital Library
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  #18975  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2014, 10:09 PM
CityBoyDoug CityBoyDoug is offline
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The new NOIR economy......

Quote:
Originally Posted by HossC View Post
Thanks, GW. I couldn't think of a good reason for a Dodge to be in a GM factory. I assume the photo was probably taken at the Chrysler plant in Commerce which operated between 1932 and 1971. There's a good article about the Commerce site on allpar.com. Here's how that factory looked in 1953.


Historic Aerials

And how the site looks today.


Google Maps

This picture is another one from the USC set. It's far more plausible that this Pontiac was being built in the GM plant at South Gate.
The photos Hoss posted are mute testimony as the the state of affairs as of today. In the era from 1950 to 1970 we had an average of 4 people applying for each available job in the Los Angeles area. Today its about one thousand people applying for each full-time job with benefits. This is the new NOIR....much sadness and despair.

Here is the now closed Chrysler plant in Commerce...circa 1940.


LAPL

LAPL
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  #18976  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2014, 11:22 PM
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Here's something a little more fun. It's Woofy the Walrus at Marineland of the Pacific in 1965.


Ebay

Previous post about Marineland of the Pacific:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=4086
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  #18977  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2014, 12:26 AM
Retired_in_Texas Retired_in_Texas is offline
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Originally Posted by Lorendoc View Post
Hello Retired_in_Texas

Lawrence Welk???

P.S. You and Earl_B and GW and others provide amazingly useful expertise with the cars to the thread. In these Found photos of LA, cars are everywhere and dates are frequently nowhere. So keep at it, guys!
Yup it was Lawrence Welk. I've been attempting to stick a label on its architectural style/type, but haven't come to a conclusion other than latter half 20th Century Metro Gothic. It's seems a bit Modern Streamline in leanings and then looses it with those columns that I see as unnecessary clutter. A real oddity about that building is it has no parking garage or area. Go Figure!

About the auto identity bit, even "motorheads" like me can be wrong, as I recently proved. Personally I happen to be a somewhat serious collector of '50s, '60s, and '70s cars having some eleven of them of various makes and though having a rather extensive library of auto info going back to the 1920s I can still miss the mark on identity. Built my first hot rod in 1955 at the ripe age of 14.
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  #18978  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2014, 1:23 AM
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GaylordWilshire GaylordWilshire is offline
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Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug View Post
The photos Hoss posted are mute testimony as the the state of affairs as of today. In the era from 1950 to 1970 we had an average of 4 people applying for each available job in the Los Angeles area. Today its about one thousand people applying for each full-time job with benefits. This is the new NOIR....much sadness and despair.
CBG: I have to say, your anhedonic observations always manage to make this nearly 60-year-old cynic-by-nature feel young and optimistic. Thanks! Ain't life great?
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  #18979  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2014, 1:39 AM
ProphetM ProphetM is offline
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Originally Posted by Retired_in_Texas View Post
Yup it was Lawrence Welk. I've been attempting to stick a label on its architectural style/type, but haven't come to a conclusion other than latter half 20th Century Metro Gothic. It's seems a bit Modern Streamline in leanings and then looses it with those columns that I see as unnecessary clutter. A real oddity about that building is it has no parking garage or area. Go Figure!
One of the photos in your linkback to hollywoodlocations.com shows the top of a parking garage. It would appear that the building next door to the tower, bounded by Wilshire & 2nd, serves as the parking area for the tower. Though they are separated by an alley, maybe they're connected below ground level?

EDIT: yup, parking for the tower is primarily at 120 Wilshire, which is a 7-level garage, mostly below grade. There is also parking next door at 1221 Ocean Ave.
http://www.100wilshireblvd.info/main...es&pid=parking
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  #18980  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2014, 1:55 AM
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GaylordWilshire GaylordWilshire is offline
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Two towers coming down




Left, seen here before at http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=11234 and right, well, also seen here before, but I'll make it a guessing game.
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