[hereinvannuys]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Mystery photo?

Eesomest/Flickr

It's not a mystery as to one of the people in this photo, Clark Gable.

Lots of text to go with the photo by the original poster:

My aunt, Virginia, with Clark Gable, perhaps in Van Nuys, California (c. 1944). She was modeling then, and had gotten an invitation from a friend to see the motorcycle hill climbs, which were evidently a regular weekend event. Gable and his friends were motorcycling enthusiasts, and my aunt met a few of them there. As one of the group happened to be a photographer, and happened to have color film loaded in the camera, this image must have been in the, uh, stars.

I think my aunt was eighteen at the time, and says that Gable was the biggest thing in Hollywood. One might imagine the impression this meeting left on her, newly arrived in Los Angeles. She never saw him again in person.

I don't know exactly where the photograph was made. To my aunt's recollection, the group didn't drive far into the San Fernando Valley, which leads me to think it might have been near Ventura Boulevard. The then-undeveloped Santa Monica mountains probably would have made for a good place for the hill climbs.

I don't believe Gable signed the photo, despite the autograph. The signature doesn't match well with other specimens I've seen online. Too, I don't know why the word "Tex" appears in the upper right hand corner, other than that my aunt had decided to go by the nickname for awhile. It may be that the photographer wrote both of these items on the photo to remind him of his subjects.
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Clue? Can we find the location using that sign on the right? It looks like three words. The second and third words are MILITARY ACADEMY, but the first one?
Anyone know any Military Academy's in the valley in 1944?

Somewhere else on this forum I saw a photo in Venice, CA of a California Military Academy. It was located at 4001 Venice Blvd. http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show....php?p=7139165

So this photo of your aunt and Clark Gable probably was shot in Venice.