Hollywood Downtowner Inn Motel - Hollywood, California USA
Credit: douglasspics (Dave & Anna Douglass) on Flickr via the Southern California Architecture group pool.
While the focus of Old L.A. Restaurants is obviously on Los Angeles, it should be easy to enjoy its retro/vintage content no matter where one is from. So far, names familiar outside of the area such as A&W, Farrell’s, and Love’s have been covered along with places that were only known to Californians. Best of all, it comes with the well-crafted and informative writing of Mark Evanier who also writes the wonderful News from Me blog. Make sure to check out his story on The Lobster Barrel, a small SoCal chain owned in part by Alan “Skipper” Hale of Gilligan’s Island.
Thrifty “Cut Rate” Drug Store - November 1952 - grand opening advertisement for the location in the Baldwin Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California USA
The latest post from one of my favorite blogs — Pleasant Family Shopping — is up, and it was indeed pleasant to see a whole post devoted to the Los Angeles area. Even as a relative latecomer to southern California, I can report there are still plenty of hints of how pleasant LA and its surrounding suburbs indeed were for shopping in the decades before areas became overbuilt, traffic became ridiculous, and attitudes turned hard. As always, PFS does a great job of highlighting those times with a ton of historical information and touches of good humor.
For me, the highlight of the post is the cut-out from an advertisement announcing the grand opening of a new Thrifty “Cut Rate” Drug Store location in Baldwin Hills. To show part of why this is so special to Californians especially those in the LA area, here is one paragraph from the post.
The Baldwin Hills Thrifty attained instant landmark status due to its massive sign tower, affectionately named the “Trilon”. At 65 feet tall with three 15 by 35 foot faces (Weighing in at 12 tons, according to the Los Angeles Times. Did somebody throw this thing on a scale?) and a unique, funky steel structure design that brings to (my) mind some of Alexander Calder’s “stabile” sculpture pieces, the Trilon certainly served its purpose as an attention-getter for Thrifty.To be honest, what most people that have lived in California remember the most about Thrifty is going there on hot summer days and nights for its very inexpensive but still quite good ice cream. Yes, “Thrifty Ice Cream” is still available at the chain that bought Thrifty out, Rite Aid, but it’s just not the same (not to mention that Rite Aid supported SOPA and PIPA so I’ll never step foot in one of their stores ever again).
Anyway…clicking on the picture links to the great post where it can be seen at full size along with many other pictures from that era in LA’s shopping history. The whole article is a worthwhile read for any Californian, fans of retro/vintage design, or pop culture history buffs.
Academy Theater - Inglewood, California U.S.A.
Lost Future.
(via Julius Shulman Photography Archive and pdn)
Things have not been good in the radio industry for many years but today, October 26, 2011, just might become known as Black Wednesday in the business. The largest of all radio conglomerates, Clear Channel Communications, has been handing out pink slips like Halloween candy in almost every market it infects. However, the biggest insult might have come from Cumulus Media which recently bought out Citadel Broadcasting and grabbed control of famed rock station KLOS in Los Angeles.
Pictured is Jim Ladd who was perhaps the last disk jockey left on any commercial station of any format that was allowed to select his own music. Pink Floyd fans would recognize him as the DJ on the Roger Waters solo album, Radio K.A.O.S.. Tom Petty fans might know that Ladd was the inspiration for The Last DJ. He has been a staple of the Los Angeles rock radio scene since the 1970’s and was just as relevant and sharp today as he was when he started.
Jim Ladd was unceremoniously fired today by Cumulus. He was not given a chance to say goodbye or do a farewell show.
Yes, perhaps music radio has been the cruelest of all of the forms of show business even before the days of deregulation and broadcasting conglomerates. That being said, the firing of Ladd and many more all across the country today shows two things
1. The radio conglomerates are still completely clueless about how to save radio with programming and personalities that are connected to the market.
2. All that matters to Clear Channel, Cumulus, Entercom, and all the rest is what Wall Street has to say about their overall portfolios, not good ratings much less good radio. It’s the same problem that infects all other commercial endeavors in the United States right now where the end customer means nothing.
While I have a good feeling that Jim Ladd might end up on anther station here in Los Angeles, I don’t feel that good about everybody else that got dumped today much less the industry as a whole. For those that only know me through Tumblr, I would like to offer the following link that is on my long form blog at KoHoSo.us. Covering stations of almost every type (mainly minus urban, hip-hop, top 40, and adult contemporary that I do not care for), it is a list of what I believe are the best over-the-air radio stations in the U.S.A. and Canada that also stream online. With only a very few exceptions, all of the listed stations are either independently-owned or non-commercial. I hope that my readers will take a look at this page, not because I want the attention, but because they will find some great music and see that over-the-air radio still has something good to offer.
Radio | KoHoSo.us
Pictured is Jim Ladd who was perhaps the last disk jockey left on any commercial station of any format that was allowed to select his own music. Pink Floyd fans would recognize him as the DJ on the Roger Waters solo album, Radio K.A.O.S.. Tom Petty fans might know that Ladd was the inspiration for The Last DJ. He has been a staple of the Los Angeles rock radio scene since the 1970’s and was just as relevant and sharp today as he was when he started.
Jim Ladd was unceremoniously fired today by Cumulus. He was not given a chance to say goodbye or do a farewell show.
Yes, perhaps music radio has been the cruelest of all of the forms of show business even before the days of deregulation and broadcasting conglomerates. That being said, the firing of Ladd and many more all across the country today shows two things
1. The radio conglomerates are still completely clueless about how to save radio with programming and personalities that are connected to the market.
2. All that matters to Clear Channel, Cumulus, Entercom, and all the rest is what Wall Street has to say about their overall portfolios, not good ratings much less good radio. It’s the same problem that infects all other commercial endeavors in the United States right now where the end customer means nothing.
While I have a good feeling that Jim Ladd might end up on anther station here in Los Angeles, I don’t feel that good about everybody else that got dumped today much less the industry as a whole. For those that only know me through Tumblr, I would like to offer the following link that is on my long form blog at KoHoSo.us. Covering stations of almost every type (mainly minus urban, hip-hop, top 40, and adult contemporary that I do not care for), it is a list of what I believe are the best over-the-air radio stations in the U.S.A. and Canada that also stream online. With only a very few exceptions, all of the listed stations are either independently-owned or non-commercial. I hope that my readers will take a look at this page, not because I want the attention, but because they will find some great music and see that over-the-air radio still has something good to offer.
Radio | KoHoSo.us
As much as I really liked how the previous template was working out with my planned new retro theme for KoHoSo on Tumblr, trying to alter its coding to eliminate some of the areas that were unreadable was causing terrible grief. As one example, changing a color would change font sizes! I am now starting over with something else so, once again, please stand by.
As for the test pattern, W6XAO was the second television station licensed to Los Angeles. It is now known as KCBS-TV.
As for the test pattern, W6XAO was the second television station licensed to Los Angeles. It is now known as KCBS-TV.
I’ve seen many shows here. It’s a magnificent venue that seems to inspire magical performances out of the artists that perform on the Wiltern’s stage.
This is a somewhat older photo of this great art deco building as almost everybody in SoCal will immediately feel a slight pang of sadness in seeing the now-defunct Thrifty drug store sign.
This is a somewhat older photo of this great art deco building as almost everybody in SoCal will immediately feel a slight pang of sadness in seeing the now-defunct Thrifty drug store sign.
The Wiltern Opened 80 Years Ago. Its Survival Story Is As Grand As Its Terra-Cotta Tile
“The Wiltern Theatre opened its doors on Oct. 7, 1931, as the Warner Theatre — part of Warner Bros.’ chain of first-run movie houses — with a screening of Alexander Hamilton, starring George Arliss. A brass band played, as movie stars and other stylish guests walked the temporary “Bridge of Stars” across Wilshire Boulevard to the theater’s front doors. The bridge was decorated with lights and flowers.”
Corbin Bowl - Tarzana, California USA
(via iheartcoolshit)
Drag racing’s 1st live TV show Lions Drag Strip KTTV 1961
This is fascinating to watch not only for the great old cars but also to see the actual television coverage which must have been a huge deal to see at the time…both because it would have been so unusual (if not unprescedented) in 1961 to see live and because the Los Angeles area was (and still is) such a hotbed of drag racing.
For those not from the area, KTTV was one of LA’s long-time independent stations until it was bought by NewsCorp in the late 1980’s to become one of the flagships of the then new Fox Television Network. As for Lions Drag Strip, it closed in 1972 after 17 years of action. The announcer at the track for most events was Larry Huffman, the “Be there, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday” guy.
Credit for bringing my attention to this video goes out to Mr. Fred S. of the mysterious Margaritaville Place somewhere out along the Colorado River. Credit for posting the video goes to minirod2007 of YouTube.
This is fascinating to watch not only for the great old cars but also to see the actual television coverage which must have been a huge deal to see at the time…both because it would have been so unusual (if not unprescedented) in 1961 to see live and because the Los Angeles area was (and still is) such a hotbed of drag racing.
For those not from the area, KTTV was one of LA’s long-time independent stations until it was bought by NewsCorp in the late 1980’s to become one of the flagships of the then new Fox Television Network. As for Lions Drag Strip, it closed in 1972 after 17 years of action. The announcer at the track for most events was Larry Huffman, the “Be there, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday” guy.
Credit for bringing my attention to this video goes out to Mr. Fred S. of the mysterious Margaritaville Place somewhere out along the Colorado River. Credit for posting the video goes to minirod2007 of YouTube.
