Flying Wing planes at the Northrop plant in Hawthorne, 1949.

1949, Flying Wing planes at the Northrop plant in Hawthorne, 1949.  Thank you to Lynn Thompson. 

MacArthur Park, Los Angeles, 1957

7th & Hope Streets, Los Angeles, 1933

1933, 7th and Hope Streets, Los Angeles (1933).  Thank you to Historical Los Angeles USA.

In 1933, the intersection of 7th and Hope Streets offered a glimpse into a bustling downtown Los Angeles. Streetcars and automobiles competed for space while pedestrians filled the sidewalks, heading into offices, shops, and cafes. This corner was part of a growing financial and retail hub, where Art Deco architecture rose alongside older brick buildings. The Great Depression was still gripping the nation, but the city’s rhythm carried on with resilience. Downtown LA in the early '30s was a mix of commerce, ambition, and changing times.

1940, Union Oil Building, 7th and Hope Street, Los Angeles, CA.  Thank you to Getty Images. 

Zachary All, 1983

from Wikipedia, 

Edward G. Nalbandian (December 29, 1927, Belmont, Massachusetts – February 22, 2006, Los Angeles) was the owner of Zachary All Clothing in Los Angeles, a store he opened in the 1950s at 8700 W. Pico Boulevard in the Pico-Robertson District, then moved to 5467 Wilshire Boulevard (just west of La Brea Avenue) in the Miracle Mile shopping district.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Nalbandian became a minor celebrity, making frequent appearances in (often live-streamed) commercials for his store and even on talk shows such as The Tom Duggan Show. In most of these commercials he would repeat variations on statements such as "Come on down to 5-4-6-7 Wilshire Boulevard" and that the suits at his store came in "cadet, extra short, regular, long, extra long and portlies". In one commercial, Nalbandian said of his low prices, "My friends all ask me, 'Eddie, are you kidding?' And I tell them no, my friend, I am not kidding." This inspired the Frank Zappa song Eddie, Are You Kidding? from the album Just Another Band from L.A. (1972), as well as Mark Volman's monologue to the audience in the track Once Upon a Time from the album You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1 (1988).

Altadena, 1920s

The view looks northeast at the intersection of Cahuenga Boulevard and Yucca Street, 1950s

1950s, This early photo of Hollywood offers a lot to see. The view looks northeast at the intersection of Cahuenga Boulevard and Yucca Street, where the Halifax Hotel stands on the corner. In the distance, the Capitol Records building is clearly visible. Several large signs stand out, including one for the Hotel Knickerbocker. At the lower left, a sign for Biff’s Coffee Shop points toward a lot adjacent to the corner Union 76 station. Interesting note: Although Tiny Naylor was best known for his Tiny Naylor’s restaurant chain, his first restaurant in the area was Biff’s—named after his son.  Thank you to Jack Feldman.

from Water and Power Museum,

Halifax was known for its gangster clientele in the 1930s and 1940s.  Across the street, on the north side of Yucca (next to the Richfield station) was the apartment building where Ed Wood lived when he filmed most of his movies.  

The cool Googie restaurant on the north side of Yucca Street was across from the Green Apartments, where Carol Burnett lived with her grandmother while attending Hollywood High School in the 1950s.

History Thru Song

1977, "Watching the Detectives," Elvis Costello. 

1980, "Charlie Don't Surf" is a line from the 1979 war film Apocalypse Now, notably referenced in popular culture.  The song was released in 1979. 

from SongFacts,

The title comes from a line of dialogue spoken by the character Colonel Kilgore, a US cavalry officer obsessed with surfing played by Robert Duvall in the 1979 film Apocalypse Now. His most famous quote from that film - "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" - perhaps also inspired the lyric "Charlie's gonna be a napalm star."

1978, "Lotta Love," Nicolette Larson.  She's terrific in this 1980 Nitty Gritty Dirt Band song, "Make a Little Magic," 1980.

1980, Recorded in 1979, and released in 1980, Squeeze had a hit in the early 80s titled "Pulling Muscles from a Shell."  We thought it was one of the coolest songs.  Obviously, there was the British invasion of the 1960s, but there was also the psychedelic rock invasion of the British, too, with Led Zepellin and Hoco Param, but there was also the British invasion of the early 1980s with all of the new wave and Mod songs.  Will never forget the concerts I attended with Roy Parker, Lance, Chris, Sally, and others to see the English Beat and then The Specials on Halloween night.  Fantastic memory.  

1981, Men at Work, "Down Under," 1981.  I enjoyed taking Debbie Jordan from San Diego, who attended SDSU, home of the Aztecs. We attended a football game against Brigham Young. I was mildly impressed with that.  I met her in a bar down in Solana Beach in 1983. Joe and Mike L. were with.  We danced.  We drank 1 or 2, then asked the gals if they wanted to walk on the beach.  They did.  We walked and talked.  Joe went off with his date and kissed. I wasn't so lucky.  But I did get Debbie's phone number and we went out on a date. It was nice. I met her mother.  Later that summer I took her to a Men at Work concert at the Greek and had a blast.  I also invited her to a Halloween party out at Sally's.  Debbie's brother worked and lived in Pasadena, so she stayed with him. 

1981, Will never forget how this Men at Work song, "Who Can It Be Now?," 1981, played on the radio frequently through the night at the Baldwin Park UPS hub where I worked from 1980 to 1983.

1981, "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes got regular airtime.  

1982, Joe Jackson's "Steppin' Out."  Another British tune under whose spell we were falling. 

1982, Psychedelic Furs, "Love My Way."  I was working at at UPS as a loader from 12am to 7am at the Baldwin Park facility, biding my time until my name on the list for drivers got called up.  I'd get off at 7am, go home and shower then run over to Citrus for one to two classes.  I think I took archery and golf.  Anyway, this Psychedelic Furs song played all the time on the radio, like KROQ.

1985, "After the Fire," written by Pete Townsend.  This analysis is pretty general but decent.  The song is basically about growing up without surrendering the creative fires.  The Matt Dillon line, "I saw Matt Dillon in black and white; there ain't no color in memories / He rode his brother's Harley across the TV while I was laughing at Dom DeLuise," is a reference to the 1983 Francis Ford Coppola movie, Rumble Fish, starring Matt Dillon.

1986, Eddie Money's, 1949-2019, song "Take Me Home Tonight," 1986, is great because of Ronnie Spector, 1943-2022, of the Ronettes, who sings that beautiful but powerful refrain, "Be My [Little] Baby," which is a tribute to her 1963 song of the same name.  "Just like Ronnie sang, Be My Little Baby."

1988, Edie Bricknell's "What I Am" got good airplay too.  She's the wife of Paul Simon of Simon and Garfunkel.  I can't recall too many experiences with regard to this song, although it kind of made me think of 

1998, "Iris," Goo Goo Dolls, 1998, sung by lead singer, John Rzeznik, who reminds me of Keith Urban.  The first time I saw this music video was in 2011 or 2012, close to my time ending with the murderous mobs of LAUSD.  And the singer and song made an impression on me that love seemed like everything, and it must because it's when we lose love that we feel isolated and broken.

2001, "In the End" by Linkin Park.  Like most songs of those years, I'd heard on the radio once or twice, couldn't identify the band, lead singer, or the title of the piece.  Then when I was out on a date with Joanne to Musso and Frank's in Hollywood, Joanne and I were sitting in my parked car and this Linkin Park played, and I said "Let me just sit here and listen to this."  And I couldn't believe the shattering voice of Chester Pennington, screaming for love, recognition, and gratitude for his sacrifices in his work.  I miss you, Joanne.

2010, Foster the People--Pumped Up Kicks, 2010.  My memory of this song makes me laugh because although it played regularly on the radio, I didn't quite hear the lyrics.  So when I first heard that "you better run, better run faster than my bullet," it shocked me.  LOL  Made me think again how degraded our culture was becoming.  The culture wasn't getting degraded.  I was.

2011, "Somebody That I Used to Know," a duet by Gotye [that's the guy's name] and Kimbra.  I was teaching at Jefferson New Tech, a small learning community, SLC, handed over to a pilot program under the helm of the incompetent gangbanging principal, Brenda Pensamiento

City Terrace, Los Angeles, CA, 1923

 

City Terrace is just west of Monterey Park, between Monterey Park and Boyle Heights, north of East LA.

 

Aftermath, 1933 Long Beach Earthquake

See this Instagram post by @forgottenmadness_la https://t.co/C8BV3qSPw9

— St. Michael, the Archangel (@aveng_angel) March 15, 2025

Here is the direct link to the Instagram account. 

Compton, CA 1927

1927, Los Angeles River flooded by torrential rain seen from the Compton Bridge, Compton, CA, 1927.

Flooding in Compton in 1927 (…and also in the 1930s, see update below).

Likely taken the same day as the Atwater flood photos that I posted last month, these 98-year-old images show Compton after heavy storms in February 1927 that affected not only LA but much of the Southwest. But this was not new for Compton. With Compton Creek being a major tributary of the Los Angeles River, the town often flooded during heavy storms, going all the way back to the 1890s.

Things got much worse in 1924, when the Los Angeles Board of Public Works announced its own new flood control plans, which involved directing LA’s drainage into the flood-prone Compton Creek. Newspapers at the time reported it as “a death-blow to Compton,” with the Long Beach Press Telegram calling it: “the latest effort of Los Angeles to wipe [Compton] off the map.”

After two years of being ignored, Compton managed to get themselves invited to the table in 1926 to discuss the installation of a drainage system under its streets (to save face, a Board representative asked reporters, “Why didn’t Compton come to us about this two or three years ago?”).

Now, I don’t know whether the 1927 plan was ever implemented. While I’ve found hundreds of newspaper articles discussing and debating that plan from 1927 through 1936, I can’t find any on its construction. What I do know is that, following the great flood of 1938, the creek was encased in concrete as part of the first phase of channelizing the Los Angeles River, finally providing relief to the area.

Slide 2 is the old Compton City Hall - one of my favorite historical buildings, often hit by floods but finally killed by the Long Beach earthquake of 1933.

Slide 3 shows a Security Savings & Trust Bank branch, while Slide 7 shows Star Cafe. Both were on Compton’s Main Street, which was later renamed Compton Boulevard.

All photos except Slide 2 from @uclalibrary are from Cal State Dominguez Hills.  3,7,10-14 by George R. Watson for the LA Times.

**UPDATE** Since writing this caption, I’ve realized that these show at least two floods. Slides 2,3,7,10-14 are 1927, while Slides 1,4-6,8,9 were taken between 1936 and 1938.   

forgottenmadness_la

18h.

If anybody is wondering about that 1926 label on Slide 2, it has been applied to the physical copy that is archived with Cal State Dominguez Hills. I'm including it here as I believe it might be wrong. Los Angeles Public Library has this same photo dated as 1928, which I think is also wrong (it's in their Security Pacific National Bank Collection, which librarians have told me contained many errors and left much to be desired when they took custody of that archive and they've been making corrections wherever they can). And, while i don't mean to doubt the records of Cal State Dominguez Hills, their collection contains another photo of this same building submerged by this same flood and that one is labeled as the flood of 1938, which would have been five years after it came down, so I just don't trust the 1926 label. I do see that there was some flooding in 1926, but the flood photographed in the rest of these images is more consistent with that in photo 2. Just a feeling. If I'm wrong and it was indeed taken in 1926 during a lesser flood, then on this day, it would likely have looked just like it does here or worse.

Looking South on Broadway from 4th Street, Los Angeles, 1931

1931, Looking South on Broadway from 4th Street, Los Angeles.  Thank you to Historical Los Angeles, USA.

Intersection of West Temple Street and North Broadway, Los Angeles, 1932

1932, Intersection of West Temple Street and North Broadway, Los Angeles.  Thank you to Historical Los Angeles, CA.  

W. 8th Street and S. Broadway, Los Angeles, 1931

1931, West 8th Street and South Broadway, Los Angeles, CA.  Thank you to Historical Los Angeles, USA.

1935, Looking South on Broadway at 8th Street, Los Angeles (1935).  Posted Saturday, March 15, 2025. 

By 1935, Broadway and 8th Street had become a thriving commercial hub in downtown Los Angeles, lined with department stores, theaters, and bustling street activity. This southward view captures the energy of the era, with pedestrians filling the sidewalks and streetcars weaving through rows of automobiles. The tall buildings flanking the street housed a mix of businesses, reflecting the city’s rapid economic growth despite the lingering effects of the Great Depression. This intersection remained one of the busiest in Los Angeles, a testament to the city's expanding urban landscape.  Thank you to Historical Los Angeles, USA.

1937, This view looking north up Broadway from 8th includes pedestrians, cars, streetcars, and a long vista of buildings. The President Theater on the right shows Stella Dallas, also known as the Globe Theater. Further up, a blade sign for the Pig 'n' Whistle (712 South Broadway), across the street Mode o' Day and the Loews State theater (707 South Broadway) signs are also visible. (Herman J Schultheis Collection) https://buff.ly/550vmLc. Thank you to LAPL.  Posted Thursday, March 13, 2025.

1950s, 8th and Broadway, Home Savings Bank building.  (Albert L. Bresnik - Herald Examiner Collection)  https://buff.ly/3YowSXF.  Thank you to LAPL.  Reposted here on Thursday, March 13, 2025, from an October 22, 2024, post.

Cabrillo Way Marina, March 2025

Was in Cabrillo Marina yesterday, Saturday, March 8, 2025, looking for yachts.  

LA Dodgers Spring Training, Vero Beach, Florida, 1960

1960 was rookie season for Frank Howard, 1936-2023, nicknamed "Hondo," "The Washington Monument," and "the Capital Punisher."

Larry Sherry, 1935-2006, "one-man sensation of the World Series."  [71 years old]

Rip Ripulski, 1928-1993, only 65 years old. 

Charlie Neal, 1931-1996, [65 years old], "an effective hitter." 

Wally Moon, 1930-2018.  "Rip Ripulski and Wally Moon, pacemakers for 1960."  Perfect throw from Moon to Neal to throw out Stan Musial.  

Oil field in Inglewood, CA, 1920s

1920s, An oil field in Inglewood, CA.  Thank you to Lynn Thompson. 

Bridge over the Mojave River, Victorville, CA, 1952

1952, Bridge over the Mojave River, Victorville, CA.  Thank you to Lynn Thompson.

Fontana International Dragway, 1960s

1960s, Fontana International Dragway.  Thank you to Lynn Thompson.

Zoot Suit Riots, Main Street, DTLA, 1943

1943, The Zoot Suit Riots, Main Street, DTLA - 1943.  Thank you to David Smith.  

Someone made the case that this is an example of unrelenting racism, and I replied that it has more to do with counterculture.  Fashion movements tend to call people together in rebellion of current events.  The Zoot Suit style originated in the 1920s with black theater, then popularized in the 1930s and 1940s by black dance moves who liked the depleted pants that afforded them greater movement while dancing.  Other cultures caught on, but it were blacks who started it.  

So the year is 1943, two years into the U.S.'s involvement into WWII, which began in 1941.  In 1942, you have the Sleepy Lagoon murder, named for a nearby reservoir in the city of Commerce, the same year the Japanese were extracted from home, business, and neighborhood and forcibly resettled by the government to camps around the western states of the U.S.  Like the Germans, the Americans too had their camps.  Not to mention the draft that was kidnapping U.S. male citizens, 21 to 36.  A lot going on.  People's legal status was being rewritten overnight, class status being overturned overnight.  A lot of changes and reshuffling in wartime, putting people on edge.  Who was to know where the threat started and stopped?

Pachucos, Lincoln Heights Jail.  Thanks to OJ Romero.

Harbor Boulevard, Anaheim, CA, 1960s

1960s, Harbor Boulevard, Anaheim, CA.  Thank you to Lynn Thompson.

1960s, Tomorrowland Terrace, Disneyland, Anaheim, CA.  Thank you to Lynn Thompson.

"Only in Hollywood," 2018 Documentary on Dodgers' 1988 Winning Season

Documentary on the Dodgers' 1988 season, called "Only in Hollywood," narrated by Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad fame.

Thank you to Karl McMillan.  

1988 Dodgers' roster.

Jim Lefebvre was National League Rookie of the Year in 1965.

Don Drysdale passed in 1993.

Jerry Doggett passed in 1997.

Al Campanis passed in 1998.

Willie Crawford passed in 2004. Graduated from Fremont HS, all-city in football and baseball.

Steve Howe passed in 2006.

Willie Davis passed in 2010.

Ron Fairly passed in 2019.

Ron Perranoski passed in 2020.

Tommy Lasorda passed in 2021.

Don Sutton passed in 2021.

Bill Sudakis passed in 2021. Heard nothing about his passing.

Vin Scully passed in 2022.

Maury Wills passed in 2022. Wills played for the Dodgers, 1959-1966, before being traded to Pittsburgh for two years, 1967-1968. Then traded to the Expos in 1969, and finally back to the Dodgers for 1969-1972.

Al Ferrara, outfielder, passed in 2024. Played for the Dodgers in 1963, 1965-1968.

Len Gabrielsen is still with us. So is Bill Grabarkewitz.

I thought Ross Porter had one of the best baseball voices. He called games for the Dodgers from 1977-2004. He had a post-game show that I listened to almost nightly after Dodgers games. Wikipedia says that "Ross was rated among the top 60 baseball announcers of all time by Curt Smith in his book Voices of Summer."