Pasadena Freeway, 1948

 At the bottom of this photo, you can see the sign that reads "Adobe" with an arrow to the right, and "Pasadena" with the arrow straight ahead.  This is right before Stadium Way just as you come away from the Four Level on the Pasadena Freeway, or the 110. 

San Gabriel Apt, 1993-2013

 

From the early 1980s from an old friend, Natalie Mejia.  I always loved her name.  And she was a sweet young woman.  

Mt. Lowe Incline, 1901

Mt. Lowe Incline, 1901.  

Thank you again to Historic Los Angeles.  

Alameda Street, 1930

One of the best shots I've seen of Alameda Street in downtown Los Angeles.  

Alameda Street, 1930, looking south I presume.  Thanks again to Historic Los Angeles.  This is literally the shipping corridor from Long Beach to the valleys north and every town in between.  Dad used to take us to Alameda Street to pick up trees fresh off the trains, packed in ice, for Christmas.  And while waiting line or waiting for the men to wrap the tree or tag it, he loved going to the food truck and getting a coffee and hot-dog at 5:30am.  

North Broadway Bridge, 1924.

North Broadway Bridge, 1924.  Thank you to Historic Los Angeles.  Fernie Reyes says that this shot is looking east toward Lincoln Heights.  

North Broadway Bridge from the entrance to Elysian Park, Los Angeles, 1937.  Thank you again to Historic Los Angeles.  Jose Flores writes, "Lincoln Heights into Chinatown."

 

LA County Courthouse

1928 the old Los Angeles County Courthouse as seen from the "new" City Hall, 1928. (Security Pacific National Bank Collection).  Thank you to the great Facebook page of Los Angeles Historic.  

PE Interurban in Duarte towards the SG River (Mid/Late 40s?)

 

PE Interurban in Duarte towards the SG River (Mid/Late 40s?) (Jack Finn Collection; PE Railway Hist Soc)

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From a tweet by Chase Hughes

#thebehaviorpanel pic.twitter.com/Vta46wEW0z

— ⭕️ Chase Hughes (@thechasehughes) April 5, 2024

The heartbreak is sometimes just too much.

Lyrics to David Gray's "Sail Away," 1998.  Gray wrote the song himself.

[Chorus]
Sail away with me honey
I put my heart in your hands
Sail away with me honey now, now, now
Sail away with me
What will be, will be
I wanna hold you now, now, now

[Verse 1]
Crazy skies all wild above me now
Winter howling at my face
And everything I held so dear
Disappeared without a trace
Oh, all the times I've tasted love
Never knew quite what I had
Little darling, if you hear me now
Never needed you so bad
Spinning 'round inside my head

[Chorus]
Sail away with me honey
I put my heart in your hands
Sail away with me honey now, now, now
Sail away with me
What will be will be
I wanna hold you now, now, now

[Verse 2]
I've been talking drunken gibberish
Falling in and out of bars
Trying to get some explanation here
For the way some people are
How did it ever come so far?

[Chorus]
Sail away with me honey
I put my heart in your hands
Sail away with me honey now, now, now
Sail away with me
What will be will be
I wanna hold you now, now, now
Sail away with me honey
I put my heart in your hands
Sail away with me honey now, now, now
Sail away with me
What will be will be
I wanna hold you now, now, now
Sail away with me honey
I put my heart in your hands
You break me up if you pull me down
Woah, oh, oh, oh
Sail away with me
What will be will be
I wanna hold you now, now, now

[Whistling Outro]  His "Please Forgive Me," 1999, is a decent song, with sweet and funny lyrics.

The Best Brass Rock Song from the 70s, 1970 to be exact, "Vehicle" by The Ides of March

And Sammy Davis, Jr., singing "Vehicle" in 1972.  Davis was the original black singer, performer, and acting maven before singer, songwriter, Prince.  Sammy could do it all.  What a remarkable talent.

 

South of Huntington Beach, CA - October, 30th, 1949.  Thanks to Classic Hollywood.

Let's Dance

I was trying to find a song, preferably from the 80s and 90s, that had the refrain of "dance" or "dancing" in it.  turns out there are lots of them, but not all in my wheelhouse.  I'm not a fan of boy bands.  Not a fan of country songs about dance.  Too sentimental for such an energetic exercise.  So it has to be rock, rockabilly, or New Age Rock.  

So we start with Van Halen's "Let's Dance the Night Away," 1979.

David Bowie's "Let's Dance," 1983.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "Mary Jane's Last Dance," 1993, isn't bad.  Lyrics don't really capture the free expression of dance.  I guess it's just memorable from my younger days of the 80s and 90s.

Don Henley's "All She Wants to Do Is Dance," 1984, is pretty good.

Sly and the Family Stone's "Dance to the Music," 1967, is decent.  Maybe a little too funky for me.    

Madness's "One Step Beyond," 1979, may not have the word "dance" in it, but "One Step Beyond" is a reference to a dance of sorts.  And to be honest, I can't imagine dancing to too many other songs.  

Definitely not dance songs, but songs I grew up with in the 80s, while working nights at UPS in Baldwin Park, 1980-1983.  Used to hear and love the song, "Pulling Mussels from a Shell," 1980, by Squeeze. 

And Squeeze's 1981 tune, "Tempted."   

Ah, yes, Kim Carnes, 1981, "Bette Davis Eyes."   

And, of course, the Psychedelic Furs', 1982, "Love My Way."  Odd that now, today, this song actually hurts me.  So sad, so stuck in loneliness and helplessness.  Glad those years are over.  I forgot that they wrote and sang the song for the 1981 movie, "Pretty in Pink." 

And then, of course, there was The Flock of Seagulls that everybody loved.  The 1980s were a heady time music-wise.  But perhaps the best of that era was Duran Duran with songs like "Hungry Like a Wolf," 1982.  Below is Duran Duran's "Rio," 1982.

What is it with the British that they think they can dress up with unbuttoned shirts, flip tables, and run through streets as if they own the place?  

But my favorite of theirs is "Ordinary World," 1992.

The Jam, "Town Called Malice," 1982.

Elvis Costello's "Watching the Detectives," 1977.  

Soft Cell's "Tainted Love," 1981.  The British make some creepy music videos.  I think that's done on purpose because those ruling over the music industry in Britain are a bit strange to the point that makes Benny Hill look like a normal working guy.

And who didn't love Blondie's Debbie Harry singing "Heart of Glass," 1979?  I'd read once that she helped nurse back to health the lead guitarist.  Kind of a decent woman.

The Cars, "Drive," 1984.  With Benjamin Orr (1947-2000) singing lead.  And "Just What I Needed," 1978.

Ric Ocasek (1944-2019) sings lead on this one, "Shake It Up," 1981.

I am amazed that I can remember any of this.  But here is Bananarama's 1983 single hit, "Cruel Summer."  

The Bangles were another favorite, 

The Clash's "Charlie Don't Surf," 1980, is named after a line in the 1979 antiwar, Vietnam war movie, Apocalypse Now.  

"London Calling," 1979.  "Rock the Casbah," 1982.

Cyndi Lauper, "Time After Time," 1982.

The Herald-Examiner Building, Los Angeles, 1937

 

[ca.1937] View looking north on Broadway towards Eleventh. Julia Morgan designed the Mission-Revival style Herald-Examiner Building (1111 South Broadway) which opened in 1914. In 1962 the Morning Examiner (founded in 1903) merged with the Evening Herald Express (founded approximately 1871) creating the Herald-Examiner newspaper. The building was designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #178 in 1977 and closed in 1989. (Herman J Schultheis Collection) https://buff.ly/3TEpiWC.  Thank you to LAPL Photo Collection.  Today it's home to Arizona State University.

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