LA Dork

I sat along right field of Game 3's NLDS. Schwarber's home run LOUDLY clanked off the pavilion roof and beyond. I think only Willie Stargell hit HRs over that roof (twice, '69 and '73).

Others to homer over LEFT field:

Piazza ('97)
McGwire ('99)
Stanton ('15)
Tatis, Jr. ('21)

From utopia to dystopia...

40 years after the opening of the 4-Level (1953), Michael Douglas expressed Angelenos' pent-up anger at this same junction in "Falling Down" (1993).

The sightseeing fam in the previous post would've been standing in the grassy background.

When the 4-Level (world's first) opened in DTLA in 1953, it spawned tons of postcards.

I love this "family" (with moody teenager) posing by the side of the 110-to-101-N connector. Sloppily photoshopped in, they look like giants, plus they're breaking the no-peds law of fwys.

In the 1920s, Wilshire and Western was one of the busiest intersections in LA. Chaos ensued when city planners adopted the use of a roundabout to control traffic in those pre-traffic signal days, and newspapers published graphic tutorials for motorists.

While still a teen, Edward James Olmos -- yes the actor -- once fronted a rock/psychedlia band. They were called Eddie James and the Pacific Ocean (cuz nothing's bigger than the Pacific Ocean!) & played the Sunset Strip, including Gazzarri's, in the 1960s. We need a reunion show!

At the Vista's screening of PTO's new movie (I enjoyed it), they're handing out business cards for moviegoers to "check off" seeing the film in 6 different formats.

I propose these formats for when it hits the home market:

-Beta
-VHS
-LaserDisc
-DVD
-BluRay
-Streaming

MTA's proposal of a monorail over the 405? Been there, done that. After Disneyland opened its monorail in 1959, Alweg & other firms drafted monorails for freeways, like the 101 thru DTLA. But as new modes, there were concerns parts would be hard to come by if there were problems.

On the Sunset Strip, in the former House of Blues site (now a commercial bldg.), Roy's restaurant was a record exec & musician hangout from 1976-1982.

Similar to steakhouses with lockers for your wine bottles, Roy's had private rooms to keep one's cocaine stash for "dessert."

UNREMARKABLE POSTCARD SERIES, No. 93.
Compton, Calif. 1953.
Compton Blvd., looking east from Willowbrook.

Decades before Disneyland trotted out its beloved Electrical Parade, the LA Coliseum hosted a stunning Motion Picture Electrical Parade with 20 lit-up floats. Produced by the studios, it showcased advances in technology & Hollywood's input in the recently completed 1932 Olympics.

Before it became Bossa Nova restaurant, the A-frame-facade building at 7181 Sunset Blvd. was a Famous Amos Cookies outlet, opened by Wally Amos in 1975. His son Shawn went to my school & we did a field trip, trying his new cookies before they went global! The store closed in '88.

For their first time, the Dodgers will hit 4 million in home attendance for 2025 today. Not technically true, though.

In 1982, 3,608,881 fans went thru the turnstyles. But if one included no-shows, it was 4,000,000.

Only in 1992 did the NL start going by "total tickets SOLD."

One thing I've always loved... the "Snoopy bridge"! In 1971 Charles M. Schulz donated 12 panels of Peanuts drawings to adorn the ped crossing over Wilbur Ave. near Tarzana Elementary School, where he had a connection. Tarnished over the years, the community restored them in 2024.

When Walt Disney died in December 1966, this was printed on the front pages of newspapers the next day.

My next book event...

Dear young'uns... in the wake of the 1st Earth Day, we oldtimers from the '70s used to have "paper drives." The whole fam would save & lug old newspapers to the school parking lot. The school raised funds by selling the papers to mills. Personal recycling bins ended the drives.

Right?

After including the Santa Monica Pier on a post yesterday, Robert Redford's passing reminds me of that time he took a break from "The Sting" shoot at the pier in 1973 to push for its preservation when Santa Monica was thinking of tearing it down. (h/t Forgotten Los Angeles.)

How car-centric was LA during its frenzy of freeway building? In 1961, a proposal to alleviate traffic on PCH was a 6.5-mile causeway spanning over Santa Monica Bay from SM to Malibu, anchored by artificial islands mined from Palisades' hills.

Gov. Pat Brown vetoed it in 1965.

Imagine dropping by the Van Nuys Teen Center in 1975 & seeing a local band of upstarts named Van Halen rocking out in their spandex. The group just started playing on the Strip but blanketed non-concert venues for years, building a devoted following before their '78 album debut.

For weekend warriors looking for a fun 10,000-steps walk for this pleasant weekend, may I suggest El Segundo, a favorite jaunt from my "10,000 Steps a Day in LA" book. A mostly flat loop taking in the beach, downtown, 1920s & mid-century landmarks, and some good eats!

At Bob's Big Boy in Burbank, its display case includes a David Lynch Big Boy. Created by Todd Rogers & titled “Burbank, 2:30 PM (Thinking of Blue Velvet)," it's an ode to the director's many years at Bob's hashing out ideas, fueled by his two faves: coffee & chocolate milkshakes!

Ah, 1967 and the Summer of Love. No, brothers and sisters, this is not Haight Ashbury. It was Griffith Park on Easter 1967, the first of several Love-Ins where young folks gathered near the merry-go-round to promote the counter-culture movement in their own expressive ways.

The first Trackless Trolley in the United States was built in 1912, rumbling up Laurel Cyn. from Sunset Blvd.

Built by Charles Mann to promote his bungalows and an inn, the free-standing, overhead wire-driven cars were scrapped in 1918 after the unpaved road kept washing out.

The Oriental Theatre (originally the Granada) opened at 7425 Sunset in Hollywood in 1921. During Van Halen's heyday, Eddie Van Halen posed by the marquee in 1982 ("Conan the Barbarian" was playing). Coincidence or not, Guitar Center took over the cinema site a couple years later.

I was telling someone the other day there was a time when we could cut out vinyl records from the back of a cereal box and they didn't believe me. I reminded them "It was the '70s" and then they understood.

The Monkees and Jackson5 (Alpha-Bits) were 2 of the bigger singles.

In 1948 Robert Mitchum was busted for smoking marijuana (a then-felony) at a house off Laurel Cyn that the LAPD called a "reefer resort." He served 50 days in lockup. "My career is in ruins," he lamented. Hardly... folks loved him even more & his conviction was later overturned.

The Los Feliz 3 (originally 1 auditorium) opened in 1934 & still thrives.

But just as impressive to this Dork is that the theatre has retained the same phone number for at least 75 years. (In this 1960 ad, "N" & "O" represent "6" & "6," short for the Exchange name "NOrmandie.")

CSUN's orange grove includes a 270-foot meandering stream and pond modeled after native wetlands. Can you tell it's turtle-breeding season?

UNREMARKABLE POSTCARD SERIES, No. 91.
La Habra, Calif.
~ Early 1960s.