Main St., Garden Grove.
Balboa Peninsula, Newport Beach.
Mesa Theater, Newport Blvd., Costa Mesa.
Lovell Beach House, Newport Beach.
Harbor Blvd., Garden Grove.
Balboa Blvd., Balboa.
Alpha Beta parking lot, Santa Ana.
Caspers Park, San Juan Capistrano.
Los Angeles.
Harbor Blvd, not Harbour.
The pics bring back many memories.
Typo fixed. Thanks.
Words better with the “ou”: harbour, flavour, colour, labour, glamour, favour, behaviour … etc.
But you may disagree. LOL
I’ve never understood why in American English, glamour has kept the “u” – but the other words have lost it. And then to further complicate things, glamorous is spelled without the u.
It would be harbour over here in England land.🙂
But then we plough a field, put tyres onto our wheels and park by the kerb.
Maybe, but you also call a truck a “lorry”, a cookie a “biscuit”, the truck of a car the “boot”
The “truck” of a car?? Or should that be trunk? 🙂
Dotted line on a blind curve.
Perhaps explains why there were so many rollovers in the TV program ‘CHiPs’. lol
My recollection of my first visit to California in 1971 is that the minor roads were all marked like that — it didn’t mean you were allowed to pass, but simply divided the opposing lanes. I recall that the mountain road with lots of twists and turns leading to the great Palomar Observatory had those dashed lines along its full length.
Thanks! I figured it was a default line painting style. Unusual, as a highly useful (and seeming no-brainer) means of communicating a valuable safety aid for drivers, is lost.
It would be more logical to apply a consistent solid line for safety. If they were not going to add that safety feature, with alternating line types.
Especially, given the higher volume of cars and drivers in California. With corresponding necessary advancement in their road system.
When my parents retired to rural Ontario circa 1975, the local township with their 1950’s era line-painting truck, made sure to apply solid lines on curves. With dotted lines on the straights, on the quietest highways.
VWs were common everywhere, but Toyotas and Datsuns hadn’t spread much beyond California at that time.
Garden Grove seems to favor remodeling and crafts. Statueland, Tile World, Carpet Bargains, Hardware, Antiqueing and Mold School. (Probably didn’t teach you how to grow mold, but you never know.)
During this time, there were lots of Toyotas and Datsuns in Arizona, certainly in Tucson.
Toyotas and Datsuns were very common in the Seattle area during the 70s.
I’d be happy to own that green Dart from Santa Ana.
PS if I’m not mistaken, only one SUV, a Blazer/Jimmy.
Two station wagons AND a Dart at the Alpha Beta in Santa Ana. What’s not to like?
I do wonder what that stuff is hanging from the Town & Country’s rear bumper. Doesn’t look like anything for towing. Perhaps mounts for two big ham/CB antennas?
They might be anti-static grounding strips, hanging towards the pavement. They were popularly seen on wagons, SUVs, pickups, and RVs in the 1970’s.
The last photo dates from at least 1977, with the various newer cars.
Fun to be taken back in time about a half-century!
FWIW, the papers say that “Buster and Billie” was in the LA theaters October-ish 1974; and “Sweet Agony” came out in 1975 and was being exhibited as late as 1977.
As to the cars: the domestic:import ratio is interesting to see !
I worked at that Alpha Beta as a Bag Boy back in 1978. A lot of poor people used the store and would walk to the store and take the carts home. One of my jobs was to go around the local streets and bring back the carts.
I agree that Japanese brands were generally less common east of California, but I think there might have been an exception in university and science communities. I grew up in Corning, NY and remember lots of (I assume) scientists and engineers being early adopters of both Japanese and European brands.
One error is that the city of Contra Costa is should be Costa Masa
Costa Mesa, I suspect. “Mesa” is a table or flat geographic feature; “masa” is corn meal.
That’s one odd typo and I wonder what was going through my head when I made it. Contra Costa sounds an awful lot like a fictional South American country in a 1980s TV show.
Balboa Blvd is in the San Fernando Valley. There was no Balboa in 1970. It was Reseda and Van Nuys next to each other. Then Lake Balboa created in 2007 from part of Van Nuys.
As for Newport Blvd. You mean Costa Mesa. Contra Costa is a county in Northern California on the east side of the Oakland-Berkeley Hills where I live.
Speaking of Newport Beach you couldn’t drive to Balboa Island but have to take a small ferry across to it from Newport Beach. My memory from then. You can drive your car onto the ferry holding three cars. I did that a few times when I lived in San Diego and would drive a date up to Orange County just so we could take that ferry and then have dinner on Balboa Island. That was 50 years ago so I don’t know about now. Seems the ferry goes from Balboa Peninsula and has run into C.A.R.B.
Below from archives is my first car before the Cougar with me in the far back.
I remember fondly the car ferry from Newport Beach to Balboa Island, a place I first visited when I moved to LA for grad school in 1972. I had my first frozen banana dipped in chocolate, a signature treat on the island. The area was a really fun tourist destination for Angelenos back then, less ritzy, more affordable than today. Good times.
Fun details to spot in these vintage snapshots. There appear to be two municipal election signs in this photo. ‘Schmit Supervisor’ and another one for a law enforcement official ‘Brad Gates’?
I recall watching a Streets of San Francisco episode from its first season (1972), during the pandemic. And a ‘Pelosi’ election sign, can clearly be seen in the background of one scene.
Love the homemade/hand-painted appearance to the signs.
Looks like Brad Gates and Laurence Schmit both ran for election in 1974, so that’s probably when this photo was from (I believe local elections were held in June back then).
I also like Statueland, with its Mold School. I guess Southern Californians had an affinity for statues.
Nice work Eric! Not that I intended for you, to complete the puzzle. Though I of course knew, it would pique your curiosity. lol
I’m really curious about the “Mold School”. I know antiquing, to make a finish look old (like patina, with some small dents and dings added). But is this a place to learn how to add fake mold (mildew?) for an even more antique look, or to remove it?
I’m not sure about this, but I assumed it was to teach people how to use molds to cast concrete statues (not sure about the correct terminology there)… but I’d really like to know for sure.
+1 This is how I would interpret the purpose of the school. To create ideally finished molds, for casting identical concrete versions.
I believe it’s “mould” school………….
Or mmm-old school.
Hilarious to see the Pussycat theater behind the Orange Julius in that shot of Balboa Boulevard on the peninsula. I’ve been going to Newport Beach since I was a kid in the ’70s and lived a couple blocks from there — and also on the island — as an adult in the ’90s and ’00s. Never knew an adult theater was ever there, but we can date the photo to 1975 or 1976 because of it. Turns out there were police raids, lawsuits and arson before they gave up.
There’s been a bridge on the other side of the island for a century, so the ferry hasn’t been necessary for a long time. (The bridge on the lower right, the ferry route from the point in the upper left.) But it’s fun in its retro way and can be practical for certain routes when there isn’t a big backup of novelty seekers. It remains hugely convenient for pedestrian/bicycle traffic, which is mostly how I use it.
Fifty years later than these photos, the government here in Ontario, pushed to allow beer and alcohol sale in corner stores. For decades, it was sold through government run retail outlets.
I used to laugh with my pre-teen friends, watching American crime drama TV programs, and seeing large signs like ‘LIQUOR DELI’ or ‘BEER EAT’ in front of small stores.
We were less than ten years old, and knew these places appeared like magnets for unsavoury patrons, and/or robberies.
That last pic is of the 110 N heading out of downtown LA. There’s a series of tunnels. Been through those a thousand times now including about 2 hours ago.
Surprised, I didn’t make this observation, earlier today.
I’m usually pretty good with pop culture associations, and cars.
Actor Buddy Ebsen drove a very similar two door Ford LTD in the early years of the series Barnaby Jones. Meanwhile his secretary Betty Jones, played by actress Lee Meriwether, drove a bright orange Ford Pinto Runabout.
Great pic! And an excellent reminder of the CBS program.
Lovely pictures that bring back memories .
The Balboa Island Ferry is going strong, there’s _three_ of them to handle the endless traffic, a while back my MoPed Army Club filled it to the gunnels with MoPeds and Tiddlers, the operator was so amused he stopped n the middle of the route and let tourists and all laugh, point and take pictures as the other two ferries went back and forth on a Sunday afternoon .
-Nate
Interesting history on the Lovell Beach House
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovell_Beach_House
I’ve been through the tunnel shown, when I went out to LA to visit friends in 2001, on my way from LAX to Pasadena and Burbank, but the others only look vaguely familiar, perhaps from watching old reruns of “Adam-12” and “Emergency”, LOL!
The apparatus on the rear bumper of the T&C wagon is a quick-release bicycle rack, with the upright posts removed to facilitate opening the tailgate. The excess from the mounting chains is hanging down below the bumper. I had one of these for my Pinto wagon years ago.
I was born and raised in Southern California, grew up in Newport Beach. It was a good place to live and be a teenager in the mid sixties. My oldest brother is 4 years older than me and at the time drove a ‘60 Mercury Monterey. Listening to KHJ radio going down Van Nuys Boulevard or up to Whittier Boulevard or just around Newport.
I do remember going into the Orange Julius. Our Dad travelled a lot for work and used Globe Travel (next to the Mesa Theater).
I was in college by time these pictures were taken. Graduated from Cal State Fullerton in ‘76, just in time for the Bi-Centennial. Our tassels had a liberty bell on them.
Thanks for posting these. Great memories.
Could be scenes from old Adam 12 episodes. So much simpler time.
Any pics of old downtown Huntington Bezch before they tore the old buildings down would be welcomed. I also remember going to Whimpies on PCH just north of Main Street.
That ’73 Dodge Dart Swinger in the Alpha Beta parking lot sure brings back memories of the family car.
And the avocado-green vinyl roof! That shade of green was everywhere in the 70’s, from bathrooms and kitchens to curtains, rugs, even crock pots.
Glad that’s over, I even like green. But sheesh!