November 14, 2005

• 

  
  

  It's "past" time for a PHOTOPOST. Last year, from February to Summertime, I shot lots of photos in Southern California for a photo series I call "Small Town America in Lost Angeles." Most people probably think about L.A. as a "big city" and we do have a rather large downtown area with lots of tall buildings. When I moved to L.A. in the late 1950s this was not the case, and there are still areas of th"Los Angeles" area that actually evoke the spirit of "small town America" that Walt Disney had in mind when he created "Main Street USA" in Disneyland. There are five "folders" in my Webshots Gallery with photos in the series. San Pedro, Bellflower, Torrance and Lomita, Monrovia, and Glendora. I posted some PHOTOPOSTS in 2004 when I took the photos. I don't believe any of the following photos, culled from all the above folders and also from Catalina Island and images on my computer, have been featured on this blog before.e

  
  

  

  
  

  This is the "logo" or "header" photo for the series of "Small Town America in Lost Angeles." It is a composite photo, with images of the L.A. skyline, with a Foster's Freeze, drug store, old clock, American Flag, and gumball machine taken from other photos taken around southern California "main streets."

  
  

  

  
  

  The Fox Drug Store in old downtown Torrance, shot on Easter of last year, and why the place is closed in the middle of the day.  There are a lot of cities and towns in Los Angeles County that are actively "retrofitting" their main streets to bring back the "nostalgic" look of an earlier time before WalMarts and malls. Old Torrance used to be a pretty bad area, with lots of squalor and crime, but the area was revived a few years ago, and is now rather nice. There are still a lot of abandoned buildings, but at least the storefronts are nice to look at.

  
  

  

  
  

  This is one of my "signature" shots where I try to shoot the subject through branches or leaves, glass, etc. It is the flag flying on the Torrance Post Office shot through the branches of a tree on the street in front of the building.

  
  

  

  
  

  This is an old jeweller's clock sitting on the lawn of the Lomita Civic Center. Normally, these clocks are on the Main Streets themselves, and Narbonne Ave. is one of Lomita's two "Main Streets". But this is on the lawn of the Library and City Hall. It was placed there only about 10 years ago, so is not an "original" but it's neat anyway.

  
  

  

  
  

  Now we are in San Pedro, on 6th Street, which has been featured in lots of TV shows and movies. A lot of the older buildings, like the Brown Brothers Building shown here, have been redecorated and have the flavor of "small town America" that was lost in the 60s when a lot of the older storefronts were "modernized". I was on jury duty in San Pedro in March of 2004, and took my camera in with me a couple of days, and shot all over the area by the courthouse, which is "historical", along with the famous San Pedro port, which was quite rowdy back when there was a Naval base nearby.

  
  

  

  
  

  This is part of the full size diorama in front of  the Orange County Fair in 2004,depicting a scene from the teens or 20s in the 20th Centrury.

  
  

  

  
  

  The town of Monrovia, CA, has some neat older streets, and this is what the outside of one of the shops looks like. The veteran is a "dummy" sitting on the barrel. Depiste the signs which are for food, this is an auto parts store.

  
  

  

  
  

  Also in Monrovia, this is Myrtle Ave, which is an old "Main Street" which has been revitalized in recent years. I took these photos of Monrovia on a real hot day, and it was neat just strolling among the tree lined streets. Monriovia is nestled up in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountain range, and you can see some of them in the background of this shot.

  
  

  

  
  

  Now we're down in Manhattan Beach. This is the "roundhouse" on the end of the Manhattan Beach concrete pier. The whole Southern California coastline has a rich history, and a lot of the older buildings, which were made of wood, were destroyed in many storms and because of time. I believe this building was built in the 20s. The pier is quite long, as are a lot of the piers on the coast. Fishermen line the sides, and the roundhouse is now a restaurant and a small museum.

  
  

  

  
  

  Now, back up in the foothills, on Glendora Blvd. in Glendora, my "last" childhood hometown, before moving back to Rosemead and then to the South Bay in the early 70s. Glendora is also a "mountain town" and is below the San Gabriels, right by where the road leads up to Mt. Baldy. I love the topiary look of the trees lining the main street of Glendora.

  
  

  

  
  

  Here is one of the churches further up Glendora Blvd. Glendora is a sleepy little town, built on the famous "Route 66" and is still somewhat "removed" from a lot of the modernization that has swept the country in the past twenty years or so. It is a nice "escape" for a Sunday drive when the weather is nice.

  
  

  

  
  

  And now we're "26 miles across the sea" on Santa Catalina island, a "tourist trap" since the early 20s. The buildings are all original, and since the town of Avalon is quite small, no autos or trucks are seen on the streets, only golf carts, like the ones further up the street in this picture. The spire of the yellow hotel on this street attracted me. Liz and I visited Catalina a few months ago, and she checked out this hotel. There was a really nice room (all the rooms were "themed" ) that she liked and next time we go, I thnk we'll spend a day and a half, and rent the room Liz liked so much in this hotel.

  
  

  

  
  

  This last photo is the Bellflower Diner in Bellflower, which is north of Long Beach, CA. I lived in Bellflower with Pat for a year in the mid 90s, and after she cheated on me and I moved to the garage waiting for our lease to expire on the house in which we lived, I severed all ties to her, including eating at home, and started eating in restaurants again. I had a lot of nice breakfasts here in the Bellflower Diner.

  
  

  Yes, L.A. is a "big city". But I can always find a little bit of "small town America" if I look hard enough.

  • 10:06 am
  • 78 Comments