3062 Special and Oldsmobiles
L. Swanson Photo, Andy Goddard Collection
Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority (ex-Los Angeles Transit Lines) PCC no. 3062 pauses in traffic filled with Oldsmobiles (and other classic makes) in this shot dated February 1963. Unclear is the purpose of the holiday-themed overhead decorations.
L. Swanson Photo, Andy Goddard Collection
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I wouldn’t call it “filled” with Oldsmobiles. The green car nearest the passengers is a ’55 Pontiac, and a Buick of the same vintage is in the lane nearest the curb, followed by what appears to be a Corvair.
There is a ’60 Olds parked third from the right on the opposite side of the street, however, next to a ’62 Chevy and a ’57 Chevy.
Sorry, I’m a car nerd.
– great eye, Tom! definitely a corvair back there – the pontiac looked like an Olds to me – be honest, they ARE similar! hah – Ed.
Regardless of the brands of the various cars, they would all be considered Old mobiles today. Visitors from the East, who are used to seeing cars turn into rusty heaps after too many winters on salted roads, often marvel at the number of elderly motor vehicles that still roam the streets of Southern California. Indeed, one of the contributing factors to the disappearance of rail transit (and the decline of mass transit in general) was that fact that cars which would long since have gone to the junkyard in harsher climates are still usable and provide auto-mobility to the financially challenged. By the time smog-control laws got the nastiest clunkers off the road, streetcars and interurbans were a distant memory.
On Pacific Blvd in Huntington Park, looking north between Saturn and Zoe.
The mid-block crosswalk seems to have been moved closer to the Warner Theater.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=6714+Pacific+Blvd,+Huntington+Park,+Los+Angeles,+California+90255&hl=en&ll=33.977673,-118.225186&spn=0.00911,0.013797&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=35.631106,56.513672&geocode=FaN2BgId_wb0-A&z=16&layer=c&cbll=33.977874,-118.225176&panoid=RlxVuF34PEsKYv-sjeKcVw&cbp=12,8.82,,0,0
Me thinks the decorations are for Christmas. The roll of film may have hung around in the camera a while before it got processed. Even though the slide may be embossed with a FEB 63 date on the slide mount, it is only an indication of when it was processed and mounted. Hand written notes are usually a better indication of exact dates although there are problems with that as well.
Pacific Avenue was home to the Huntington Park Christmas parade and the shopping area, featuring Weinman’s Department Store was always “dressed up” for the season.
My photography went “digital” several years ago; it’s getting hard to remember the days when one was limited to 20 or 36 exposures and one might shoot 16 or 30 photos and not take any more for several weeks.