Merry Christmas

Santa and I want to wish everyone who has visited our blog this past year a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Christmas 1961, our apartment on Sherman Way, Van Nuys CA.

Two Lane Blacktop

Here is a link to an interesting article about the cult car classic movie from 1971, Two Lane Blacktop, starring James Taylor, Dennis Wilson and Warren Oates. Two Lane Blacktop and Vanishing Point make 1971 one of the better years for road pictures. The article is an interview with the director and has behind the scene photographs as well.

http://www.highperformancepontiac.com/features/hppp_0806_behind_the_camera_two_lane_blacktop/index.html

I saw both movies on the big screen. I recall seeing Vanishing Point with my Dad and we both liked the film, and I fell in love with the Dodge Challenger. I think I saw Two Lane Blacktop with a friend. Both movies are low budget classics worth hunting down.

RKO Encino Movie Ranch Link

Tonight I stumbled across a wonderful website about the old RKO movie Ranch in Encino, which most of us know as Balboa Park, bordered by Oxnard Blvd. to the north, and Burbank Blvd. to the south. Balboa to the east and Louise to the west.

The site has photos of the lot locations and the productions that used the lot such as "It's a Wonderful Life", as seen in the photo above, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and many others.

Click on the photos and then click on the expand box in the lower right corner to see the photo in a larger size.

http://www.retroweb.com/rko_encino_ranch.html

I remember all those years we hung out in the park playing baseball, and other "wholesome activities" and I never knew the history of the park. You would think they would have a plaque or some form of commemoration for the old studio ranch.

While I'm at it, here is a link to the Culver Studios backlot and more:

http://www.retroweb.com/40acres.html

http://www.retroweb.com/studiobacklots.html

ASCII Art

I bought my first computer in 1984. It was a small, cheesy thing, called a Sinclair. It was small with touch pad keys and was no fun to use. A few years later I upgraded to A Radio Shack portable. Again not the best, but it cost almost $2,000. After I got used to it I decided to experiment with a word processing program and create some ASCII art. One of my creations is above. It looks something like an Indian designed Thunderbird blanket. It is by no means a remarkable piece, but what I find remarkable is that at one time I had the patience to sit at my desk for hours and punch codes to create this. Back then I was still a bachelor, working long hours and somehow I found doing this in my spare time relaxing. It pains me to admit to having no life back then, but I guess I created something out of it and it was better than watching TV. Maybe I was listening to an Eagles record at the time. Yes it was still the age of vinyl LP's and cassette tapes.

These types of things are much easier to create now but somehow doing it longhand if you will makes it seem like more of an accomplishment. I think of this when ever I use Photoshop or when I record music digitally instead of using tape decks. Perhaps there is still a place for the old ways. The musician Eric Johnson on recently began recording his albums digitally. There is still a studio in New York City, the name of which escapes me at the moment, dedicated to analog recording. Steely Dan has used it to recorded the rhythm tracks for their records. Many of use still believe analog is better for many things, including the bottom end.

Captain K-Earth Decoder

Here is my Captain K-Earth Decoder courtesy of The Wherehouse. I forget the exact date I got it but the date on the back says 1974 so safe to say it was the 70's. Decoders were popular when my Dad was a kid. He had a ring decoder and a pin decoder which you wore. I have them somewhere in a trunk. The cardboard Captain K-Earth decoder is a little less grand but it is still a neat memory.

The other memory is of course The Wherehouse Record store. In the old days after I got paid and covered the bills, I would head off to The Wherehouse and Tower Records to drop a few dollars into their lap. I still have some of my old record and tape collection but not the quantity I used to have. Moving it from place to place makes you thin it out over time.

There is only one used CD store near where I live now and it specializes in in genres I don't follow. I hate to sound like an old man but that's one more experience of youth that is lost. I imagine over time book stores will perish as well with things like the Kindle and iPad.

The End of the World

Dear readers, I have just discovered scientific proof that the world will not end in December of 2012 as forecast by the numerous believers in the Mayan calender. As you can clearly see by this scan of my Popular Science Perpetual Calendar Bookmark the end has been postponed until 2059. Clearly this is good news for us Baby Boomers since it will allow the majority of us to live out our lives in full.

As you can also see the world apparently started in 1753 which differs with traditional science and of course the old Testament. I am unable to explain this contradiction, but as is becoming more prevalent in the world today, I choose to ignore the things I do not like or cannot explain. I call this state of mind the Algorean Conflict.

Gangster Mickey Cohen in Van Nuys

Twice in this blog I have mentioned that when we moved to Sherman Way, near Woodman Ave. in Van Nuys in 1960, that the gangster Mickey Cohen lived two streets north of us. I learned this a few years ago while researching San Fernando Valley mob history. Today I logged onto the Facebook page of "Valley Relics" and someone posted a picture of Mickey Cohen in front of his Van Nuys Home. I included a Goggle map to show the location.

Celebrity High School Photos

The following San Fernando Valley celebrity high school photos come from our "Bob on the Blog", Bob Walance. Thanks again Bob. Lisa Kudrow is the first, from Taft HS 1981.

Next is Don Drysdale from Van Nuys HS 1954, as are Natalie Wood & Robert Redford. Tom Selleck is from Grant HS 1962.

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Rainy Day Music

While my friends back in Los Angeles are suffering through the hottest temperature ever recorded in L.A., I am sitting upstairs in my office with the window and door open enjoying the 60 degree weather and the light rain that has filled the day. While typing this I have switched on iTunes and am listening to my rainy day music.

I began having specific rain music back in the 1970's when I lived on Chandler Blvd. I would play music while doing a variety of things in my room. I also liked to look out the window down at the street (See the picture above) and watch the rain. Over time I put on specific music for the mood and it became my rain music. I'm sure I'm not alone in this. Now when ever I hear a raindrop I go to my office and fire up the music.

The first album I put on is, Astral Weeks by Van Morrison. The combination of a jazz accompaniment under Morrison's mystical lyrics makes for the perfect music for a rainy day. It helps that he mentions rain in a couple of the songs.

Another album is, Tales of Mystery and Imagination by the Alan Parsons Project. Here the lyrics, inspired by the works of Poe, and the Atmospheric music fit the rain, and the night.

For some reason I go through a Beatles period every winter and every time it rains. Any Beatles album will do but I always go back to The White Album for those rainy nights. I remember when the album came out KRLA played the album with interview comments by George Harrison's about each track. It was night and it probably was raining when I heard the program.

Another obvious rain and in this case night song is, Riders on the Storm by The Doors. I always have this vision of the one armed man from the TV show The Fugitive roaming Mulholland drive at night in a driving rain, looking for someone to kill. The one armed man figures in another one of my stupid fantasies. When I was a kid we would come back to Ohio to visit my Grandmother. In her basement was a pool table I liked to play with. Well one night while there I watched an episode of The Fugitive. The next day I was going to go down to the basement when I got this crazy notion that the one armed man was down in the basement ready to jump out at me. I didn't play pool the rest of that visit unless someone went down with me. I now have a basement of my own and the Grandson is afraid to go down there. I wonder what vision he has?

WW2 Photos From Japan

The other day I was scanning photos from a WW2 scrapbook my Grandmother kept for my Dad while he was in the Army. He was stationed in Ota Japan during the occupation period. He was assigned to what was the Nakajima Aircraft Plant. He found these photos of the plant while there. The photo above shows Japanese officials entering what s called the CP Building. This was the headquarters building. The photo below is from the actual airplane factory on the premises. You may notice the equipment appears to be American made

I can only think of one connection between these photos and Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. Both share the Pacific Ocean.

My online research finds that the former airplane factory is now part of Fuji Heavy Equipment. They now build Subaru's at the sight.