Saturday, July 29, 2017

Miscellaneous California

Once again, I am reduced to using whatever random scans that happen to be cluttering up my external hard drive for today's "Anything Goes Saturday". Today's theme is "California" - a pretty tenuous theme, but it will have to do.

I kind of love this undated photo showing lots of sweet 50's cars, with a few giant redwood trees (and some lesser species that I won't even dignify with an attempt at identifying. What can compare to the mighty redwood?!). There are several stands of redwoods in various locations in CA, so I am not entirely sure where this picture was taken. But the Kodachrome color is pretty awesome! The 50's was definitely a time of family road trips when school was out, and I'm sure that this was one of the more popular destinations.


Squaw Valley (in the eastern Sierras, about 10 miles east of Fresno) was home to the Winter Olympics in 1960. Walt Disney was the chairman in charge of the opening ceremonies (aided by Tommy Walker),  which took place in the midst of a blizzard. Squaw Valley looks lovely in this photo though!

This photo was undated, but was mixed in with some other slides from 1961 so.... maybe a car can help, though they look like older models for the most part.


This next one is somewhat of a mystery; I am 95% sure this is California. Over in Indio (in Riverside County), they have a famous Date Festival with an "Arabian Nights", Oriental theme which might explain those golden domes and lotuses. And those might be date palms. If anybody has an suggestion, please chime in!


I hope you have enjoyed these random California pix!

11 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-

It's like two peas in a pod: 1950's American automobiles and the mighty Redwoods.

That station wagon on the far left is a 1957 Rambler. The pinkish beauty driving away from us is a 1955 Ford. The blue/white car looking as if it wishes to drive-thru one of those monsters is a 1955 Buick. The red/white car is a 1957 Dodge. And it appears in front of the Dodge, we have an earlier blue/white Buick - a 1951 (I believe).

Chilling at the Squaw Valley Lodge is a 1956 Chevrolet. Then [another] 1955 Buick. Then a 1949 Ford Woodie-!. A 1955 red/white Chevrolet. Some sort of pick-um-up truck that does sheetmetal work. Then a green 1951 Pontiac station wagon. And finally, all the way over on the right is a 1953 or 1954 Studebaker.

And Indio certainly gets my vote for a guess as to where that last image was shot.

Thanks, Major. I can almost smell that clean, mountain/desert air now.

K. Martinez said...

So we are having our Major California Adventure (MCA) right here on GDB? I love the redwoods. The coaster redwoods are part of my home right here in Santa Cruz County as there's the Santa Cruz Mountains including Big Basin and Henry Cowell in the area. Haven't a clue about the last image, but I like it. Thanks, Major.

Scott Lane said...

I love the Mid-Century Modern style of the Squaw Valley lodge but the picture has me scratching my head. Why is the Olympic symbol upside down? And what in the world is that silver thing next to the lady on the right? A dog? A shiny balloon? A UFO? (they were everywhere in the 50's and early 60's)

I, too, vote for Indio for the third image.

Ah, redwoods. I can hear the Ewok drums from here...

Anonymous said...

I vote for coastal Southern California on Hiway 101. In the 50's and early 60's (before I-5), our annual trip to Disneyland from San Diego took us past a building that looked just like this. Somewhere around Carlsbad or Encinitas.

Anonymous said...

It's (now) the Self-Realization Fellowship in Encinitas CA on Hiway 101. I have no idea what it was originally.

Pegleg Pete said...


Thanks Major, very nice Saturday photographs. That last photo is indeed from Encinitas – bored and curious, I did some Google Maps sleuthing based on the above comment from Anonymous. It's right by Swami's State Beach (coordinates: 33.0362717,-117.2920762).

K. Martinez said...

Since no one has done it yet, here's a nice current pic of the Self Realization Fellowship Temple in Encinitas.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/iflphotogallery/6857109418/

Very beautiful!

Steve DeGaetano said...

Scott Lane, I thought the same thing about the Olympic rings!

Unknown said...

I recognized that last spot because I live less than a mile from there.

Major Pepperidge said...

Hi all, sorry about my tardy response. I’ve been very busy!

Nanook, I had the feeling you would have a field day with those two pix! The 1955 Ford is so awesome in its 50’s purity. Yes, I would drive a pink car - if it was that one.

Scott Lane, the upside down Olympic symbol summons Bealzebub! And I couldn’t figure out what that thing is next to the lady. Maybe it’s Bealzebub?

Anon, very interesting… and I see that Anon #2 (the same person?) has identified the building as the Self-Realization Fellowship. Kooky!

Pegleg Pete, Swami’s State Beach - I’m learning about all kinds of things I’ve never heard of. Thanks for doing the research!

K. Martinez, thanks for the link to the photo!

Steve DeGaetano, I admit that I noticed the upside-down rings. I sure would love to know the story…

Patrick Devlin, I assume that you have become self-realized? If so, please explain to me what that means.

JG said...

Major, this is a fun series of photos. Thanks to the GDB team for the car identification. I really enjoy that.

I'm pretty sure that picture one is in the High Sierras as opposed to the coast ranges, due to the look of the redwood tree. It is almost certainly a Sequoia tree, which are only found in a narrow range from Yosemite south to Sequoia National Park (east of Visalia).

I don't recognize the parking lot, but it could be in Mariposa Grove, or Kings Canyon, etc. The photo is a little out of my memory range and the building could have been changed, or removed.

Photo 2, minor correction. Squaw (now called Olympic) Valley is northeast of Fresno, over 250 miles travel. SV is more on an easterly line from Sacramento, near Lake Tahoe. I didn't know the Disney connection to that spot, very interesting.

I'm insufficiently actualized to recognize the 3rd photo. We did travel to the Indio Date Festival once when I was very young, pretty sure this isn't there. I don't think the palms in this photo are date palms either, but couldn't say why I think that. Anyway, I can't add anything more to this other than it's a distinctive spot.

Thank you.

JG