Flooded Intersection
Eve of Christmas Eve, 67F, 98% and light rain. Unseasonal for anyone dreaming of a White Christmas just like the ones I used to know but this is what I knew. Bit dank in here, reach for that lap cover. Instead of regular coffee, rerun with two spoons of a hot chocolate mix found while emptying a kitchen cabinet.
Anticipating “A Christmas Story” with Ralphie and his father’s 1937 Olds. Oldsmobile memories and browsing online for pictures of cars on the street when I was a boy brought up this series snapped in March 1952 by an LA Times photographer at a flooded intersection as cars drove through. Every car is known to me.
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2014/03/10/sherman-oaks-california-1952/
In no particular order of the picture series ---
A 1941 Chevy, a Hudson, a Buick either 1951 or 1952 they were the same you had to see the taillights or if the windows were tinted green it's a '52.
A 1949 Cadillac turning, behind it a Crosley, another ’41 Chevrolet, the truck is a 1948 or ’49 Chevy, I’m working on that car the other side of the Crosley.
There’s a Chrysler sedan 1946-8 and behind it a 1941 Oldsmobile. A Packard sedan with a Mercury, couple car lengths behind the Packard is a 1942 Dodge, and there’s a 1949 Pontiac beside the Dodge.
OK this is a game, another angle there’s the Pontiac going through, a Jeep panel-delivery and a Studebaker at the intersection beyond the Jeep.
A 1937 Chevrolet coupe turning into Ventura Boulevard and a gas station across the street.
An Oldsmobile, beyond the Olds going in the other direction a Chevrolet Fleetline 2-door sedan 1946,7,8 or even ’42, a Cadillac sedan with the early fins and behind it a Chrysler Town & Country with the wooden doors and I’m saying it’s a 1950 Chrysler, with the “ice cream” and “fountain” signs on the building in the background.
There’s a 1947 Cadillac sedan, the ’42 Chevy behind it, and the Hudson, and I’m calling that car parked at the curb in the background space beyond the Cadillac and the Chevy a 1949 Buick, prove me wrong who dares.
I love the cars, all of them, could I choose one? In the picture with the Crosley, in the gap between the Crosley and the ’41 Chevrolet sedan with the sunvisor and either parked at the far curb or going the other direction there’s a Mercury sedan 1946-48 (postwar identical) and in front of the Mercury is a dark-colored late 1930s GM sedan with a street lamp towering above it: that could be Ralphie’s dad’s Oldsmobile. I might choose that.
Or, three cars behind the postwar Chrysler is what I’m calling as a 1949 Lincoln. Chrysler, ’41 Olds, the white Mercury, and that Lincoln.
If I get bored standing at this intersection, which is not going to happen, they serve “lunches” at the Ice Cream place on the corner.
4:28 AM and ticking and still agonizing over the light-colored car between the Crosley and Ralphie's dad's Oldsmobile.
March 1952 and you are there. I am 16, a junior at Bay High and daydreaming in class.
... somewhere ages and ages hence ...
Tom+ somewhere in +Time
Anticipating “A Christmas Story” with Ralphie and his father’s 1937 Olds. Oldsmobile memories and browsing online for pictures of cars on the street when I was a boy brought up this series snapped in March 1952 by an LA Times photographer at a flooded intersection as cars drove through. Every car is known to me.
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2014/03/10/sherman-oaks-california-1952/
In no particular order of the picture series ---
A 1941 Chevy, a Hudson, a Buick either 1951 or 1952 they were the same you had to see the taillights or if the windows were tinted green it's a '52.
A 1949 Cadillac turning, behind it a Crosley, another ’41 Chevrolet, the truck is a 1948 or ’49 Chevy, I’m working on that car the other side of the Crosley.
There’s a Chrysler sedan 1946-8 and behind it a 1941 Oldsmobile. A Packard sedan with a Mercury, couple car lengths behind the Packard is a 1942 Dodge, and there’s a 1949 Pontiac beside the Dodge.
OK this is a game, another angle there’s the Pontiac going through, a Jeep panel-delivery and a Studebaker at the intersection beyond the Jeep.
A 1937 Chevrolet coupe turning into Ventura Boulevard and a gas station across the street.
An Oldsmobile, beyond the Olds going in the other direction a Chevrolet Fleetline 2-door sedan 1946,7,8 or even ’42, a Cadillac sedan with the early fins and behind it a Chrysler Town & Country with the wooden doors and I’m saying it’s a 1950 Chrysler, with the “ice cream” and “fountain” signs on the building in the background.
There’s a 1947 Cadillac sedan, the ’42 Chevy behind it, and the Hudson, and I’m calling that car parked at the curb in the background space beyond the Cadillac and the Chevy a 1949 Buick, prove me wrong who dares.
I love the cars, all of them, could I choose one? In the picture with the Crosley, in the gap between the Crosley and the ’41 Chevrolet sedan with the sunvisor and either parked at the far curb or going the other direction there’s a Mercury sedan 1946-48 (postwar identical) and in front of the Mercury is a dark-colored late 1930s GM sedan with a street lamp towering above it: that could be Ralphie’s dad’s Oldsmobile. I might choose that.
Or, three cars behind the postwar Chrysler is what I’m calling as a 1949 Lincoln. Chrysler, ’41 Olds, the white Mercury, and that Lincoln.
... somewhere ages and ages hence ...
Tom+ somewhere in +Time