Disaster In The South Bay (Southern California) - 1960s

In 1961, less than a year after my parents were married, they moved to the "South Bay" area of Southern California.  (The South Bay encompasses multiple cities, including Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Torrance, San Pedro, and quite a few others.)  My parents lived in the South Bay for eight years, and during that time, my dad photographed multiple "newsworthy" events.

This first photo shows a shipwrecked Greek freighter, the S.S. Dominator.  The ship was originally an American liberty ship, built during World War II, and launched as the S.S. Melville Jacoby.  After the war, the ship was sold into commercial service, and changed hands and names multiple times.  She was sold one last time in 1953, with her name being changed to the S.S. Dominator.  On March 13, 1961, she was on her way from Los Angeles to Vancouver, when she ran aground off the coast of Rancho Palos Verdes.  My dad took this photo of the ship, but it's undated, so I don't know how long the ship had been out there in the water at this point.

These next two photos are from The Los Angeles Times.  This one appears to have been taken not too long after the shipwreck occurred.

I'm also not sure of the date on this one.  Incidentally, the S.S. Dominator was never completely salvaged, and pieces of the wreckage can still be found today, both in the water and on the shore.

On August 23, 1964, an airplane crashed in the 450 block (456) of Palos Verdes Boulevard, in Redondo Beach.  The plane was a "converted" P-51 World War II fighter.  Both the pilot and his one passenger, were killed instantly in the crash.

My family lived just around the corner from the site of the plane crash (on Calle Mira Mar), so it would have been within walking distance for my dad to get to the site.  The incident also attracted many other local residents.

The corresponding black and white photos in this post are from The Daily Breeze newspaper.  Reportedly, flames from the wreckage "reached as high as 20 to 30 feet in height, and burned intensely."

A repairman on a telephone pole can be seen in a couple of my dad's photos.  Maybe some of the telephone and power lines had been damaged during the crash?

 

 

One of the plane's wings took out part of a cinder block wall.  FYI, that's the Pacific Ocean we are seeing off in the distance. 

 

 

Many of the apartment buildings directly across the street from the accident (including the ones seen in my dad's first "plane crash" photo), were torn down in the 1970s, and replaced with the "Village Palos Verdes" condominiums.

My dad walked around to the street behind the crash site (Camino de Encanto), and took this next photo....apparently from someone's backyard.  I hope he asked for permission!

A reporter from The Daily Breeze newspaper also took a photo from the same backyard.  We can see the same two men from my dad's photo, hanging out in the backyard.

Just one year earlier (1963), and in the same neighborhood, a trash collection truck had crashed through a wall in the backyard of my family's home.  I guess walls just weren't safe in this neighborhood!

The road was higher on the other side of the wall.  That's why the truck came through the wall at that level.  It did not become airborne prior to hitting the wall!

The Madrona Marsh is a natural wetlands in Torrance, CA, and can be seen in this modern-day aerial photo (from The Daily Breeze).  At one time, the marsh extended further north, beyond the street that runs along it's current northern border.  Unfortunately, the city allowed the sale of that part of the marsh in the mid to late 1980s, and let developers build townhomes (the structures with the red tile roofs) on the former wetlands property.

In February of 1967, heavy rains caused the marsh to overflow onto the neighboring streets.  My dad took these photos on Madrona Avenue, at the point where Monterey Street used to intersect it.  When the north end of the marsh was destroyed for development, Monterey Street was realigned and a new street, "Plaza Del Amo," was created just to the south of it.

Those older apartment buildings visible in the distance are still standing today.

I attempted to merge the previous two photos.  It worked fairly well, but it's not perfect.  The wires between the telephone poles don't "connect."  On the far left is a building with signage on it's backside which reads, "Magic Chef."  This large building contained a Magic Chef Supermarket (which eventually became a Ralph's Supermarket) and a Thrifty Drug Store, and was a part of the original Del Amo Shopping Center built in the early 1960s.  That building still sits on the edge of the current mall property, but now appears to be mostly vacant, with the exception of a "Last Chance Store" (discount store) taking up a small portion of the space.

I decided to include this photo, even though I had already posted it back in June of 2018.  This photo of the Goodyear Blimp was taken in March of 1968, back when it used to make it's home at the Torrance Airport.  Apparently, there was a fairly large fire burning in the distance.  Not long after my dad took this photo, the blimp was relocated to it's current home in the City of Carson, alongside the 405 freeway.  

By the way.....Happy Friday the 13th, everyone!

Father's Day In The Parks: Downtown Los Angeles Edition (& "L.A. In The "Future")

Father's Day is still a little over a week away, but I am celebrating it early with some photos taken by my dad, back in the 1960s. 

First up, we have a few shots of Los Angeles' City Hall, from August of 1965:

I will apologize for the color on all of these.  It's improved over what it was in the original scans of the slides, but I can't seem to make it any better than this.

This distant view of City Hall was taken from the Los Angeles Music Center, which would have been completed only 8 months earlier.

For a modern day (2019) comparison, I took this photo, standing just a few feet to the right of where my dad stood, in 1965.

The building pictured below, is the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, one of several performance venues at the Music Center.  Based on photos and film footage that I had seen in the past, I always thought these reflecting pools and water fountains were a part of the Music Center.

Years later, when I visited the Los Angeles Music Center for the first time, I was surprised to see that the fountains are actually located across the street, and are a part of the area surrounding the Department of Water and Power building.  The DWP building was also brand new at this time, having been completed in 1965.  An interesting feature of the pools and fountains is, that they are located on the roof of a parking garage (as seen below).  The parking lot in the foreground, is the property on which the Walt Disney Concert Hall now stands.  (Ford Mustang alert!)

I took this photo of the DWP building, in 2014, while standing in a raised garden area, on the backside of the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

And I took this one at the street level.  The fountains around the building were turned off at this time.  I believe that they only turn them on now, for special occasions.

Here are a couple more close-up shots of the fountains, taken by my dad.

My dad took this next photo, while standing in front of the DWP building, and facing the Music Center.  It shows a sliver of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and a sign advertising Hello, Dolly!, which was being performed at the Music Center.  Carol Channing was starring as "Dolly," in this 1965 touring company of the show.  She had originated the role on Broadway, just one year earlier.

I took this picture of the same street corner, in 2019.  The frame for the sign had been updated at some point, and was advertising The Mariinsky Ballet.  The Walt Disney Concert Hall would be just out of frame, to the right.

For anyone unfamiliar with the Walt Disney Concert Hall, here's a photo I took of it in 2019.  The building was designed by architect, Frank Gehry, and opened in 2003.

I'm including this Los Angeles Times article, just because I think it's pretty interesting.  It's dated June 17, 1999.  At that time, there were some ambitious plans for a new tourist attraction in Downtown Los Angeles.  It's centerpiece was going to be a tower taller than the Eiffel Tower, and topped off with a statue of an angel, which itself was going to be taller than the Statue of Liberty.  Apparently, the plans fell through!

And to close out this post, here's a vintage Father's Day card that my brother and I had given to our dad, when we were kids.

Happy "early" Father's Day, to all of the dad's out there!

(To see some of my Dad's other vintage photos, taken at Disneyland, Knott's, Universal Studios, etc., click here:  Father's Day In The Parks.)

 

 ****Post Update - June 15, 2022****

I've decided to add this extra shot of City Hall, also taken by my dad.

I was curious about the poster on the side of that bus.  About the only thing that I could even remotely make out, was possibly the name, "John Wayne."

I looked up John Wayne's filmography, to see what movies he had made in 1965.  It turns out the poster is for his film, The Sons of Katie Elder:

 

****Post Update - June 19, 2022****

I've decided to go ahead and add the rest of my dad's photos, from this batch.  I'm not sure why I chose to edit these out of the post.  I guess I initially thought there were too many pics of the Music Center and the DWP fountains!

Here's one more shot of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.  This would have been taken while standing on the property, where the Walt Disney Concert Hall now sits.

After realizing that my dad took this from the same spot as his photo of the Department of Water and Power building, I thought I would try to merge the two photos together.  It didn't turn out too bad, I guess, although it looks like both buildings are tilting a bit.

This is another shot taken from the DWP building, looking across the street towards the Music Center.  City Hall can be seen peeking out from behind the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

And these last two shots are of the DWP fountains.

This one shows a bit of the 101 (Hollywood) Freeway in the background, just as it goes over the 110 (Harbor) Freeway.