"Random People" Photo Dump - The Summer Edition

In honor of Father's Day and the first day of summer (both on the 21st of this month), I'm going to share some more photos from my dad's collection.  In the past, I have shared some of his family pics, which included such locations as Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, Universal Studios, Marineland, and Downtown Los Angeles.  Today's photos are just of random people who I don't recognize, and who's identities I will probably never know, due to the fact that both my mom and dad have passed and I can no longer ask them.

Who is the man in this photo?  Was he the blonde lady's boyfriend?  Was he a professional model?  And with that haircut and tattoo, was he in the military?

This is the same backyard.  I wonder if the two ladies were sisters?  I also wonder if they were both "artists," or if this painting was done by the blonde lady from the photo above?  So many questions that will go unanswered!

And here is yet another lady and another painting, in the same backyard!  There were no dates on these, but I believe all three of them were taken around 1967 or 1968.

In the summer of 1967, my dad's sister came out to California for a visit (from Maryland), and he took her on a sailboat cruise of the Los Angeles Harbor.  That's the Vincent Thomas Bridge in the background of this next pic, but who is the guy?  I do know that he was the one actually sailing the boat, because my aunt and my dad were the only other people on the boat.  But I wonder if he was a friend of my dad's....maybe someone he knew who had a sailboat, or was he just a guy who worked for a company that offered harbor cruises?

I'm going to assume that my dad knew this guy, because of the number of photos he took of him.

And while we are on the subject of boats, in September of 1967, my dad went on a fishing trip out in the Pacific Ocean  They apparently departed from the Los Angeles Harbor, because my dad took this photo during that fishing trip, and once again, we can see the Vincent Thomas Bridge in the background (far left).  I previously posted this photo in my Family Day at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard post, back in July of 2025.

It looks like they were further out in the ocean in this next photo.  But who is the guy wearing the "Norm's Landing" shirt?  Is he "Norm"?  I looked up "Norm's Landing," and it seems to have a convoluted history.  It was a restaurant and fish market, which at some point changed it's name to, "San Pedro Fish Market."  And it looks like they have recently changed the name again, to just "The Landing," to honor the original "Norm's Landing" name.  They are also currently relocating to a new building, next door to the streamline moderne building which houses the Los Angeles Maritime Museum.

I believe the man with the cigarette hanging out of his mouth was a friend or coworker of my dad's, but I don't recognize him.

And here is a photo from the same batch, showing my dad holding some of his "catch" from the fishing trip.  Why the cigar, Dad?  Why?

The reason I think that man on the boat was one of my dad's friends or coworkers, is because he took a couple photos of him in what I believe is the man's own backyard.  These are from seven months later and dated, "April 1968."  There's that cigarette again!  Okay, it's obviously a different cigarette.

This next pic was taken in the same backyard and on the same day.  Were these ladies the man's wife and daughter?  And hey....the house in the photo above and below looks familiar, and so does the blonde lady!  It's the same lady we saw in the first pic, drawing the picture of the half-naked man!  I actually have VERY faint memories of being in this backyard, and I also remember being fascinated by that bright red hanging ashtray.  I thought it was a birdhouse!  But unfortunately, I don't remember any of these people.

Okay, it's time to say goodbye to these people, and their house, and their artwork, because these are the only photos I have of them.....unless more turn up later.  I'm still busy scanning the thousands of slides and negatives in my dad's collection.

Here's someone new.  A bride!  Who is she?  I have no idea!  It appears that this is the only photo my dad took at this particular wedding.  Based on other negatives in the same envelope, I believe this was taken in 1970 or 1971.  I hope that this lady had a happy marriage, and a happy life!

And while we are on the subject of weddings, my dad took several pics of another wedding party.  These were labeled, "Caulkins Wedding - 1967," but I don't know who "The Caulkins" were, and I don't recognize any of the people in these photos.

The bride and groom:

This lady looks tired....or frustrated.  Maybe she's thinking, "I can't believe my granddaughter married that no-good-nik!"

The bride.  Hey, smile....it's your wedding day!

Perhaps this was the mother of the bride or groom?

I'm assuming these were all family members, posing with the bride.  But maybe a couple of them were strangers off the street, who were crashing the wedding and just trying to "blend in."

Next, we will take a little trip to Florida.  My dad had labeled these, "Florida Trip," and that's it.....no date.  But based on other photos from this batch, I believe these were taken around 1977 or 1978.  I seem to remember that he either won a trip to Florida through his work, or that he was sent there on a work trip.  So, I'm pretty sure these were all coworkers of his who were also sent there, or who won the same trip as a prize.

I wonder how close they were to Orlando and Walt Disney World?  We might not ever know!

I have seen the man on the left (below), in some of my dad's other "work" photos.

 
"FORE!"

"FIVE!"  ;-)

This building might offer a clue as to exactly where they were in Florida.  I'm assuming this is where my dad was staying.  Maybe just by chance, someone out there will recognize it.  (Update:  I used "Google Images" to search for matching photos, and it looks like these buildings are part of Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club in Palm Harbor, Florida!  And this first photo is specifically of "Stirling Hall.")

And now, just to round out this post, here are some "Random Kids" pics.  This first pic is from 1968.  That's our family car in the background, but my brother and I don't recognize this boy.  He wasn't one of the neighbor's kids, but maybe he was visiting one of them.  And he has a scabby nose, so at some point he must have fallen down and gone boom.

These last three pics are from August of 1965.  Where is this kid, today?  And at some point, did she undergo orthodontic treatment?

These were all taken in my family's backyard.  In both the photo above and below, we can see how the wall in the background is two different colors.  I wonder if that had something to do with the repair job that was done to the wall, after a trash truck drove through it two years earlier?

Okay, this isn't a "random kid."  Maybe he's a "random grandpa" and maybe the two kids above, were his "random grandchildren."  Either way, none of them are members of my family!

Farewell, random people....for now, anyway!  And a happy early Father's Day, to all of the dads out there!

Family Day at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard - July 1968 (& The Queen Mary!)

Back in July of 1968, "Family Day" was held at the Naval Shipyard in Long Beach, CA.  It was an event that was open to the public, and allowed visitors an up-close look at some U.S. military ships.  My dad shot all of the vintage color images in this post, except where otherwise noted.

This first ship is the U.S.S. New Jersey (BB-62), an Iowa-class battleship, which was launched on December 7, 1942 (on the first anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor).  The ship was decommissioned after World War II, but reactivated in 1968 and sent to Vietnam.

My dad took another photo of the ship, but I'm not sure why he aimed the camera so high.  I would have rather seen more of the ship and the people on the ground, and less of the sky.

Here's a family photo, with the U.S.S. New Jersey in the background.  I don't know the name or the type of boat that was docked in front of it (on the far right), but the boat on the far left is the R.M.S Queen Mary.

The R.M.S. Queen Mary had arrived at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard 7 months earlier, for it's conversion into a hotel and tourist attraction.  However, this was not to be it's permanent home.  After undergoing renovations for 4 years, the Queen Mary was then moved to it's current location, at Pier H.  This aerial view shows both the Queen Mary and the U.S.S. New Jersey, docked at the Naval Shipyard.

And this photo from Wikipedia, shows the U.S.S. New Jersey in it's current home of Camden, NJ.  In 2001, the ship was opened to the public as a museum.

Another ship that was on display during Family Day, was the U.S.S. Hornet (CV-12), an Essex-class aircraft carrier.  Again, I wish my dad had aimed a little bit lower, so we could see more of the ship!

The U.S.S. Hornet was put into service in the Pacific, during World War II (1943).  She later played a minor role in Vietnam, and she also recovered both the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 astronauts, upon their return from the moon.

The U.S.S. Hornet was decommissioned in 1970, just two years after these photos were taken.  The structure on the far right is a shipyard crane, and not a part of the ship (which is visible to the left of the crane).

Designated both a National Historic Landmark, and a California Historic Landmark, the U.S.S. Hornet opened as a museum in Alameda, CA, in 1998.

It appears that this was the designated parking lot for the "Family Day" event.  The Naval Shipyard would have been behind my dad when he took this photo of the Gerald Desmond Bridge.  The bridge had opened just one month earlier, at a cost of $13 million.  The new bridge created a connection between Long Beach and Terminal Island, and replaced a pontoon bridge that had existed since the 1940s.  The Gerald Desmond Bridge was recently demolished, after being replaced by the new Long Beach International Gateway, which opened in October of 2020.

In 1968, my family was living in Lomita, CA., so we were able to use this new bridge to get to Terminal Island, and then continue on towards home by also using the fairly new Vincent Thomas suspension bridge.

This shot was taken from the front seat of my grandparents' Lincoln Continental, as we approached the brand new Gerald Desmond Bridge:

And this shot shows us being just a little bit closer.  Gee, look at all of that brand new asphalt and concrete!

The last photo my dad took that day, was this elevated view, with the Queen Mary and U.S.S. New Jersey in the distance.  We can also see cars parked below, and people walking in the direction of the shipyard.  I don't know exactly where the car was at this point, but the railing in the foreground seems to match the railing seen above, alongside an offramp from the Gerald Desmond Bridge (on the far left).  I looked at current aerial views to try and locate this spot, but was unsuccessful.  Remember, the location of the Queen Mary in this shot, is not where the ship is located today.

Now, I had also mentioned the Vincent Thomas suspension bridge, earlier.  Traversing the two bridges (one after the other), would take drivers up and over the Port of Los Angeles, creating a short cut between Long Beach and San Pedro.  I found this next shot (taken five years earlier), in a separate batch of my dad's slides.  It shows the Vincent Thomas Bridge under construction in July of 1963 (just four months before it opened, in November of 1963).  This view was taken from the San Pedro side of the bridge, looking east toward Terminal Island, and Long Beach beyond that.  The building on the far right is the then-new Los Angeles World Cruise Center.  It was once home to the "Love Boat," and could be seen in most episodes of the classic TV show.

Would you like to see one more image of a ship in the Port of Los Angeles?  Well, my dad took this last photo in September of 1967 (ten months before the photos of the other military ships in the Long Beach Naval Shipyard).  This was taken on the San Pedro side of the port, and shows the U.S.S. Thomaston (LSD-28), sitting in the Bethlehem Steel Corporation's dry dock.  The ship was a Thomaston-class dock landing ship, launched in 1954, and scrapped in 2011.  I tried to find more information about this ship and what was being done to it here, but the information was conflicting.  It stated that the U.S.S. Thomaston was undergoing an extensive overhaul in San Diego, from June to December of 1967.  But this was taken in September of 1967, and this is the Port of Los Angeles, because we can see the Vincent Thomas Bridge in the background (on the far left).

****BONUS****

I was a little surprised to see that during the "Family Days" event at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, my dad didn't take any other photos of the Queen Mary.  That might have been because we had already driven to Long Beach to see it, just four months earlier.  I posted this pic back in June of 2018, but this is the first time I've shared the one below it, which includes my brother and me.

These were both taken in March of 1968, just three months after the Queen Mary had completed it's very last voyage, and arrived at it's new home of Long Beach.