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Nearly everyone in attendence had a woodie this Morning


greg g

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...but could be anywhere in the LA area. I would have to agree that this looks like a military purchase for the war effort. Probably to be used as stateside base transports.

Wonder what was going on? Looks like all the guys had uniforms on, and there are little flags or streamers onthe ataneas. LA or Hollywood, Did they meet a trainload of starlets after WAR bond tour??

151b92fef0964a59_landing

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...because as soon as I read this, I recognized it as the exit I sometimes take to visit my brother in Burbank. He used to work for Warner Bros. The image from Google Earth below confirms it! Excellent!

LA-exit2.jpg

Second photo looks a lot like the northbound Hollywood freeway exit at Universal Studios, near Barham Blvd. It's been reworked in recent years though. Can't imagine what all those folks were up to but those are sure some great cars.
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David, that is so neat, that you can capture the exact same spot on Google Earth. We used to drive up Barham a few blocks, then turn right through the residential area, and go walking at the Hollywood Reservoir, just below the Hollywood sign. The good old daze...

Maybe those cars were headed north to Santa Barbara for the first annual Woodies on the Wharf car show, if it was held that far back.

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I do not think all the cars are Mopar, I think all makes are represented and it looks to me like the uniforms are more in line with chauffer style, so I wander if there wasn't a big golf tournament near by maybe even in Santa Barbara area as was mentioned. Maybe Hearst had a big party going up at the castle. :D

1. By the shadows the time in the parking lot is 9:00 a.m., March or April, (2) On two corners are gasoline stations, (3) the street beyond the fence is a four lane, (4) the street is empty so it must be a Sunday morning (stores were closed on Sunday, remember?), (5) I think the street may be Sepulvata BLVD, (5) by the shadow to the right of the picture there must be a large store to the right, (6) the caravan is headed north. QUESTION: What could have happened on Sunday Morning in the Burbank/Hollywood area that would require 100 +/- chaparoned station wagons?

Edited by pflaming
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1. By the shadows the time in the parking lot is 9:00 a.m., March or April, (2) On two corners are gasoline stations, (3) the street beyond the fence is a four lane, (4) the street is empty so it must be a Sunday morning (stores were closed on Sunday, remember?), (5) I think the street may be Sepulvata BLVD, (5) by the shadow to the right of the picture there must be a large store to the right, (6) the caravan is headed north.

QUESTION: What could have happened on Sunday Morning in the Burbank/Hollywood area that would require 100 +/- chaparoned station wagons?

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Wonder what was going on? Looks like all the guys had uniforms on, and there are little flags or streamers onthe ataneas. LA or Hollywood, Did they meet a trainload of starlets after WAR bond tour??

151b92fef0964a59_landing

That's a '41 Plymouth leading the line on the right. I think I remember reading somewhere that during WWII, the government requested the donation of station wagons to be used in the war effort. I will have to go back and check my sources.

Jim Yergin

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These photos are really interesting, greg g, where did you dig this up?

The military did use just about any type of auto for the war effort. I've seen a photo of a 1929 Chevy painted as a staff car! Serious, a '29 Chevy staff car for WWII!

Looking at the parking lot photo, those are not chauffeur uniforms; chauffeurs wore longer coats, double breasted with two rows of buttons in most cases. Also, their hats were visor caps, the caps worn in the photos are overseas caps, also known as garrison caps. I would have to say they are military.

The 101 north bound traffic... wow, that is such a neat shot! I recognized it right off the bat! It's the Cahuenga Pass! The old off-ramp is still there but fenced off. Look how nice everything used to look... Here's another shot looking north west from up on the hill... notice that there used to be PE (Pacific Electric) Red Car track running in the middle! That is all gone now and not one trace is left of that ever being there.

cahuenga-end.jpg

Look, it seems where the 101 would be is nothing but PE track going in that direction... the road seems to end and force traffic to Ventura Blvd.

-=Rob=-

Edited by Robert Smith
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  • 1 month later...

Jim was there a date on this??? I recall that California authorities thought they might be under threat from Japanese Ballon bombs. The Japanese had devised a system of using lighter than air inflatables with bombs suspended from them to be lauched from ships or submarines and floated on prevailing winds to either deflate or drop their ordinance on the West coast of America. There was also a threat from a class of Submarines that carried one or two single engined bombers. Wonder if the evacuation was to service citizens or persons of import?????

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