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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork
@ladork.bsky.social
360 followers 36 following 330 posts
Dorking out on forgotten LA. Alter-ego of Paul Haddad, author of "Inventing Paradise," "Freewaytopia," "10,000 Steps a Day in LA" and other LA tomes.
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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork @ladork.bsky.social · 1d
Greyhound bus terminal, LA, 1969.

Who remembers coin-operated TVs? For that matter, indoor ashcans, newspapers, and nattily dressed commuters? 😎
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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork @ladork.bsky.social · 2d
Before settling in Spahn Ranch, Charles Manson and his "Family" hopscotched between dilapidated homes in Topanga Canyon. This one was known as the Spiral Staircase House (3924 Topanga Ln.), located in an area called the Snake Pit for its abundant snakes. The house has been razed.
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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork @ladork.bsky.social · 3d
Pan-Pacific's rink was also the home to the LA Monarchs of the Pacific Coast Hockey League and USC & UCLA's hockey(!) teams. The venue also hosted UCLA basketball games, horse shows, wrestling, roller derbies, car & boat shows, political rallies, tennis tournies. Seating: 6,000.
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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork @ladork.bsky.social · 3d
UNREMARKABLE POSTCARD SERIES, No. 98.
Granada Hills, Calif. 1960.
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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork @ladork.bsky.social · 5d
How dominant was Blake Snell last night? Don Larsen-level dominant.

After picking off the only runner who got on by a hit, Snell faced the minimum number of batters (24) thru 8 innings before coming out.

Last time that happened in the postseason: Larsen's perfect game in 1956.
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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork @ladork.bsky.social · 6d
Pan-Pacific auditorium was one of LA's 1st large multi-use spaces. More posts coming on that...

From 1942 to 1984 it ran movies. Streamline Moderne-meets-mid-Century decor, inside and out, graceful lines and curved seats. Just a stunner from Welton Becket.
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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork @ladork.bsky.social · 7d
Diane Keaton, besides being a great actress, director (and singer!) was a shining example of "fake it til you make it," adapting a unique, very-New York look. Johnny Carson and others always assumed she was a NYer, but she was a Calif. kid, graduating from Santa Ana High School.
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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork @ladork.bsky.social · 7d
Hiking in Agoura Hills and came across low-lying vines holding yellow-green melons. They're in the squash family -- known as coyote gourd. Alas, they're too bitter to eat, but Native Americans used them for soap & made rattles from their husks for ceremonial dances.
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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork @ladork.bsky.social · 10d
I sat along right field of Game 3's NLDS. Schwarber's home run LOUDLY clanked off the pavilion roof and beyond. I think only Willie Stargell hit HRs over that roof (twice, '69 and '73).

Others to homer over LEFT field:

Piazza ('97)
McGwire ('99)
Stanton ('15)
Tatis, Jr. ('21)
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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork @ladork.bsky.social · 12d
From utopia to dystopia...

40 years after the opening of the 4-Level (1953), Michael Douglas expressed Angelenos' pent-up anger at this same junction in "Falling Down" (1993).

The sightseeing fam in the previous post would've been standing in the grassy background.
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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork @ladork.bsky.social · 12d
When the 4-Level (world's first) opened in DTLA in 1953, it spawned tons of postcards.

I love this "family" (with moody teenager) posing by the side of the 110-to-101-N connector. Sloppily photoshopped in, they look like giants, plus they're breaking the no-peds law of fwys.
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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork @ladork.bsky.social · 13d
In the 1920s, Wilshire and Western was one of the busiest intersections in LA. Chaos ensued when city planners adopted the use of a roundabout to control traffic in those pre-traffic signal days, and newspapers published graphic tutorials for motorists.
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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork @ladork.bsky.social · 17d
While still a teen, Edward James Olmos -- yes the actor -- once fronted a rock/psychedlia band. They were called Eddie James and the Pacific Ocean (cuz nothing's bigger than the Pacific Ocean!) & played the Sunset Strip, including Gazzarri's, in the 1960s. We need a reunion show!
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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork @ladork.bsky.social · 17d
At the Vista's screening of PTO's new movie (I enjoyed it), they're handing out business cards for moviegoers to "check off" seeing the film in 6 different formats.

I propose these formats for when it hits the home market:

-Beta
-VHS
-LaserDisc
-DVD
-BluRay
-Streaming
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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork @ladork.bsky.social · 19d
MTA's proposal of a monorail over the 405? Been there, done that. After Disneyland opened its monorail in 1959, Alweg & other firms drafted monorails for freeways, like the 101 thru DTLA. But as new modes, there were concerns parts would be hard to come by if there were problems.
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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork @ladork.bsky.social · 19d
On the Sunset Strip, in the former House of Blues site (now a commercial bldg.), Roy's restaurant was a record exec & musician hangout from 1976-1982.

Similar to steakhouses with lockers for your wine bottles, Roy's had private rooms to keep one's cocaine stash for "dessert."
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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork @ladork.bsky.social · 22d
UNREMARKABLE POSTCARD SERIES, No. 93.
Compton, Calif. 1953.
Compton Blvd., looking east from Willowbrook.
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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork @ladork.bsky.social · 24d
Decades before Disneyland trotted out its beloved Electrical Parade, the LA Coliseum hosted a stunning Motion Picture Electrical Parade with 20 lit-up floats. Produced by the studios, it showcased advances in technology & Hollywood's input in the recently completed 1932 Olympics.
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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork @ladork.bsky.social · 26d
Before it became Bossa Nova restaurant, the A-frame-facade building at 7181 Sunset Blvd. was a Famous Amos Cookies outlet, opened by Wally Amos in 1975. His son Shawn went to my school & we did a field trip, trying his new cookies before they went global! The store closed in '88.
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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork @ladork.bsky.social · 28d
For their first time, the Dodgers will hit 4 million in home attendance for 2025 today. Not technically true, though.

In 1982, 3,608,881 fans went thru the turnstyles. But if one included no-shows, it was 4,000,000.

Only in 1992 did the NL start going by "total tickets SOLD."
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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork @ladork.bsky.social · 28d
One thing I've always loved... the "Snoopy bridge"! In 1971 Charles M. Schulz donated 12 panels of Peanuts drawings to adorn the ped crossing over Wilbur Ave. near Tarzana Elementary School, where he had a connection. Tarnished over the years, the community restored them in 2024.
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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork @ladork.bsky.social · 29d
When Walt Disney died in December 1966, this was printed on the front pages of newspapers the next day.
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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork @ladork.bsky.social · Sep 19
My next book event...
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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork @ladork.bsky.social · Sep 17
Dear young'uns... in the wake of the 1st Earth Day, we oldtimers from the '70s used to have "paper drives." The whole fam would save & lug old newspapers to the school parking lot. The school raised funds by selling the papers to mills. Personal recycling bins ended the drives.
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ladork.bsky.social
LA Dork @ladork.bsky.social · Sep 17
Right?