About, but not limited to, Van Nuys, CA.
From the USC Digital Archives comes this sharp photograph of the aftermath of an accident near Burbank and Sepulveda in Van Nuys. The date is 9/18/1951.
The San Diego Freeway had not been built and would not arrive here in Van Nuys for another ten years.
Cars back then had no air bags or seat belts.
But drivers also had no texting distractions.
Members of a juvenile gang (“Jack’s Gang”) wait outside of the Valley Municipal Building, August 14, 1951. They were charged with possession of numerous weapons.
Gang members in the early 1950s were quite different from our modern gangsters.
Thin, lanky, well-groomed, they wore argyle socks, dress trousers with cuffs, or, like one young man, dark jeans with graphic t-shirt (“Hollywood and Vine”). Another sports a Hawaiian shirt and rolled up denim jeans.
Their parents seem perversely proud and non-plussed by their boys, as if the young men were just going through another male rite of passage.
Photos: USC Digital Archives
Officiating at a beauty contest: actor William Demarest who became “Uncle Charlie” on TV’s My Three Sons (1960-72)
“Hi Neighbor” queen candidates at Valley Municipal Building in Van Nuys, CA, May 4, 1951.
Actor William Demarest, Marlene Morrison, Janet Samprenant, Marine Sergeant Bob Fowler.
(Photo: USC Digital Archives)
These images are borrowed from the pages of the USC Digital Archives.
The Southern Pacific railroad ran parallel to Victory Blvd, along the same route travelled by today’s Metro Orange Line.
“Train versus auto at Victory Boulevard and Balboa Boulevard, 17 October 1951. Bernard Warren (victim). (Sleeve reads: A-9348).
Caption slip reads: “Photographer: Glickman. Date: 1951-10-17. Reporter: Fisk.
Assignment: Train vs. auto — Victory & Balboa. 2 shots wrecked truck. 4 shots of Bernard Warren, victim at scene”.
Here in Van Nuys 
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