The world’s largest neon mural made this the most spectacular drive in ever built in Southern California and the centerpiece of the valley it was named for.

With a beautiful blue sky, majestic mountain range and Santa Barbara Mission as a dramatic backdrop, a Native American, on the right, and a priest, on the left, witness an oxcart, with a driver and two passengers, cross a stream. The Native American has a jug at his side. The priest carries a bible in his hand. At night the early California scene was completely outlined with more than 2500 ft. of glowing neon.

The giant work of art wasn’t the monumental drive-in’s only unusual feature. A year after the grand opening in 1948, the owners who “collected” monkeys, put their primates on display in cages alongside the children’s playground. This was a novel attempt to entertain people before the movie started. They called it Monkeyland.

By the time THE END came in 1980 and the monumental screen tower was demolished to make room for an ill-fated Dodge dealer, the monkeys were long gone, the neon had all but burned out and the hot sun had faded giant painting.

This is the drive-in theater that I grew up going to. I remember the monkeys and being told not to stick my fingers in their cages. But, yes, it was the neon mural that really stands out in my memory. The priest’s bible, the only part of the scene rendered in royal blue neon, always caught my eye. I haven’t seen a blue neon bible since.

Here’s to the Valley Drive-in Theater and you!

In last week’s slide the trailer was burning. So this week we go to church and pray. But not just any church! Oh no! We’re going where you honk to say amen!

A ‘55 Pontiac, ‘55 Ford, ‘56 Chrysler and ‘54 Chevy are parked for prayer. The preacher preaches from a shaded pulpit on a platform. His sermon is delivered from the same pole-mounted speakers that gave sound to the B-movie that played just a few hours before. Between Saturday night and Sunday morning this drive-in serves two very different purposes.

I wasn’t raised in a religious household. My family never went to church. My used-car-dealer-dad and my happy homemaker mom taught my big-bruiser brother and I to simply live by the golden rule – “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. And so I do.

But long about my fifth grade year my mother apparently began to feel guilty about the lack of organized religion in my life. So she signed me up to attend a bible study class that took place in a long, long trailer that had been converted into a religious classroom. For several months the trailer lumbered into the school parking lot every Thursday afternoon. For 55 minutes we read the bible, sang and of course prayed. I do remember something about the “path of temptation” but, frankly, not much else because I was far too distracted by spectacular quality of the trailer’s knotty pine paneled interior. As a fifth grader it was the best I’d ever seen. My imagination was inspired and my spirit soared! To this day I don’t think I’ve ever seen better wood paneling.

Miraculously, this drive in church still exists. I did a quickie Google search and it was top of the list. It’s been a part of the Daytona Beach religious scene since 1953. It no longer does double duty as a theater and the screen is gone. But the preacher still personally greets each car as they drive away at the end of the service. It’s worth a visit to the site just to hear the theme song. driveinchurch.net

Let us now bow our heads and pray – for burning trailers, drive-in churches and the best wood paneling I ever saw!

Honk…honk…honk!!!

While feverishly putting together Americana the Beautiful: Mid-Century Culture in Kodachrome, I was forced to ask myself the question: What is Americana anyway? Yes, its baseball and apple pie but we all know there’s a lot more to it than that! So I took a stab at trying to explain it in the book…

“Americana doesn’t discriminate between classic and kitsch, high-tech or homespun, mass produced or one-of-a-kind, the authentic or make-believe. It draws no borders between town and country. It embraces Mother Nature and man-made, the future and the past. Americana is the essence of American culture.”

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A canned ham trailer goes out in a blaze of glory. It’s quite a show! Unfortunately there aren’t more people around to see it. The whipped cream colored 1954 Ford patrol car, just sits there. The red light on the roof is like a maraschino cherry on top of a delicious hot fudge sundae.

Speaking of trailers last Saturday I had an Americana experience of the highest order. I went to the annual Vintage-Vacations Trailer Show and open house at Newport Dunes. The display was quite simply heaven on earth. Yes, I often wept inwardly (and occasionally outwardly) as I stuck my fat head into what seemed to be an endless display Airstreams, Silver Streaks and Shastas. There were other brands too. They lined up one after another.

My Southern California pride rose to record levels when I discovered that many of the trailers were labeled logos that often had the name of the town were manufactured in, such as Whittier, El Monte, Glendora, Van Nuys, Lynwood, San Fernando, and Upland. I had no idea that so many trailers were made here.

Beyond the charm of the shiny, shapely exteriors, inside the trailers are a study of warm and friendly honey blond wood paneling and oh-so smart space planning. The junior-scale stoves and refrigerators were, well for lack of a better word, adorable. Some trailers even had bathrooms. I thought all trailers had bathrooms!

To call these trailer-people generous would be an understatement. And to call them trailer- trash would not only be socially unacceptable it would be a lie. Passing for trailer to trailer I was generously offered everything from martinis to marshmallows and sushi to shish kabobs. And I said yes, thank you to everything! Well, looking at vintage trailers can make one very hungry and thirsty.

At nightfall it was time for my Vintage Trailer Slide Show. This was the opening slide.

Here’s to vintage trailers, the trailer in flames and you!

CHARLES PHOENIX’S RETRO DISNEYLAND SLIDE SHOW
the ultimate “E” Ticket to the Magic Kingdom in the 50s & 60s
—IN COLOR!

TONIGHT Friday, May 19, 2006 at 8:30 pm & Sunday, May 21, at 2 pm

“Ladies and gentlemen may I have your attention please. For your personal safety keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times…” as we go back in time to the granddaddy of all theme parks when it was new.

At the REDCAT – Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theatre
(in the WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL)
631 West 2nd St. Los Angeles, CA, 90012

You’ll experience long-gone attractions like the Phantom Boats, Flying Saucers, Indian Village, the Carousel of Progress, and others. See original attractions on Main Street USA, Adventureland, Fantasyland and Frontierland.

Then explore the original Tomorrowland when it was when it promoted as “The World of 1987” and be there for the all-new Tomorrowland in 1967. You’ll hear the flaming back-story of the monorail, go inside the ultra space-age, all plastic House of the Future; take the TWA Rocket to the Moon and much, much more!

Also see Freedomland USA, the ill-fated wannabe Disneyland theme park that opened in the Bronx 1960.

JUST A FEW TICKETS ARE LEFT
$ 29.00 by phone now (213) 237-2800 ext. #1
or in-person at REDCAT box office now

INFO: (866) 754-3374 (866-SLIDESHOW)
www.charlesphoenix.com/redcat

HOPE YOU CAN MAKE IT!

Sleeping Beauty’s Castle is slightly double exposed on the House of the Future. Its mid-evil meets mid-century! Medievalism and modernism have never been so close. For ten years, between 1957 and 1967, the all-plastic House of the Future was just outside of Tomorrowland perched on a pedestal steps from the castle They both represent fairy tales – one speaks of the future as the other of the past.

Who is supposed to be posing for this photo? Is it the twins wearing matching puffed-sleeved-pinafore party dresses over white bobby socks and black patent leather? Or the woman who wears sensible yet stylish shoes and her two followers whose stride seems clearly interrupted?

I don’t know. But I do know that the little girls look like they just stepped out of an animated Disney classic. And their dresses match the giant TV screen-like windows of the house that nearly 50 years after it was built and forty after it was demolished still looks futuristic. Design-wise the House of the Future is a miracle of modernity because it’s still ahead of its time. This was living beyond the space age. Way beyond. So far beyond that time hasn’t gotten us there yet.

Can you just imagine a House of the Future tract? I can imagine dozens of them dotting a hillside covered with bright yellow flowers and lush greenery. Would they be all refrigerator white or come in decorator colors? I can see even the two, three, and even ten story versions. My imagination is inspired and my spirit is soaring!

Come See a lot more of the House of the Future, inside and out, and a whole show about the early days of the Magic Kingdom **NEXT WEEKEND**

CHARLES PHOENIX’S RETRO DISNEYLAND SLIDE SHOW

…at the REDCAT THEATER in the spectacular WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL! Friday Evening May 19 at 8:30 and Sunday afternoon May 21 at 2:00 More Info

Here’s to the Houses of the Future in our future and YOU!

Mom’s painted lips and matching polished fingernails match the lipstick red satin second place ribbon hanging framed on the wall. Ribbon for what? I don’t know – too small and to far away to read. Something wonderful I’m sure. Mom’s smart plaid jacket is bright but not loud. The stylish collar is bias-cut and the sleeves are slightly puffed.

The boys sport matching wool plaid jackets. Double black leather buttons provide both fashion and function to the patch pocket flaps. Dad dons a zip-front, brown leather bomber jacket over blue denim. Mom and dad both wear frameless glasses. They all have rosy cheeks. It is a rather fresh faced family portrait. The kind that you’d think you’d see a lot of but don’t. I wonder if those plaids are Pendleton Plaids.

Pendleton Woolens are Americana classics of the highest order. Together with Levis they epitomize Old West Coast style and transcend the fashion universe.

Homespun and family run, Pendleton Woolen Mills began producing woolens in Pendleton, Oregon in 1886. Their thick wool blankets woven with Native American motifs were their first claim to fame.

In 1924 the mill branched out by introducing the plaid sports shirt for men after “a vision” the owner had. The shirts were instant timeless classics and worn just as comfortably up town or downtown; to town and country. Woman’s wear by Pendleton took off the first year it was sold, 1949.

For Southern California’s ultimate supply of men’s Pendleton shirts visit the world’s messiest and most wonderful overstocked mom and pop menswear shop ever, Greenspans in South Gate. Some of the stock dates probably dates back to opening day in 1928. Trust me you’ve just got to experience this place! www.greenspans.com

Do you remember the Pendleton Shop in Frontierland at Disneyland? Speaking of Disneyland…**IN TWO WEEKS** CHARLES PHOENIX’S RETRO DISNEYLAND SLIDE SHOW**TWO FINAL PERFORMANCES **at the REDCAT THEATER in the WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL! Friday Evening May 19 at 8:30 and Sunday May 21 at 2:00 in the afternoon. More Info

Here’s to the plaidy family portrait, Pendleton, Greenspans and YOU

I have no idea who these people are. They both wear glasses and have the same pale complexion. She is taller and more dressed up than he. He is casual in his windowpane check shirt loosely tucked into pleated pants She is semi-formal in velvet trimmed black taffeta. Apparently, they are celebrating some momentous occasion that calls for a roast beast buffet.

But the big question is what kind of beast is it? One would assume that it’s a sucking pig fresh out of the imu pit. But it looks more like a Shetland suckling pony to me!

The fact that this beastly buffet is a little blurry doesn’t stop me from sharing with you. I never discriminate against a slide just because it’s a little bit out of focus! Oh no! Our eyes will auto-focus it for us.

It’s certainly clear enough to see that the skin of the mystery mammal has been slathered generously with butter to make it golden brown and delicious to eat. And that those crabapple eyes came out of the same jar as the ones scattered on what looks to be mashed potato mounds piled on little, random bouquets of parsley. Yum-yum! The oranges halved and hollowed appear to be stuffed with yams topped with marshmallows that look melted but somehow not browned.

Everything but the sliced ham (or are those napkins?) is served on tinfoil. And let’s face it, tinfoil ads such a nice sparkly space-age touch to a table. It goes so well with the silverware.

Look closely and you will see that this sensational spread is symmetrical except for the mis-matched Jell-O molds. That’s not a half-eaten ring- mold; it must be the rarely used fish-in-a-crescent-shape mold. But they are the same artificial color. Yum yum!

Here’s to this beastly buffet and your future recreation of it!!!