Cub Scouts & Kites, Alhambra, CA 1946
Kite flying is SO underrated. I bet these kite-toting Cub Scouts know that.
I was never a Cub Scout, but I was a kite flyer. On Memorial Day, I flew a kite for the first time in about 40 years. I’d waited long enough. Let’s go fly a kite!
My friend Rob suggested we go to Angel’s Gate Park up on the cliffs of San Pedro, where the up-sweeping wind is sure to sail just about anything. So we did and it did.
But first I had to buy a kite. Where to buy a kite in L.A.?, you may ask. Answer: Kip’s Toyland at Farmers Market. Kip’s been selling toys on the corner of Third and Fairfax since 1940! Who doesn’t love buying a kite from a 95-year-old toy merchant?
I was hoping for the ‘ol balsa wood and paper type, the kind of kite I flew as a kid. But they don’t seem to make those anymore. So a plastic bat-shaped flyer in red white and blue stars and stripes would have to do. And do it did.
With the help of good vibes from fellow kite flyers and a brisk breeze blowing off the waves and ripples of the Pacific, our kites were as high as we were (on kite flying, of course) in mere moments.
After a good spell, Rob’s string snapped and his kite flew and blew away for good. Then a few minutes later, I somehow, stupidly, forgot for a split second I was flying a kite and let go of it. DANG!
But against all odds, or at least most of them, as it floated away on the wind, my kite string magically attached itself to a not-so-distant power line, held on and my kite kept flying. All by itself. We stood there in awe.
My imagination was inspired and my spirit soared. Kite flying. I can’t recommend it enough!
Here’s to kite flying and YOU!
Charles Phoenix
May 30, 2012
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Charles, the same thing happened to me when I was a kid, I was flying my kite in a vacant lot near my home and I really had it way up in the sky, then I got a little too confident with my kite flying skills and let go of the spool holding the line for just a second, the wind blew the kite across the street and into a power line where the string caught, the kite kept flying on it’s own until the wind died down and I was able to retrieve it.
I remember those paper and balsa wood kites, every March the stores would put them on sale and my mother would let me get one. The kites were so fragile that more times than not mine would be ruined after the first few attempts at flying it and that would be it for kites until the next year.
Concavity of paper panels indicates they’re facing into the wind. Note the Betty Boop on two of the kites; a popular image on military aircraft in the just terminated war. Note also the kite in second most right bottom with Maltese cross has rectangular shape; would likely need two tails to fly? Those clear plastic wrappings were pretty exotic. Home made kites often used gift wrapping and even newsprint.
We had certainly entered the modern age as far as photography was concerned. As far as color and clarity, this could have been taken yesterday. hard to imagine it was nearly 70 years ago.
“it looks like a city…perhaps they are all up on a ridge to get a good wind. Any idea where this might be?”
Kevin, I was trying to figure this out too. There aren’t too many hills in Alhambra. My first thought was the hill that’s currently topped by the Pyreneese Castle, former home to Phil Spector, but that’s probably not the case as it was built in the 20s.
My other thought was that it might actually be in Monterey Park, in the hills southwest of Garvey and Atlantic, looking north towards Alhambra.
Charles, do you know anything else about this image?
Doug, I thought the same. Hard to believe this was 1946. Think about it. Alhambra was probably “way out”. Diamond Bar was a ranch. Pomona was a small, and nice, town. Towns had big wide fields between them. The roads were all two lanes, no freeways (except for part of the Pasadena Freeway I believe) and likely you took Foothill Blvd to get anywhere.
And look the creativity in these fabric and wood kites. Small ones. Big ones, box kites. In the haze behind them (I heard a legend that indians used to call this area “hazy valley” and the haze was not smog) it looks like a city…perhaps they are all up on a ridge to get a good wind. Any idea where this might be?
The “modern” aspect of the photo is that it is in color, and slide photo, which seems to really retain clarity and color. I watched some slides of the lat 50s and early 60s of my family, and the color and clarity knocked my socks off. The pictures looked brand new, and my mom was only in her early 30s!
If it weren’t for the car in the background, you’d almost think this beautiful picture were taken yesterday.
But Charles, where are the photos of you flying your kite?