Charles’ 
Slide of the Week: August 31st, 2006
Freeway Poser, Los Angeles, 1959
I love it when people decide to take their official new car portrait on the right shoulder of the Hollywood freeway in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. Does anybody even take an official new car portrait anymore?
The sky is the haziest of pale blues. The monumental modern Federal Building stands as stately as it still does. Split-neck streetlamps spotlight the slow lane and shoulder at night.
Beautifully framed between the ivy covered canyon slope on one side and light traffic speeding by on the other, a young lady about town strikes a proud pose with a brand-spanking-new butterscotch metallic 1959 Chevrolet Nomad Station Wagon – so new that it doesn’t even have a license plate.
Her smart sunglasses soften the golden glare of the mid-day Southern California sunshine. The belt of her otherwise plane-jane, yet timeless classic, cotton sundress is trimmed in turquoise. Yes, the car is low and wide but she is tall by any feminine standards.
The vast expansion of Southern California’s “toll-free”-way system during the 50s and 60s made it the most advanced metropolis on earth. More than anything else in the built environment, freeways defined the modern era and forever changed the landscape, lifestyle and distance between town and country as they connected our spectacular cities and space age suburbia’s ever so conveniently.
Southern California’s freeway system is so Tomorrowland. It reminds me of Autopia at Disneyland. Only it’s much bigger, free to ride on and you can’t just crash into the car in front of you for fun.
Charles Phoenix
Los Angeles
August 2006
Sets this Slide belongs to:
Los Angeles & Roadslide
21 Comments on “Freeway Poser, Los Angeles, 1959”
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September 1st, 2006 at 3:41 am
I think it’s a 59 Chevy Bel Air! ……I have one!, Craig from Cafe 50’s
September 1st, 2006 at 4:50 am
It seems so strange to see someone posing on the side of the freeway and even more strange that it’s in L.A.–when you think about how it looks there nowadays. The car even seems out of place and so outdated. When I think about that era and how modern and new everything seemed to be at that time, then this picture starts to make sense. It must have been a totally different world back then when the US was making great strides in many areas of life. I would love to have lived at that time and get a sense of the excitement that some people seemed to have gotten with some of the seemingly simple things in life. I get a sense that this picture was taken right before the strong counterculture currents took hold of America and changed it forever. I guess outlaw bikers were one of the very few cultural aspects of modern American life that seemed to shock the American public at that time. But even that was kept hidden as much as possible by the status quo. How about showing some slides of outlaw bikers during the 50s and early 60s? Now that would really be interesting!
September 1st, 2006 at 6:55 am
Love it! Do you evr hear from any of the subjects of these pics? Where are they now? Charles Phoenix for pres!
September 1st, 2006 at 8:04 am
I have passed this spot everyday for 16 years coming to work everyday. That Ivy covered hill is still in the same spot.
I love the fact how Missy Lee here is all glammed up looking for a place to party. Probably on her way to Hollywood. Charles did you notice the fact that our autopia, fairly new at this point, has no center lane divider ? Can you imagine the horrific car accidents they must of had back then? Love this car ! Have fun in Maui dude!
September 1st, 2006 at 8:05 am
What elase has changed? There is now a safety barricade down the center of the freeway, the overhead sign is protected by razor wire, and the sign and overpass are grafittied…and California license plates are no longer yellow.
September 1st, 2006 at 8:55 am
Ah, the “batwing” full-size Chevys! Too bad it’s not a shot of the rear (the car, not the woman), a much more interesting view of the ’59s. But if that were the case, we wouldn’t get to see that great view of downtown L.A.
By the way, that large white building is actually the downtown U.S. Courthouse, where several major trials have taken place, including the one of John DeLorean in the 1980s. And for those into vintage cars and vintage TV shows, it’s also the building Maxwell Smart pulls up to at the beginning of “Get Smart” in the later seasons. He got out of a Sunbeam Tiger (or alternately, a VW Karmann Ghia), and ran inside.
September 1st, 2006 at 10:49 am
I was driving through some parts of newer parts of Phoenix/Scottsdale this past spring, and I noticed how clean, new and graffitti free the freeways looked. The slide is kind of a reminder on how the LA freeways must have been (clean, new and graffitti free…)so many years ago.
Oh well…btw, have to comment–freeway poser is kind of a hotty! On to the Weekend!!!
September 1st, 2006 at 11:33 am
Chic Mr. Charles!
My doesn’t she look lovely? According to the _Charm Encyclopedia_ by Alice Bell (1962 — I should mention that the book is “co-authored” by a woman named Pert Wall! And my copy is signed by both lovely ladies! They have lovely handwriting, of course.), “There is no such thing as a homely woman … There are only those women who do not know how to be pretty.” Certainly our Lady by the Lane knows how to be pretty! Fabulous sunglass, a cinched-in waist, an especially dainty wrist watch … it all adds up to lovely. But oh dear. I fear that Miss Alice Bell herself would rise from her charming grave if she could see Proud and Posing in her camera-ready stance!
Yes, yes we all know about good posture, but do we really know about how to stand and pose? As Miss Bell emphasizes, “Standing beautifully is a daily, routine requirement and one of your greatest assets in acquiring self confidence.” She also strikes the fear of God into her readers by repeatedly asserting that if you stand incorrectly for a photo, you’ll look 20 pounds heavier! How can we prevent such horror? Follow these simple Do’s and Don’ts
DO hold your head high but level, with ear lobes in line with the middle of the tops of your shoulders.
DO tilt the chin slightly. This will tend to eliminate the look of a double chin.
DO place your neck in a direct line with your spine.
DO lift your chest high, and your spine straight.
DO pull your stomach in, and tuck your buttocks in and under.
DON’T lead with your chin.
DON’T stoop your shoulders. This causes what is commonly referred to as “Dowager’s Hump.”
DON’T allow your bustline to droop.
DON’T let your stomach protrude.
DON’T let your buttocks stick out too far.
DON’T stiffen your body.
DON’T lean on objects.
Now our Fearless Freeway Flyer certainly has her standing feet position (Miss Bell has two: left standing position and right standing position: front foot at 45 degree angle, back foot pointing straight ahead, 4 inches of space between both legs, most of your body weight on the back foot, front knee relaxed, front hip turned toward front foot), but she is committing the Photo Posture Sin of leaning on an object! Horrors! Even smart station wagons should not support your weight! No girdle or fetching smile will help you recover from that deadly lean. There is also a touch of slumping forward … yes, yes, gorgeous new cars make you feel swoony and a bit weak at the knees, but working on a Dowager’s Hump is certainly going wipe that excitement away, right?
Thank goodness for the darling glasses, belt, and watch. Smart and chic, they make the woman. But stand up straight, dear. Alice Bell is crying in Charm Heaven.
Be careful getting back in the car, our Sporty Lass! That’s a might close shave between you and the road!
xoxo!
Miss Sharon
September 1st, 2006 at 12:10 pm
Extremely dangerous at anytime to stand on the freeway shoulder..hardy woman..some guts…or stupid???
September 1st, 2006 at 1:35 pm
In reference to Dave K.’s comment above, I think the building Maxwell Smart pulled up in front of in the “Get Smart” credits was actually the Hall of Justice on Temple & Broadway.
September 1st, 2006 at 2:37 pm
Back in 1985 I went to the Temporary Contemporary Museum in downtown LA. On the way home, the car began swerving and I said, “It feels like the tire is going to fall off.” My friend replied, “Naw, it always feels like that.”
Suddenly, the car lerched and fell back on the rear passenger side - as the wheel fell off. I swear it was in the exact same spot that this lady is standing.
By the way, it was rush hour and quite harrowing. The only good laugh came when my friend said, “Where’s the tire?” I looked up the freeway and saw the tire roll up the embankment, stop and roll back onto the freeway just in time to be hit by a car and go sailing thru the air. Good times.
September 1st, 2006 at 2:45 pm
CHARLES - SUCH A COINDICENCE! I just got a new car a few days ago and the first thing I did after leaving the showroom was to head down the Hollywood Freeway, find the narrowest section of the shoulder, pull over and jump out to take photos. There are some great shots of me, but my goodness, at such a cost… so many horns and fingers! My friend said it was because I was partially blocking the lane - but I think they were all just jealous because they weren’t part of the glamour.
September 2nd, 2006 at 5:29 pm
I don’t see a wedding band on the ladies ring finger so, let me assume that the car belongs to her Dad or Mom and one of them is behind the camera. (Afterall, why would a lady of this magnitude buy a station wagon?) Maybe her boy-friend bought it for camping trips? Hmmmmmmmm..
I only know when I bought my first car I wanted to take pictures of it with a nice background. I drove to the Inglewood Park Cemetery where there were dozens of grassy and tree lined parkways for some “quiet shots” and that turned out so well I have taken other cars there as well for “photo opps.” The cemetery is a much prettier and safer place to take car pictures than nearly any freeway shoulder.
One other comment on the ‘lady on the shoulder’ just maybe she and the photographer were leaving L.A. never to return but wanted a ‘memory shot.’
September 3rd, 2006 at 2:09 am
Our car had a flat in that area at one time. We changed it AFAP(!) (as fast a possible), too dangerous to hang out for long. I still have steel belt punctures in my fingers.
R.I.P Jerry.
September 4th, 2006 at 5:13 pm
“Yes, the car is low and wide but she is tall by any feminine standards.”
Charles Phoenix is nothing if not a gentleman.
September 6th, 2006 at 6:52 am
Hi Charles,
The car looks similar to the one Joe Friday drove in the old Dragnet episodes.
Tim Severs
September 17th, 2006 at 9:49 pm
Hey, your webmaster is tops! problem solved …
and oo la la
December 22nd, 2006 at 7:25 pm
This really brings me back to the days in L.A. when the freeways were fairly new, clean, graffiti-free and lined with ivy. Someone mentioned that ther is no center divider, back in those days the freeway used to have a chain-link fence with a cable running down the center.
February 22nd, 2007 at 9:59 am
It seems surreal.Everything about this picture is beautiful:
the sexy lady, the car, the green
shrubs and the sunny weather! It’s all in a different world than today’s hurried life. After all, who would take the time to do this nowadays? You’ll either be shot or runned down by a druken driver! This picture is pure innocense that America has lost forever.
March 2nd, 2007 at 8:36 pm
I agree with P.G. The world then was much safer, By economic and military standerds we were on top of the world , the carefree innocence of this great nation shows in this piture of both car and lady. as Simon and Garfunkle sang . Time was it was a time of innocence , it was a time of confindances. great snapshot.
July 27th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
My friend Charles. Your website and your pictures are the most important for me nowadays. Oh my God! I love watching every day these marvelous and unforgetable pictures. Congratulations again! Great snapshot really! Ezio, from São Paulo(Brazil)