L.A. Times
Teenagers caught drag racing in L.A. River
Posted By: Scott Harrison
Posted On: 12:18 a.m. | March 17, 2014
March 6, 1955: Police check licenses on hopped-up cars driven by teenagers drag racing on a paved section of the Los Angeles River bottom. Four squad cars converged on the racers. Photo taken at 6th Street Bridge.
A story in the March 7, 1955 Los Angeles Times reported:
Police yesterday rounded up more than 150 teenagers who were drag-racing their souped-up cars on the paved Los Angeles River bottom.
Four squad cars and five motorcycle officers converged in the river bed where the youths had marked off a quarter-mile racing strip between 4th and 6th Sts.
About 90 jalopies were lined up in single file while the occupants, protesting bitterly, were ordered to show their driver’s licenses and registration papers to policemen guarding the river bed’s 6th St. exit.
Officers estimated that some 30 other cars escaped up the San Fernando Road ramp before police could catch them. There were no arrests….
The photo above by former staff photographer Julian Robinson was published on the March 7, 1955 Los Angeles Times front page.
Below is a related photo from 1958 by former staff photographer Ken Dare. Police blocked one of the Los Angeles River bed exits and calmly handed out tickets.
L.A. Times
Dec. 11, 1958: Police issue citations to more than 100 drivers, charging violations of a municipal law that prohibits operation of motor vehicles on the paved bed of the Los Angeles River. This photo was published in the Dec. 12, 1958 Los Angeles Times
Oh, and here is a close-up of that kid in the old Ford
Thunder Road, MGM Studios