In the city, city of Long Beach --
-- so after I put up those motel images I figger'd I'd put up some more and then cogitated, well, aren't there a mess more o' those motels in the LBC? But when I commenced digging thru my Long Beach cards fer motels I kept coming up with too much amusing stuff not to share. Therefore. I must inundate you with Long Beach and its immediate, random environs as I see fit.
I love
Boardwalk Empire, but how can/does their boardwalk compare to ours? Please! And look at those opal glass signs.
Bisby's Spiral Airship!! From Wapedia --
http://wapedia.mobi/en/The_Pike
The Pike was an amusement zone started in 1902 in Long Beach, California at the shoreline south of Ocean Boulevard with several independent arcades, food stands, gift shops, a variety of rides and a grand bath house. It was most noted for the "Cyclone Racer" (1930), a large wooden dual track roller coaster, built out on pilings over the water. The Pike operated under several names. The amusement zone surrounding the Pike, "Silver Spray Pier", was included along with additional parking in the post World War II expansion, it was all renamed Nu-Pike in the mid 60's, then renamed Queens Park before closure and demolition when the long-term contract with the city ran out in 1979.
Bisby's Spiral Airship built in 1902 had cars that were suspended underneath a track and could swing freely. The cars travelled up an inclined track, and then descended along a spiral track around a steel frame tower before returning to the station. This is commonly acknowledged as the first suspended roller coaster type ride.
Now, of the Hotel Virginia:
...that's an entire thread unto itself. There's a whole world of postcards and letterhead and whatnot devoted to the Virginia, and rightfully so, but I won't go into that now. (This shot might be well included in the "LA at Night" album I put together once upon a time ago.)
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...arch/CHS-14358
Mmm. The Hotel De Luxe. Ocean at Locust. Scene of many a noir happening one can surmise. As is true with the preceding images? Don't try looking for them on Google Maps.