Thursday, January 10, 2008

4th St & Sycamore, Santa Ana: 1933 & 2006

At the request of new reader walterworld, here's a pair of before and after photos. They both show the corner of 4th Street and Sycamore in Santa Ana. The first was taken soon after the the big earthquake of 1933. Note the scaffolding, boarded windows and repairwork. I took the second photo in May 2006. The facades that were replaced after the quake still have a distinctly 1930s look to them.
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Jay Jennings, (who posted the Knott's videos I linked to earlier,) now has a blog where he posts bits of Knott's Berry Farm ephemera from his collection.
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Thanks to reader bulldog 24, for answering my question about the mysterious orb in yesterday's photo. Turns out it was probably a propane tank.
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See you all at the O.C. Historical Society meeting tonight?

6 comments:

ItsNotAPlace said...

I'll see you there Chris. I'll have an information table about the Dreger Clock project at the event. Looking forward to hearing Phil's talk about Knott's too!

walterworld said...

Thanks Chris---!

The then-and-now angle is what I focus on in my blog. Mostly motels, many of which are located in Orange County or along the Highway 99 corridor (the avenue I follow when venturing to Disneyland with my family.)

I'll be checking back often---Take care!

Daveland said...

Wow - the street lamp is still there! Have you seen Chris Burden's Lamp Installation up in LA yet?

ItsNotAPlace said...

yeah, that is cool about the street lamp still being there and looking the same!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the then and now pics, I love those. More, more, more. Good to see you last night, and thank you, thank you, thank you, for the intro to Jim!!! One of those "things I must do before I die" items. RW was teasing me all the way home for being in love with another man....

Chris Jepsen said...

walterworld: I really dig your blog! (http://freetv-airconditioned.blogspot.com/) As it happens, I too have a website dedicated to Googie and roadside architecture (http://www.SpaceAgeCity.com), and I'm always pulling the car over to take pictures of some old motel sign or coffee shop. Matching the before/after format with Googie is a great idea!

Dave: No, I had not seen the lamp installation. (http://www.southlondongallery.org/docs/exh/exhibition.jsp?id=131) How very strange! I like old lampposts just fine, but I'm not sure I'd call them art exactly. But then I'm a bit traditional and still believe in things like paint and paper and such. :-)

Colony Rabble: My pleasure! After I introduced you, I figured I should make an excuse and just let you two talk history. Hope I didn't seem unsociable. BTW, I'm glad you brought along RW's mom. She's always great fun, and her sense of humor explains so much about RW. :-)

itsnotaplace: Glad you could make it to the OCHS meeting last night. Hope it was productive for you.