Sunday, February 03, 2013

Southern California Vacationland

 
I'm just posting one image (and a close-up) today, but it's cool enough to stand on its own. This "fun map" of Southern California comes from the June 1962 issue of the snappily-titled Orange County Newsmagazine of Life, Business & Industry. Click to enlarge the image. A detail from the map, focusing in on Orange County is seen below.
In an unusual twist for such maps, Newport Dunes, Forest Lawn and Santa's Village get as much attention as Disneyland. Moreover, Knott's Berry Farm seems to be the splashiest thing on the map -- which makes me wonder if they had a hand in paying the illustrator. Hmmmm....

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a really cool old map Chris. I wonder how many went to or even remeber Marineland of the Pacific. We lived in Palos Verdes for a year before moving to Garden Grove in 64 so I went to Marineland several times. It was pretty interesting but didn't live up to the thrills of Sea World. It was kind of tough to get to too.
Jim now in Magnolia, TX

Anonymous said...

I wonder when it was made - because I thought that Hwy 39 was the same as Beach Blvd and the map refers to it as Grand. Any comments on that? I wanted to see the highways and freeways that I was familiar with back in mid '60's.

Chris Jepsen said...

Highway 39, which included many connected roads (including Beach Blvd. or Huntington Beach Blvd.) eventually ALL became known as Beach Blvd. But before "street name unification," various segments of Hwy 39 had different names. Grand Ave. was one of those segments, as was Hampshire Ave., Stanton Ave., Buena Park Blvd., etc., etc.

See http://ochistorical.blogspot.com/2008/03/eli-hedley-midway-city-and-beach-blvd.html
for more information.