L.A.'s confusing freeways, December 8, 1958

Beverly and La Cienega, home of pony rides for two generations of children. I believe Gales was on a different corner.

Note the Bible verse and the puzzling editorial cartoon. What was on the minds of Times' readers in 1958? It's all too familiar: Healthcare costs, confusing freeways and poor city planning. "Politicians have good reasons for kissing babies. These are the little angels who will be taxed to pay for the local and foreign aid programs, the public power and housing projects and the other endless giveaways and handouts used by politicians to snag votes and bring victory at the polls."

Comments

[Carol Gwenn]

Re: the coffee shop ad.
Just check the copy. It says: "Next to Owl Drugs". I actually remember this coffee shop: next to what was always known by area residents as "the big drugstore" on the southeast corner of Beverly & LaCienega. If memory serves, you could access the restaurant through the back of the drugstore.

The drugstore, now just another chain outlet, is still there, its style & hip edge long gone. It stands as a reminder of what we had & will never see again...so sad.

Keep on doing what you do: people NEED these reminders of a really amazing past in this town.

[Arye Michael Bender]

Restaurant Row, often the best Los Angeles had to offer in eating establishments, was pretty bad. They were often cavernous, dark places with over-priced mediocre food. Smoke-filled, turning the mostly red upholstered booths a dingy brown.

This was the era before chain restaurants. Restaurant Row may have even inspired their creations. In the words of John Lennon, 'Can't get no worse'.