Slash Before the Hair: Pictures of 17-Year-Old Saul “Slash” Hudson Playing at Fairfax High School, California in 1982

Saul Hudson, better known as Slash, was 17 when these pictures were taken at Fairfax High School, Los Angeles in 1982. It was lunchtime on Friday, June 4, and Saul was playing lead with his first band, Tidus Sloan.

Slash is a British-American musician. His mother was African American, and Slash regarded himself as both British and black, “As a musician, I’ve always been amused that I’m both British and black; particularly because so many American musicians seem to aspire to be British while so many British musicians, in the Sixties in particular, went to such great pains to be black.”

Time magazine named him runner-up on their list of “The 10 Best Electric Guitar Players” in 2009, while Rolling Stone placed him at number 65 on their list of “The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” in 2011. In 2010, Gibson Guitar Corporation ranked Slash as number 34 on their “Top 50 Guitarists of All Time”, while their readers landed him number 9 on Gibson’s “Top 25 Guitarists of All Time”. In 2012, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Guns N’ Roses’ classic lineup.

(Photos: Marc S Canter/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

Mickey Mouse Driving Personalized Car, 1933

Thousands of people in all parts of the world laugh and enjoy the antics of Mickey Mouse, the star of stars, but few know the painstaking and intricate work necessary in the making of the popular film. Scores of artists and sound experts work in the Mickey Mouse Studio just outside of Los Angeles, making thousands of drawings and sound accompaniments under the direction of Walt Disney, creator of Mickey. Here is Mickey at the wheel of his own car, bearing his personal coat of arms, at the studio.

(Bettmann/Getty Images)

Here’s another rare photograph of Walt Disney posing in the driveway of the Hyperion Avenue studio with performer Toots Novelle costumed as Mickey sitting on top of the Austin 7:

(Walt Disney Archives)

By 1930 it was obvious that the popularity of Mickey Mouse was only growing. As the studio met with great success Disney continued to upgrade the production value of the animation and introduce greater complexity and attention to detail. Watching these shorts now it’s easy to track the progress made from year to year, or even month to month, as the artists at the studio developed their skill and technical prowess.

Vintage Photos of the 1950s-1970s Los Angeles Art Scene by Frank J. Thomas

Frank J. Thomas (1936–2019) was an American photographer, typographer, and printer. In 1959 he and his wife Phyllis founded Tenfingers Press in Los Angeles, out of “a desire to print and publish small books for a limited public.”

1950s-1970s Los Angeles Art Scene by Frank J. Thomas

Their output over the next 21 years was eclectic, ranging from literary epigrams done in whimsical typography to miniature books to a history of California cattle brands.

These amazing vintage photos of artists, exhibitions and people involved with the arts were taken by Frank J. Thomas from between the 1950s and 1970s.

Robert Stack admiring a painting by Keith Finch, November 1950

Paul Wonner, circa 1950s

Jack Zajac, circa 1960s

John McLaughlin, circa 1960s

Paul Sarkisian, circa 1960

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Amazing Vintage Photos of Passengers Riding Mount Lowe’s Cable Incline in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries

The Great Incline or Mountain Elevator was about 2,590 feet (789 m) long and rose 1,238 feet (377 m) in elevation, from 1,954 feet (596 m) at Rubio Canyon to 3,192 feet (973 m) at Echo Mountain. The incline started out at a slope of 57% grade and increased to almost 62% grade before dropping back to 52% grade and finished at 39% grade at the top. Because of the two major bends in the incline, you could not see the top from the bottom, or the bottom from the top. This meant that the passengers on the incline cars could not see the other car until both cars were near the passing tracks at the center turnout. After they had passed at the turnout they would again lose sight of the opposing car as the car traveling up went over the bend and onto the 52% grade.

The Mount Lowe Railway was born from a desire of the Pasadena Pioneers to have a scenic mountain railroad to the crest of the San Gabriel Mountains. There was already established a trail to the peak of Mount Wilson, but that trip was arduous and ofttimes required more than a day to travel up and down. Several proposals were floated to establish some sort of mechanical transportation to the summits, but they all lacked funding.

David J. Macpherson, a civil engineer from Cornell University and a newcomer to Pasadena (1885), proposed a steam driven cog wheel train to reach the crest via Mount Wilson. It wasn’t until he was introduced to the millionaire Thaddeus S. C. Lowe (arrived in Pasadena 1890) that a fully funded plan could be put into action. The two men visited Colorado to view the mountain railway to Pike’s Peak. Lowe was impressed with the trolley car systems in the city and thought that should be the way to go. This would make the Mount Lowe Railway the only electric traction rail line ever to be put into scenic mountain railway service.

Work was begun on the Great Incline with such steep grades that no mule could be flogged enough into negotiating it. Instead, materials were carried up on the back of laborers. Grading became a particular problem. While funiculars were usually considered to require four rails, two for the ascending car, and two for the descending car, there was not enough room to widen the grade to accommodate four rails. Over night the inventive Thaddeus Lowe came up with a plan to only use four rails where the cars pass each other and three rails on the upper and lower ends of the run, whereby the cars shared the center rail. The ingenious three-railed funicular not only fit, but it also reduced the amount of required materials. This three-railed design has been applied on other places as well (e.g. Angels Flight).

A great feat of engineering was realized with a trestle that was built to negotiate a 150-foot-deep (46 m) granite chasm across 250 feet (76 m) of track on a 62% grade. The trestle was named, as was customary in railroad constructions, for the chief engineer, David Macpherson, thus, the Macpherson Trestle.

Excavating for Mt. Lowe Incline, ca. 1890.

Workers completing the Incline Track about 3/4 of the way up to Echo Mt., ca. 1892.

Graded incline track installation, ca. 1892.

Incline trucks during construction, ca. 1892.

Incline workers at Rubio platform with hay, horse feed and lumber.

The Great Incline cable mechanism was engineered by Andrew Smith Hallidie of San Francisco cable car fame. It climbed 2,200 feet (670 m) with approximately 6,000 feet (1,800 m) of cable spliced into a complete loop which raised and lowered the cars of the Incline. At the Echo summit an incline powerhouse was erected to house the winding motor and gear works which powered the 9-foot-diameter (2.7 m) grip wheel. The wheel consisted of 72 clamping “finger” mechanisms which bit down on the cable creating a smooth, non-slip actuation of the winding cable.

The cable was a ​1 5⁄8-inch (41.275 mm) steel cable spliced in two spots, one below each of the incline passenger cars and looped in a continuous strand around the grip wheel at the top of the incline and a tension wheel at the bottom.

The incline grade changed three times from a steep 62% grade at the base to a gentler 48% grade at the top, but the cars were designed to comfortably adjust to the differences in grade. The incline was also equipped with a safety cable which ran through an emergency braking mechanism under each car and provided an emergency stopping of the cars within 15 feet (4.6 m) should a failure of the main cable occur.

Souvenir photo showing a group of visitors posing for the photographer at the top of the incline, early 1900s.

One of the cable cars, named ‘Rubio’ sits at the bottom with some passengers aboard and others waiting nearby, ca. 1893. Also on the left is the electric car which brought customers to the station from Mountain Junction.

A group poses in the car at the bottom of the Great Incline below Echo Mountain, ca. 1893. In the upper left corner of the group is Professor T.S.C. Lowe, the founder of the Mount Lowe project and the Mount Lowe Railway.

View looking down the Great Incline showing how the three-rail tracks widen to four at the center of the line, enabling the cars to pass each other, 1906. Note workmen on the right side of track.

A group poses in the car at the bottom of the incline and in front of the Mount Lowe trolley, 1893.

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Ashtrays and Coin-Operated “Tel-a-Chairs” in the Los Angeles Greyhound Bus Terminal, 1969

Passengers watching coin-operated TV’s in the LA Greyhound terminal in 1969. Also, take note of those space age chairs, ashtrays, phone booths, and terrazzo floors! And look how everyone is dressed. Suits and hats!

At the time, there were roughly 160 Tel-a-Chairs in operation in Southern California, including 49 at the Greyhound Bus Terminal at 6th and Los Angeles that were grossing $4,000 every month.

Ten minutes of television time cost 10 cents while a half-hour cost 25 cents.

The Tel-a-Chair was invented by John R. Rice. Each chair featured a 9-inch set connected to an apparently very comfortable chair.

By a sit-in test, the Tel-a-Chairs are more comfortable than anything else in the terminal, unless you happen to fall asleep in one of them. Greyhound spends $5,000 to $6,000 a month for security in its downtown terminal, and besides keeping drunks and rabble-rousers out, one of the guard’s main functions it to remove sleepers from the Tel-a-Chairs.

One Tel-a-Chair franchiser stated that the company was “anticipating an additional 800 chairs within the next 90 days. These hopefully will be installed in hospitals, Greyhound and Continental Trailways terminals and at International Airports”. The company was hoping to create an “instant rating system for TV network advertisers” using the Tel-a-Chair, but the idea never took off as expected.

(via Television Obscurities)

Work Life in a 1970’s Black Owned Doll Factory

Operation Bootstrap (OB) was formed in 1965 by two African American gentleman in the aftermath of the Watts, California riots, which began on August 11, 1965, and ended August 15, 1965. In an attempt to rebuild the community, provide job training, and jobs for community residents, Louis Smith and Robert Hall are said to have organized OB with a $1,000 loan from an AA businessman.

As a result of Smith and Hall’s dedication, Shindana Toys, a Division of Operation Bootstrap, opened its doors in 1968. Local residents were employed in the Shindana doll factory, thus achieving OB’s goal to provide jobs for poor African Americans and improve the economy in their community.

From 1968 through 1983, Shindana Toys designed and manufactured dolls that looked like real black people. Their motto was: Dolls Made by a Dream. Shindana, which means competitor in Swahili, trained and employed doll makers and became the nation’s largest manufacturer of black dolls and games.

The ‘Most Beautiful Ape’ Contest, 1972

In 1972, presumably around the time of the June release of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, KMPC radio personality Gary Owens hosted the ‘Most Beautiful Ape Contest’ in Century City, the complex used for much of the location filming on that movie. Owens crowned Dominique Green, contestant No. 2, the big winner of the title of ‘The Most Beautiful Ape In The World’ and a contract for a supporting role in the next Apes movie, Battle for the Planet of the Apes.

The San Simian Sentinel promotional 4-page fake newspaper distributed free to first-run viewers of Battle informed readers that Green and her competitors “all wore bikinis or hotpants - but their heads were all covered with identical ape masks!” It also stated that Miss Green had “a face to match the quality of her shape, but there was no way producer Arthur P. Jacobs could cast ‘The Most Beautiful Ape In The World’ as a human. ‘Circumstances have made a monkey of me’ grumbled Jacobs.”

Dominique Green

Paula Crist, who became involved in Apes convention appearances around the time of Conquest, said her initial approaches to 20th Century Fox led to her being asked to “do publicity for them in the East wearing mini-shorts and one of the masks, passing out pamphlets and so on... like the ‘Miss Ape’ contest with ape heads and bikinis. That was the big promotional gig.”

Vintage Photos Capture the Cat Show in Los Angeles in 1952

From Siamese to Chinchilla cats, below are 22 fascinating vintage photographs capture scenes at the cat show held in Los Angeles in 1952:

2 Siamese cats & Manx, entries in Long Beach cat show, July 1952. Photo by Mercurio/Los Angeles Examiner/USC Libraries/Corbis.

Fifth annual championship of short hair cat show Long Beach Aiditorium, 'Si Te Rajah' with his nine offspring, Los Angeles, August 1952. Photo by Los Angeles Examiner/USC Libraries/Corbis.

Fifth annual championship of short hair cat show Long Beach Aiditorium, 'On Parade', a brown tabby Persian, Los Angeles, August 1952. Photo by Los Angeles Examiner/USC Libraries/Corbis.

Billy Mitty O'Toole, championship of best white cat in show, held by owner Gladys Smith, Hollywood, January 1952. Photo by Los Angeles Examiner/USC Libraries/Corbis.

Billy Mitty O'Toole, championship of best white cat in show, Hollywood, Los Angeles, January 1952. Photo by Los Angeles Examiner/USC Libraries/Corbis.

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Mac the Mechanical Man on Venice Beach, California, ca. 1935

Mac the Mechanical Man was created by inventor Leighton Hilbert. The alleged robot reportedly weighed 250 pounds and stood 7.5 feet tall. While the robot could have been a hoax, Hilbert claimed that Mac could be controlled via remote control, or at the very least a control box with a wire connected to the robot.

The Story Behind the Pictures of Jim Morrison ‘Levitating’ Young Girls During a Photo Session in 1968

Around July of 1968, photographer Frank Bez took two series of photos of Jim ‘levitating’, his longtime lover Pamela Courson and another brunette model named Cathy Cristiansen at the Hollywood Bowl.

Frank Bez recalled he had the idea of this photoshooting after reading an interview Jim had given for Ladies Home Journal, where he said that he “had a way to talk to girls that made them levitate.” The photographer then contacted Jim and suggested him that they could make a photoshooting picturing Jim ‘levitating’ girls.

Frank hired someone from the Magic Castle to help them to make the levitation trick, and Jim posed for two series of shots. One with the model, that had been hired that day for the shoot, Cathy Cristiansen and another one with Pamela, who had come with him for the photoshooting and enthusiastic about the whole concept was happy to be taken in photo with Jim for another series.

“There’s a place in L.A. called the Magic Castle,” Frank Bez told Esquire in an interview. “It’s what you’d call a mansion, up in the hills in Hollywood. It’s a club for magicians. So I came up and said, ‘Can you direct me to someone who specializes in levitation?’ They put me in touch with a guy, and he said, ‘Well, I’ll tell you how to do it, but I’ll kill you if you tell anyone else.’”

According to Bez the reason the pictures were taken with Courson was because “Pam was just tagging along with Jim and wanted to try the trick.” But the pictures of Courson ‘levitating’ almost didn’t work out because Courson was “quite a bit larger than Cathy, she did a good job of balancing on the rig.” Jim was in his attire for rehearsing the Hollywood Bowl, and Pamela was wearing her own clothing during the same photo session for Esquire magazine.

“He was a little skeptical when we did the levitation thing, because he felt he was pushed in the corner for making that comment. But once we solved the problem, he was into it. He was more outgoing, and I never saw the difficult part of his life because we just had good times.”

Frank Bez was a photographer in Hollywood and his work includes artistic portraits of people from Hollywood in the 1960s. He captured a young Jane Fonda, Raquel Welch, Jimmy Stewart, as well as more artistic works.

One of the wilder claims that have been made about Jim Morrison and the picture is that Morrison could actually levitate people.

Here’s the photos series of Jim Morrison ‘levitating’ Pamela Courson:

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