AUTO ART

My family lived in North Long Beach, CA, so you just KNOW I had a great first half of a childhood right in the middle of Custom Car Land. My first car show was in 1951 at the Pan Pacific Auditorium with my Dad. Larry Watson’s first shop was 3 1/2 blocks from our house.

I rode my bike to the shops of Barris, Roth, House of Chrome, the Chrisman Brothers garage, George Cerny, Bill Gaylord, and several junk yards and repair shops up Atlantic Avenue in Compton and Lynwood. Alondra and Long Beach Blvds were destinations back then, too. We drove a few times to Valley Custom Shop in Burbank, as my Dad was a gearhead too. Our neighborhood had dozens of primered cars from the 40’s and 50’s.

My grandfather sold his Fullerton ranch, which became Cal-State Fullerton off East Chapman where he lived. He conned my Dad who was teaching at Jordan High just two blocks from our house (our house was at Millmark Avenue, corner of Barry Drive in North Long Beach) to move north to his other farm in Durham, CA. So in the late 1950’s, I went north to convert from city slicker to rancher. That was another terrific time in my life. I began riding to Chico on weekends on my bike and visited the shops of Bill Luckinbill Upholstery and the custom shops of Ray Orput and Riley Collins.