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Hammered it for a month, then sold it to buy the 82 CR 250. As you know , Ricky Johnson came up one destroyed rear wheel short of winning the 250 outdoors that year on his , so some people could make that thing work even though the radiator was up top. Sounds like you were one of them 👍🏻
Yes the legendary JC Agajanians multi use racetrack in Gardena. Evil Knevil before he was big time did a jump on the infield that helped launch his career.
Surprisingly, I can only recall going there once when they had Motocross on the infield. Flattrack racing with Hardley Davidson's dominance did not interest me much, but I did like to go to Speedway racing at Irwindale raceway.
Pops had a few station wagons in his time that he used to deliver the Herald Examiner and Los Angeles Times.
I remember my sister and I in those sideways, facing bench seats in the back on Easter Sunday after we ate a bunch of chocolate going to grandmas, and by the time we got there, I was rather queasy. 🤢 To this day, I do not really crave chocolate unless it has some nuts in it.
Here's some pretty cool pictures going down memory lane.
https://wealthgang.com/18-pictures-showing-what-it-was-like-to-be-a-kid-in-the-1960s/
This thread is so cool. It’s just like sitting around a campfire talking about the good old days with riding buddies that I’ve known forever . No division in here at all !!! Let’s keep riding this way back machine and unite around those dirt bikes and other various forms of adrenaline machines that brought us together in the first place. I have a shit load of oak that I can keep throwing on the fire.
The Shop
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
The whole area between Malibu Canyon Rd and 27 (Topanga Canyon BLVD) was our playground. We lived off Mulholland HWY and Stunt Rd in Calabasas. A lot of that area is now developed heavily near the 101.....but along Mulholland HWY, it's still pretty untouched. Fire roads...hidden tracks everywhere back then. You'd get arrested today doing what we did back then.
The best track was right next to the 27 near the top and unbelievably, that land is STILL undeveloped. We had our own version of the Gravity Cavity there.
You can see the Topanga Microwave Tower at the top of Saddle Peak in this photo. In later years that became a great make-out place with the ladies. 😇
Playing atop Calabasas Peak in the fog...
The Topanga Gravity Cavity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxHN6ozJJWM
Thanks, man!
Looking at all the great retro photos in this thread easy to see that you guys had it made back in the day.
I had that same YZ80D . Now all we can ride are mountain bikes in that area. You may know a few of my friends 🤷♂️. Donny Simington lived on a horse ranch right near the Calabasas golf course. He raced his mini XR well beyond the point when yellow took over. Paul Santoro ( Cyco ) , no story necessary.
I loved going to Marineland. Went there quite a few times over the years. They used to have a machine that you put a quarter or 2 in and it would pop out a wax model of Bubbles the whale or a Sea Horse etc. They'd still be warm when they popped out lol. Marineland of the Pacific was way way cooler than Sea World. We drove through Portuguese Bend a couple months ago. The whole area is sliding down the hill and the road is like a rhythm section, you can easily get air. It was fun in the TRD although I got some backlash from the passenger seat haha. Sumwife didn't like feeling the wheels leave the pavement as much as I did 😆![]()
View-Master!! Fuck yeah!😁
Sounds like some south bay guys in here. Just for reference we lived on Ave E from 59 when I was born until 72 or 73. Tulita elementary school, then Hillcrest Jr. high. Caught my first "Real wave" at RAT, or Burnout depending on how old you are lol. Used to see Mike Purpus surfing the Saphire Topaz St. jetty. He would wear his surf trunks over his wetsuit for some fuck all reason, our nick name for him was Mike Purposeless lol. Little non moto south bay history for ya lol.
RAT…. Right After Torrance
My Dad would take us when we were kids and I remember the only thing I wanted to do, over and over, was put on that wetsuit god knows how many people pissed in and snorkel that giant tank. Best exhibit ever.
Got to go to a wedding there right before they built Terranea, and before the ceremony I just walked the property reminiscing. Place seemed like it was the size of small city when I was younger.
(1) Facebook Carlsbad Project pics. Kind of bittersweet. My first race ever and favorite track
Ron’s on the pier restaurant… Zeppy’s Pizza. Churros
Memory lane for sure. That reptile shop in Hermosa was way cool. I remember jumping on the Torrance transit bus then hanging out at Redondo. When I was a teenager, I was really into reptiles. This one time me and two friends went to Redondo. We decided to walk over to Hermosa and this asshole with a pitbull started talking one of my friends. Then threatening him for no reason. He thought he was tough with his dog, making his dog lunge at us. I just couldn’t help but to start laughing. Finally, I had enough. I took my backpack off, set it on the ground and pulled out a 12 foot African rock python. It scared the shit out of the guy.
My uncle Rick‘s memorial was at RAT Beach. Lots of memories anywhere from Cabrillo, around the Palos Verdes, Peninsula, and all the way up to Manhattan. Those were the areas we hung out the most around the beaches.
Wow memory lane. Vasek Polak race cars and the reptile shop in Hermosa were awesome. You guys remember,
Woody’s Smorgasburg for hamburgers, decorated like a Swiss Chalet ski resort inside, old wooden skis on the walls etc. The employees dressed like they worked on the Matterhorn ride st Disneyland with red suspenders. It was cafeteria style, they cook your burger then you’d build it with whatever fixings you wanted.
Millie’s Seafood Grotto
The Velvet Turtle
The Plush Horse
The Schwinn shop on pch and Ave E.
Fosters Freeze
Tony’s on the Pier
Fox theater
Dive and Surf
How about the Salt Water Lagoon by King Harbor ? Good times hanging out there as a kid
My first surfboard was a used 10’2” Bing bought at Jacob’s surf shop in Hermosa. Yeah I’m old lol. Dewey Weber had a shop across the street as well. Sorry for the back to back posts, Advils starting work, back to sleep time LOL. Pic of the Salt Water Lagoon kids water park.
Pit Row
So you're trying to get a, Marineland vs. SeaWorld arguement going ??
🤣
Edit:
Gotta say though, the shot of Hermann Munster just might be the best photo ever posted in non moto.
And I vividly remember the Vasek Polak Porsche's running around Riverside.
Also remember a, Galpin Ford, sponsored car whenever the stock cars took to the track.
Sat around a campsite last weekend and got this topic going.
Cool stories.
But none had the BRRAAAAPPP in them like the ones here.
California is a big state, all of my time on the Left Coast was spent in Ventura County...
...about 100 miles plus to the NW of most of you, on the other side of the Conejo Grade (Highway 101)...
...chugging that Taco Mini to the top of the hill in our Camarillo neighborhood when very young...
...after HS in Germany, back to Camarillo and cutting up a pristine '65 VW Bug into a BajaBug (my Dad was not happy)...
...this is when my Brother broke his foot on the 450 Maico kick-starter (see previous entry)...
...never ventured South down the coast where a lot of you were located...
...good stories...
So, is the song “Ventura Highway” by America pretty accurate?
I went to Monte Vista Jr high during the two years I lived in Camarillo. My favorite place in that area was Silver Strand beach and, Arroyo Los Posas (dry river bed). Free fruit hanging over fences while riding bikes around town was a nice touch for kids during summer.
I shared most of the same experiences as you guys, but further South in San Diego. Never got into the surfing thing: in my area you had 3 choices going into High School years, you could be a Surfer, MXer, or "Sosh" (mostly straightlaced and into everything about school activities). Little crossover between the groups but Stoners were heavily represented in 2 of the 3 groups. Everything about mechanical stuff especially with engines fascinated me so I was already into dirt stuff by "tween" years.
Don't know if anybody remembers a TV show called The Wonder Years but that was pretty much how growing up in our neighborhood was- minus the MX and Stoner parts 😁
Rawly looks like I was about the same distance to the beach as you but a little further south
My Aunt's house was just north of you guys. Practically lived there during the summers from age 6-11, then she sold it. That was a sad day for young me.
I started my journey on this ride in a small apartment right near your aunts house. Damn those are steep hills east of Highland.
The original Wonder Years was one of the all time best shows ever. Especially the early seasons.
That's no joke. She was only halfway up the hill so only half as bad as it could have been.
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