June gloom is in full swing, particularly in the mornings (as you can see from the pics below). We walked to the end of the pier, watched the surfers and fishermen.
The pier has a Surfers Walk of Fame. This picture is one of about 20 along the edges of the pier above the water.
We also found a smaller (smaller then Memorial Day's) art festival around the Hermosa Beach Arts Center. It was about 40 tents featuring local artists. They also had music and food. We walked around for about an hour, and Lou kept her purchases to under $20. She was very proud of that!
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| These items were covered with flattened bottle caps. Interesting idea. |
Next we went to the Automobile Driving Museum. This was a pretty cool place just a few blocks from my office in a semi-industrial area. The museum sits on about 2 acres and has about 100 cars on display. There are some that are quite old and a lot from the pre-war (World War 2) and post-war period, and into the 60s. They house "Muscle" cars in a separate building.
Many of the cards in the museum are owned by collectors and are on loan. The docents clearly love and enjoy the cars. We paid a nominal fee for a tour. During the tour the docent would let us walk up to, touch and closely inspect the cars. He pointed out unique features of various cars. The place also prides themselves on keeping the cars running. Apparently every car is taken out once in awhile.
The museum has restoration areas that we didn't visit. It is also set up for functions. One room had about 6 dinner tables set up with antique cars spread here and there between.
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| Interesting feature: The small gray cylinder under the passenger door is a propane container. Propane was used to light the headlights. |
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| A Belfast built DeLorean. |
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| Not sure what car this is, but note all the controls on the steering wheel. In addition, the wooden dash with gauges and a fuel filter is actually right above your feet when you sit in this car. |
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| Ford's famous Edsel |
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| This car was like a station wagon but had a removable roof. An early 60s advertisement shows somebody carrying a refrigerator in the back of their car. |
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| A Chrysler Airflow. This car was one of the first designed to be aerodynamic. Apparently it was ahead of it's time. |
After the tour you can sign up for rides. The place is pretty sparsely populated (I think there were more docents then visitors) and I took rides in a few cars with no waiting. As we arrived in the ride area they were attempting to start a Model A ford, but couldn't keep it running.
The next car was a Mercury Cougar. They couldn't get this one start either!
Next, we tried an early 60s Thunderbird. In this case the driver was also the owner. Not sure if it's related, but this car started right up with a deep, throaty V8 roar. As he drove, the owner and I chatted about the car. The roads around here were empty on Sunday, and he briefly floored it. It sounded great, but wasn't the best performing car I've ever been in. This one was in great condition. We drove for about 5 minutes and returned to the museum.
Next Lou and I got a ride in a 40's car. I believe it was a Packard. You can see it parked behind the Cougar a few pictures back. Again the driver was the owner. He was clearly proud of the restoration he had done and we talked about features of the car. This early luxury car was an automatic but didn't have power windows, steering, brakes, etc.
It did, however, have an automatic cigarette lighter. You place the end in a hole in the dashboard and it uses a heating element and vacuum to light the cigarette. He says it's only been used twice.
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| That's me on the right. You can see the Thunderbird through the windshield and my car parked a few cars forward of that. |
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