The Los Angeles Area, 1966

This video is a snapshot of a time and a place--the Los Angeles area in the spring of 1966. It uses documentary film shot by the USIA in Los Angeles and the surrounding area, including Hollywood, Burbank and the UCLA campus. For music, of course, the Beach Boys' California Girls is a perfect fit.
For those of us who remember the mid-60's, this is like a time capsule--the architecture, the cars, the clothes and hair were very specific to that time. Benjamin Braddock, from The Graduate, would feel right at home.

[@fob1xxl]

I moved to L.A. in 1964 when I was 19. This is so, so familiar. What a great time to be young in the city ! Sure miss the old landmarks.

[@1994CPK]

Truly these people were on top the world back then.

[@TheMotorick]

I may have only been 10 years old in 1966, but the wonderful nostalgia and longing for a familiar past hit me hard. Los Angeles looked like a nice place back then.

[@Lpreilly72]

It wasn’t. I was there.

[@jmsjms296]

These days will NEVER come back. All we've got left are souvenirs, folks.

[@marstondavis]

I was 16 in '66 and that was very nice to see. I can name every car on the road, too. Now-a-days, I can hardly recognize my own car in a parking lot.

[@1990758]

How is your memory. 1966 do you remember the price a gas in Los Angeles. Were people complaining that it was too high. What part of Los Angeles were you living at.

[@flowbe1221]

@@1990758 Price of gas was 19.9 cents/gallon. If you filled up, some service stations offered you a set of drinking glasses. The attendant would check your oil, tire pressure and fill up your tank. Everything was always full service.

[@benniebarrow348]

Oh yeow …….customer service…….most of the time with a smile too

[@SpeedGraphicFilmVideo]

If you're like me, this video is a smorgasbord of classic American and foreign cars, including a second-generation Buick Rivera; a Corvette convertible; an Austin-Healey 3000; and of course the Triumph TR4 at the end.

[@garymckee8857]

That's the main reason I watch these videos also it's seems like today's cities are like a third world nation.

[@oldenweery7510]

I was in my second season of racing an Austin-Healey in 1966 (won the "Best BMC award from the racing body twice) and I was possibly the first one in my city to test drive a TR4 with the salesman in the passenger seat. I owned two brand new MGs, an MGA MkII (the last of the breed) and a one of the first five MGBs in the state, plus two Bugeye Sprites. Ah, the '60s, what a time for me and my friends! (PS I expected the boys to break into song, but I understand why not.) Thanks. Stay safe, everyone.

[@starguy2718]

@@oldenweery7510 It's OK; we all know how the song goes, and we can sing the missing lyrics, if even just in our own heads.

[@johnking6252]

'65' grew up in Lynwood, Compton area . Who'd a thought? Nice cars. Wide roads? What a change a lifetime brings. Thx.

[@garymckee8857]

Is this the same planet that we are on.

[@327h7]

Sometimes in my dreams I am back to good old times and when I wake up it feels like falling from sky and sadness takes hold ! Time is a cruel mistress !

[@clinthill4098]

I know that feeling .It's as if life has played a cruel trick on us all who remember those carefree days .I was eight years old in 1966 and im just glad I lived through those times with friends , quite a few who are no longer with us .

[@alanolson6913]

I was a teenager then and living in Newport Beach 🏖️. My brother is 4 years older than me and he had a ‘60 Mercury. We would cruise Van Nuys Boulevard or drive Sunset or Hollywood or Doheny and La Brea. Listening to KHJ and having a great time. Warm summer nights, a 15 cent Coke, a cool car to ride in….what else could have been better? Long gone days that melted away far too quickly.

[@cynthiapickett7403]

I remember the El Taco stand!

[@Lisa-di1wi]

Unfortunately, I had to wait 12 years before my first visit there back in 1978 to celebrate my 21st birthday there. I went on to visit L.A. another three times: back in May of 1981, back in August of 1983, and then again in October of 2015. Even though I was born and raised right here in the Philadelphia area, and I still live here, L.A. is still my favorite vacation spot!

[@jaminova_1969]

I was about the same age, maybe a couple of years younger when I first visited LA in 1980. I can remember going to Magic Mountain when they 1st opened, Disneyland which is the 1st time I had mustard on a hamburger, and the Universal Studios tour! We flew on Pan Am, Delta, TWA, and there even was a trip on Eastern Airlines too! I grew up in NY and later moved to the West-coast.

[@JackF99]

Grew up in the LA area in the 50's-60's. We lived where everyone else wanted to live. Exciting, but we took for granted a life that only in the wealthy can experience in LA today. My parents said that by 1975 they already saw LA in decline due 100% to uncontrolled growth. Most of my family left SoCal in the 80's. I still love to visit but wouldn't want to live there.

[@IIl_393]

I saw many kids of families that were living in los angeles say that after years, they left some of them to another cities and some to rural areas

[@waynep343]

In the first scene was Desilu studios at Gower and Melrose. My sister to me that she and my dad were stopped at the signal and my sister spotted Desi Arnaz in the crosswalk and started stuttering Desi. Just as Desi spotted my dad in the car and said to my dad. See you at lunch on friday Howard. Dad had been selling paint to studios all over los Angeles since 1933.

[@jaminova_1969]

That's a fantastic story! I was 9, visiting a family friend that worked at NBC in NY and got to see Desi Arnez doing a dress rehearsal for the 1st Saturday Night Live show. He even said hello!

[@ApartmentKing66]

Did you mean to say "my sister TOLD me?" "My sister to me" didn't make any sense.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

EXCELLENT upload. Thanks very much!

[@bryanpalmer9660]

L A in a golden era when it was alive with youth,great music and a genuine feeling of excitement and optimism thanks for the footage Auckland New Zealand 2022

[@donaldappelhof2059]

I was born and raised in LA but now when I go visit I can’t wait to get out! 😢 It’s gone forever 😢.

[@michaela.chmieloski3196]

I think I caught a glimpse of One-Adam-Twelve in one of the opening street pans. Or maybe it was Car 54.

[@jaminova_1969]

I wish I was there! Everything looked so nice and clean. Of course, there was a war in Vietnam and all. People still played by the rules. I am Gen X, so I have some memories of the way things were. But LA was fun back then, not dangerous like it is now. I remember Los Angeles from the 1980's until the present day.

[@1990758]

Lol don't let the video fool you. That's 1966 that would be a year after the watts riot. Racism was worse at that time than now. But it was a beautiful time

[@brendas.1374]

Cool footage!!! My birth year.

[@TheCimmerian6]

This was a beautiful country, and a noble experiment

[@MrLanternland]

It took them 50 years to reduce wonderland to hell.

[@fairfaxcat1312]

I miss America.

[@filmsforallnations]

This was the year that Walt Disney passed away in St. Joseph’s Hospital in Burbank.

[@arnoldibay5929]

wow. the opening scene of the video features the warner brothers' movie studio on olive avenue which i just drove by about an hour before watching this video. 56 years have past since this video was shot and the front of the studio looks pretty much the same.

[@1990758]

But a lot of these videos only show the good part of Los Angeles. That's 1966 that would have been a year after the riot. If so it would have been interesting to see how it look.

[@Flygreensox]

Awesome footage

[@donaldvisconti5483]

The year that I graduated High School, on Long Island. I first visited California, I believe, in 1977.

[@wishfulthinking9399]

@0:51 Classic Los Angeles...the car pulling into the NBC lot has a smashed rear-end with the trunk lid bouncing up and down cuz it won't close anymore, lol!

[@WorldOfRock4U]

this is awesome!!!

[@JosephStJames2000]

Love those vee dubs!

[@chrisyu98]

where is the human feces? the homeless, the drug addicts, this isn't the LA I know!

[@KukulkanFeatheredSerpent]

I must point out that anyone that see this footage and dreams of the nostalgia of past Los Angeles. Let me say this. All that you see can be brought back. The colors, the looks, the idealism, the atmosphere. They can be brought back. However it can only be done if the community that is Los Angeles and its smaller towns and neighborhoods are encouraged to do so. The issue is making sure everyone is allowed to enjoy that nostalgia. So don't listen to those that says its gone forever Don't listen to those that says its only there cause whites made it. Everyone made it despite the heavy racism in that era. LA belonged to everyone! Don't listen to those that says they can't wait to get out and run away without fixing it Don't listen to those that says it shouldn't be brought back The city and its issues today is a result of continued racism, elements of white flight, and lack of effort by city founders in maintaining the city. More so now especially with new social and political issues. However gangs, and appearance of the city is as much as a community issue as well as a city issue. To clean the city up it has to be brought forth to communities at a local level. Have communities and neighborhoods and towns begin to be proud and feel they have a stake and responsibility in keeping up the appearance and safety of the city. Force the city fathers to feel they have to show they have to maintain the city at a level that is comfortable for safety, and as well as looks and identity. If you really believe it and you try to work with others to encourage and push the belief. You can bring back the nostalgia that was Los Angeles California 1960s. It won't be the same and to be honest, nothing should ever be the same, but if properly motivated its possible to bring back that nostalgia as well as incorporating new nostalgia to add to it.

[@SpeedGraphicFilmVideo]

Thank you for your wise words.

[@gregstarr4735]

Yes it is sad I was only 3 but i remember a lot of those days keeping hope but?

[@ikonseesmrno7300]

It's a toss up between the Riv & the A-H 3000. I might pass on them both for a chance at purchasing that Technicolor sign though. :vD Great video & Happy New Year!

[@ronniebishop2496]

California girls. Yes!

[@stevenlester2606]

Although at this time the Vietnam War hadn't quite yet begun to ramp up the main difference between now and then was the population size (millions less) and an infrastructure that was essentially brand new, unlike today. I don't think that Braddock would have felt at home in LA. He was too Eastern-centric. There's no way he'd ever be anything but a square down at the beach.

[@johnwohara]

Not just "millions", but a whopping 143 million less people in the US (from 190M in 1966 to 333M in 2020)!

[@oldenweery7510]

@@johnwohara Well, God said, "Go forth and multiply..."

[@hanschristianbrando5588]

Back when LA had personality. UCLA hasn't changed, except for the cars and how the students dress.

[@Vl7248]

Colorize it!

[@shawnmalone9711]

Hey , I remember El Taco from the mid until late 1960s in Los Angeles. You couldn't have the symbol of the sombrero wearing Mexican today because it would considered racist.

[@powermoneyfame]

What is the copyright situation with this footage?

[@SpeedGraphicFilmVideo]

This comes from the National Archives, and as far as I know, it has no copyright restrictions.

[@LadyQuick]

Wow I was a newborn 🚼🍼 in 1966

[@DVincentW]

Thats Carol Kaye on bass!!

[@jgar6643]

taco place spoted in the opening .. men we wuz ther already.. viva la raza holmes.

[@toyman81]

I bet that is the wrecking crew playing this music.

[@lonnieosbourne818]

no ridiculous hair & tatoos!!!

[@No_Deal]

Before all the tagging, junkies and trash everywhere.

[@Robert-is7du]

1:14 minute mark Lockheed Engineers Machine Operators Machines programming other machines in a cybernetic AI coded simulator Game coded architecture

[@raybohn7]

I am not an expert, but I didn't see any 67 or 68 vehicles

[@ray-hj1do]

🥹🥰

[@rickroberts1198]

Nice times. But then you had the war in Vietnam.

[@Galidorquest]

And lots of racial tension, marches, riots and protests up until the Mid 70's.

[@3-DtimeCosmology]

Modernist