Vintage Snapshots: Parking Lots In The ’60s & ’70s
– Posted on December 19, 2024
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The ’60 Dodge Dart in the first photo reminded me of just how really good looking that car was.
+1… except it looks like its No. 1 Rocket Engine is misaligned such that if it were real, and fired up, would send the car spinning off to the left.
There’s another ’60 Dodge (the white one) in picture 2 that may have a dead battery when its owner returns.
My Dad had one of these in baby blue when I was a small child, and I agree it was one good looking car. Suddenly, it really was 1960. 😉
Sharp eye!
My Dad had a sea green’60 Dodge Pioneer 4 door back in the mid sixties, Mom hated it due to it’s fins. I still have dreams of finding one for me someday.
the driver rear fender was a victim of bad driving
It’s been almost 40 years since I was there, but I recognized the Visitor Center at Dinosaur National Monument (second photo) right away. It looks so “modern” compared to the older cars. To confirm that my memories were correct, I checked what it looks like now and the cylindrical concrete structure seems to have been torn down. Apparently the original building was completed in 1958 and renovated in the mid-2000’s. For those that haven’t been there, the way it’s built against the slope, which is a fossil excavation site, allows one to see some bones in place and watch paleontogists at work.
3rd pic is Cameron Village in Raleigh, NC; turquoise-ish seems to be the dominant car color. Night shot of similar view below.
Same place today: https://www.shopvillagedistrict.com/village-district-anniversary
Love the Cameron Village photo. That particular photo is a bit before my time (in Raleigh), but in my upper elementary and Jr. High years in Raleigh (early 1970s) I spent a lot of time in those stores..buying (and browsing) photo equipment, plastic scale models, science kit supplies, balsa wood airplanes, and all of the rest of the stuff a kid like was into. I typically rode my bike to school back then, and Cameron Village was an easy trip from LeRoy Martin Jr. High after school. If my mom knew I was going on a given afternoon, I’d leave home in the morning with a request to pick up something at the Colonial (grocery) on the way home to the wonderfully-named “Budleigh” neighborhood.
The area was almost entirely residential back then. Smallish brick ranch houses with flat lawns and pine trees. I think it’s changed a lot as Raleigh seems mostly paved and mulched over nowadays.
Here’s that Colonial Stores in Cameron Village, circa 1949 (the slightly blurred car at the left that’s driving down the lane appears to be the newest here, but I don’t recognize it). Nash Airflyte out front. Like most Colonial stores i think this was converted to a Big Star later on, before being sold to other grocery chains.
I see a couple of ’50 models. On the row in front of the store third from the left is a Mercury, and in the background on top of the rise parked facing to the right the first one on the left is a Buick. The third one is a ’49 or ’50 Mercury, the Nash Airflyte in the lower left is at least a ’49, two over is a ’49 Ford, and the car driving through is a ’49 Chrysler. NIce photo.
The Colonial Stores market opened in Cameron Village in November 1949.
Since the trees have leaves, this wasn’t a wintertime picture, so I’m guessing it was taken in the spring/summer of 1950.
It was still Colonial in 1973, but I do recall that it changed over to Big Star shortly thereafter. I think I heard that once we were back in the DC area. And I somehow took that as a sign that I could never go back to Raleigh. 😉
(Grocery stores were and have been enormously important to me)
^^^^^Thanks much for the additional back-then (1950s?) photo, and the link as well. Being a musician, I was naturally curious–as an adolescent I cruised music stores and car dealers with equal fervor!
More about Stephenson Music Co. here, particularly from David Hobson: http://goodnightraleigh.com/2011/01/from-stephenson-music-company-to-the-price-is-right/
I’m not particularly good at identifying prewar or early postwar cars; seems my guess was at least only a year off…
Yes, I recall Stephenson as a store at Crabtree Valley Mall. The first indoor mall I experienced, and the go-to place for violin strings for people in elementary and jr. hs “orchestra”. Although I was more into the Piccadilly Cafeteria (and their astronaut-themed children’s plates), Hickory Farms, and the “Scout Supply” department at Hudson-Belk.
There are lots of rarities captured in these scenes. Especially shot 5, where I spy TWO Stude wagonaires! A 64-65 behind the 63 Pontiac convertible, then a 63 behind it, next to the 60 Ford wagon.
Parking lots were very colorful back then. I don’t know if we’ll ever see that again. Maybe if people’s tastes change, which they always do, but I can’t see the manufacturers letting it happen.
Sad isn’t it?
Which museum ship is that?
The guy with the F85 wagon is doing something interesting. Photography? He has four separate satchels, and might be pulling a tripod out of the wagon. The folks in the ’61 Chevy are watching him closely.
He looks like a fisherman to me, with rods in the back and a boat rack on top. There is another boat on top of the Studebaker on the back row.
Atlanta Fulton county stadium in south Atlanta for years and the commercial bank of downtown Memphis Tennessee…great places
Wow, parking lot shots from the 60s in NZ just dhow how many prewar cars were still in use, 70s shots show some still being driven parked among newer the newer rides, few big American cars by then they were becoming scarcer,
the standing joke on that FB page is, no E series Vauxhalls in shot the pic could be from overseas.
The second generation Rambler Classic stands out, as an exceptionally clean design for the era (photo two). Makes almost every car in the scene, appear very dated.
Would never have had any desire to drive the behemoth clamshell wagons.
Almost conflicting architecture, between the three buildings, in the last photo.
Fulton County Stadium exterior, almost previews the 1970’s cookie-cutter multi-purpose stadium designs, that followed. Like Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, and Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.
The last picture is from Independence, Missouri. The brick building on the left was a fire station, but in the early 1980s it became the visitor center for the Harry S Truman National Historic Site (Truman’s home is a half-mile west of there).
Parking lots are a great place for car spotting. I have been doing it for about sixty-five years now, and I have no plans to quit.
#1 Downtown somewhere, most likely California. There are not many license plates showing, but the most obvious one is California and the others are black. First row in the foreground right to left is the Dodge row with a ’60 Pioneer 2 door hardtop with a crunched quarter panel, and a ’64 Custom 880 Sedan. Second row a beige ’67 Pontiac Executive Safari, clean green ’62 Ford Galaxie 500 Town Sedan, white ’61 Pontiac Catalina or Ventura Sports Coupe, white ’55 Chevrolet Two-Ten 2 door sedan, black over blue ’67 Buick Skylark Thin-Pillar Coupe, grey ’59 Ford Custom 300 Fordor Sedan, white over yellow International Scout, light blue ’63 Ford Galaxie 500. Third row a white ’57 Chevrolet One-Fifty 2 door sedan, black over red VW Karmann Ghia perhaps a Cabriolet, blue ’64 or ’65 Ford Falcon 4 door wagon. Other miscellaneous above the white ’57 Chevrolet looks like a blue first gen Corvair with a white ’57 Ford to it’s right and a blue ’64 or ’65 Chevrolet Chevelle 2 door sedan behind them. Further down above the grey ’59 Ford looks like the right side of a blue ’65 or ’66 Impala Sport Coupe.
#2 Dinosaur National Monument per dman. It is a rainy day, a good time for some indoor sightseeing. From the left a two tone green ’55 Pontiac 4 door sedan, black ’58 Ford, light green ’62 Rambler American 4 door with a ’63 Colorado plate issued in Denver, white ’61 Buick, white ’63 Rambler Classic 770 Cross Country, white ’60 Dodge Seneca or Pioneer 4 door sedan with a ’63 Utah plate, light green ’62 Buick Electra 225 4 door Riviera Sedan, blue VW Type 1 with a load on top, green ’55 Ford Customline Fordor Sedan with a ’63 Utah plate, and I am going to call the pickup a Ford F-series as I believe it was the only one with parallel wipers at that time.
#3 Cameron Village per la673. Front and center is a lonely ’60 Mercury Monterey 4 door sedan. On the very left edge the wheel cover looks like a ’55 Plymouth. In the background left to right the tail of a ’56 Chevrolet, white over green ’53-’55 Studebaker, tan ’58 Oldsmobile, perhaps a ’56 Dodge behind the tree, white over blue ’53 Oldsmobile Holiday Coupe, grey and white ’59 Ford wagon, two blue ’59 Chevrolet’s, the one on the right is a Bel Air 2 door sedan, in the background a light green ’49 or ’50 Chevrolet Fleetline 4 door, white or light blue ’58 Buick Special convertible, above it way in the background is a white over black ’57 Chevrolet Two-Ten or Bel Air 4 door sedan, in the background in front of the Buick is an Anniversary Gold ’58 Chevrolet Nomad wagon. On the street at the right front to back a white over blue ’57 Chevrolet, blue over white ’55 Oldsmobile and a black ’58 Mercury.
#4 A tourist attraction somewhere. Left to right a white ’60 Cadillac, light blue ’66 or ’67 Ford Econoline SuperVan with a camper conversion and a California plate, white ’66 Pontiac Catalina Safari, blue ’65 Chevrolet Impala 9 passenger wagon with a ’66 Texas plate, gold ’64 Plymouth Valiant Signet hardtop, and a VW Type 1.
#5 Some sort of recreational gathering place. First row lower edge left to right a red ’64 Oldsmobile full size, white ’63 Oldsmobile F-85 Deluxe wagon, blue ’61 Chevrolet Impala 4 door sedan. Second row a red ’65 Plymouth Sport Fury hardtop, white ’63 Plymouth Valiant V-200 or Signet 200 convertible, maroon ’63 Pontiac Catalina convertible, brownish ’64 or ’65 Studebaker Wagonaire lengthwise behind it, black over yellow ’67 Impala Sport Coupe, white over gold ’63 Rambler Classic Cross Country wagon, red ’64 or ’66 Chevrolet C-10 Stepside with a pushbar, white over black ’55 Buick, white or tan ’66 Chevrolet Chevelle, white ’59 Ford F-series, skip one, looks like the greenhouse of a post ’62 Jeep Wagoneer. Third row a blue ’59 Chevrolet, green ’63 Lark Wagonair with a boat on top, white over red ’60 Ford Ranch Wagon, skip one, ’61 Chevrolet full size wagon, ’60 or ’61 Ford Falcon 4 door wagon. On the upper level all that is really clear is a light color ’63 Dodge 330 or 440 wagon facing to the left.
#6 Fulton County Stadium per Randy Jones and Daniel M. Left to right a light yellow ’68 or ’69 Rambler American, green ’68 Mercury Cougar in the background, dark blue ’66 Buick Skylark 4 door sedan, black over tan ’66 Mustang hardtop, blue ’69 or ’70 Chevrolet C-10 Fleetside long bed, light blue ’62 Imperial Custom or Crown 2 door Southampton, white ’69 Chevrolet Biscayne or Bel Air 4 door sedan, black over maroon ’66 Pontiac Le Mans Hardtop Coupe, white VW Type 1 above it, light blue ’66 Ford Falcon Futura 4 door sedan, turquoise ’65 Chevy II Nova 4 door sedan, white ’61-’66 Ford F-Series above it, white ’61-’67 Ford Econoline way in the background.
#7 Independence, MO per Eric703. First row in the foreground left to right a white Ford Pinto, black ’71 Ford Torino 500 2 door hardtop, green ’73 Pontiac Grand Safari, the latter two both wearing ’78 issue Missouri plates. Second row what I can see a red VW Fastback, green post ’68 International pickup or Travelall. Third row white over black ’69 Buick Wildcat 4 door hardtop, brown over bronze ’73 Ford Gran Torino 2 door hardtop, and a red ’68 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396 Sport Coupe on the end. Around the corner at the upper left I see a red first gen Ford Bronco, and a silver ’74 or ’75 Oldsmobile Cutlass or Cutlass S Colonnade Hardtop Coupe.
Thanks for the photos.
Picture #1 is from Fresno, California. The parking lot in the picture is still there – address is 1129 Broadway St. (a then-and-now comparison from StreetView isn’t possible due to vegetation getting in the way).
Interesting that our set of vintage pictures here contain two Internationals (in Fresno and Independence).
Nice .
I too have fond memories of looking through parking lots to see what was there .
So many station wagons ! .
-Nate