Spirit of 77 in Los Angeles 

I lived in Northridge at the same time. I was in Porter Ranch off of Tampa and Rinaldi. Up in the hills a bit on Thunderbird ave. How cool was it when E.T. Came out and, you knew some of the locations?!

@@racafritz yeah man I had friends that lived in your neighborhood. I saw ET at Northridge fashion center. I loved Porter ranch before it got all built up with homes. I used to swing on a cool rope up there that would go over a deep ravine.

brock Lee the ravine at the bottom of the hills along Tampa? If so, that was the view from my house! It sucked when they put those homes on the hills. The fashion center pre earthquake was the best. Bullocks, Broadway, Orange Julius oh, and that crappy restaurant called Fiddlers Three! What part of Northridge did you grow up?

@@racafritz yeah it was the ravine off Tampa. Classic man. I agree the Northridge mall was legit. Orange julius was way better back then. Good memories for sure. Too bad everything got overcrowded and got worse.

@@racafritz I lived on sunburst st. I was walking distance from CSUN. I went to prarie street elementary.

They did have computers in 1977, but mainly on college campuses or with the federal government. We had "pong" at our house that year- a video game that you had to hook up to the TV to play.

Theme Park Patrol. I was born in the 90's and caught the very last end of American life before the internet absolutely chained us in doors. It was such an amazing time. People were real, raw, rugged. They were humans. Now everyone is on edge, suspicious, paranoid, anxious, depressed, stressed, jaded and moody. It's almost like the internet exposed to too much at once and we all feel like we know all there is to know about one another. Nothing is novel anymore. Yet we're still on this ridiculous thing every day. I hate the internet like a heroin addict hates black tar.

@@SevenFootPelican haha yea

Noo! those were not computers for regular use, I remember in junior college using the key punch machine to write a simple FORTRAN program...

That was not a computer..

Jeff Barnes we don’t want your Stinkin’ dime anyway. We don’t need your ilk around here.

@@alvarofavela2918 What exactly is his "ilk?"

@Adam Kowalski your an idiot. Illegals make California go round. No gardeners , no real hard working construction workers , no one to clean toilets or your damn house. Y'all would lose your privilege minds without immigrants.

@Adam Kowalski Truth!

Don’t call it Cali.😡

Wow !!

Haha yeah right about

That is too cool.... :D

where was ur driving too lol ???u got instagram would really to see more pics

Sure, Jan.

So your like 63 or somewhere around there

Not hard to feel nostalgic if you lived there in that period and compare it to the shape it's in today. I loved growing up there; I've always loved California and its diverse culture, history, geography, geology, and the limitless opportunities to make a good living and find places to go and things to see and do; and so it breaks my heart to see what's become of my native state. As much as I pine for the California I grew up in, there is no way in hell that I would move back to SoCal in its present state.

Brian E where do you reside now ? I left LA too but not so much for the better

@@jai7184 I'm living in the Pac NW, been up here 31 years now. My career has been pretty good to me and I love it up here -- but it ain't Cali. And the politics up here are no different, just not quite as populated where I'm at.

whiteclifffl yes - often the sky was white rather than blue and you could only see nearby buildings

whiteclifffl I remember it well. No blue sky just light from above.

whiteclifffl So you found something negative about this video!😁

Just an observation of reality, worth pointing out. In the comments for these kind of videos, there's a repeated refrain of how much better the world was. Believe me, THESE are the good old days, in a lot of ways. Be grateful, and learn from the past using a critical eye.

I remember that smog sometimes burning my eyes back then.

John Hodgson placenta, calif. ❤️👍🏻

The Land of Gracious living....

Hush Money - indeed!

When it was still the 210 going south for a bit.

What time stamp?

@@josecarranza7555 - at minute 7:47

@@chickywilly What?

@@josecarranza7555 - 3 months ago someone posted a comment on this video that said: “Cool footage of the 57 freeway going over the 10.” and then you posted this question: “What time stamp? So I’m just replying to your question by telling you where to look in the video. Hope this helps. Take care man. 👊🏼

roachtoasties we moved to Cali in 1985, and I clearly remember a Big Mac cost one dollar. Meaning the minimum wage was three Big Macs per hour. Today it is not even two per hour.

liberty Ann Yes, I admired Carter. I think he is still alive and living in Georgia.

Jamie Martinez How many purple micro dots did you eat??

What do you mean by 'it'? Air quality has been significantly improved - compare the early scenes of Griffith Park to the view today. This is despite the exponential growth of traffic, which brings other kinds of pollution. A good public transit system is overdue.

Thanks for sharing. It was on my timeline

California Strut by Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band. It was the B-side of A Fifth of Beethoven as heard in Saturday Night Fever, which was a number 1 in 1976. Walter Murphy is still writing music for Family Guy.

+andrey ibrahim Glad you liked it. A few others have used extracts. Please write to me privately at bristol.john@gmail.com.

John Hodgson Everyone wants a piece of you or something from you here. It's time for them to give back instead of take take take take take, give me, I want, me, me, me,

Does the city feel very different today? I was experiencing LA as a British newcomer. There was a sense of optimism at the time but I was also aware that some citizens in certain parts of the city might not share the joy.

I'm with you..I'm 58 but still feel a part of those good ol daze...lotta fun and craziness!!

I don't like the effects of aging but I'm glad to be alive because it beats the alternative. I'm 65, and 1977 was a pretty damn good year for me.

I was in NYC,the heat wave,the blackout,son of sam...talk about a hot summer!

@@windsorkid7069 What made 1977 a good year for you?

Naww the 50's and 60's were the best 2 decades ever! That was a very magical time to be alive 😎

At least you lived it and I’m sure it was amazing now you have a memory

Glad you are still here Don !!

rip

Hell yea Don. You had it all man. Damn, Build another 69 Camaro. Round 2 bro :)

Floydian76 yes this!!! The block party reminded me of my parents when they were young and all their friends getting together every family in the neighborhood. That must have been awesome!💗

John, you filmed this on 16mm? Do you have the original reels? This looks like it was transferred to VHS or something. There are companies that can upscale the originals to 4k and HD. It would bring new life into some of these.

Thank you for sharing this

@@maxamillion2140 There is a better digital version but it is 24 GB & I can’t upload it to RU-vid.

@@johnmphodgson As long as you have it, that's all that matters.

@@johnmphodgson That's nice to hear. Glad you still have it.

People got up and actually did things. No Facebook for hours on end, no extravagant videogames that take months to complete, no "social media" making people lazy. People then simply didn't sit on their butt all day and night.

Actually...the 1970s were the big boom of processed food and obesity started to become a gradual problem, but yes people were thinner. Doesn’t necessarily mean they were healthier :)

What? There was lots of processed food. We were at McDonald's a couple times a week and snacking at night on chips pop and Pizza.

@@WinslowLeach1974 they came home and watched TV all night after dinner.

That's right, it wasn't as rampant as it is today, but even junk food was made different as it is today. T V dinners still tasted like real food, the other day I actually bought one only to throw it in the trash lol.

until it was too dark to see no more

or until your parents called for you or told you to be home before the lights came on.

sportster1988, this was also before the government allowed bigagra to fill our food with chemicals and preservatives.

A 12 ounce can of soda was all the soda you wanted.

unless there were smog alerts...

Much of America turned its back on God, influenced by the liberal media & its use of technology indeed.

He says, typing on a piece of high technology. GROAN

Well your Generation wanted it so bad, even before baby boomers. "Space Odyssey 2001" then after baby boomers "Back to the Future" smh y'all created the problem now what to blame it on someone else. Also let me not forget StarTrack and the Jetsons smh.

@DC PARODIES Air quality in LA sucked in the 70s, but the streets were cleaner and there were no homeless in tents crapping on the streets.

I realize this all the time

Same here in Germany.

I agree less racism it was all peace and love

Disneyland also had the ticket books

It costs about two of my checks if I want it to be real fun.

One of my earliest childhood memories was going to Disneyland at the age of four in the summer of 1977.

You are Latino ?

@@jasoncampbell2365 That was the first time I went (was 10 years old) was in the summer of 1977. Space Mountain had just open up there & the line to ride it was insane. It was a 3 hour wait (or longer) to ride that damn attraction back in the day.

760jjsole The good part of electronics is the vast information you get in seconds that would take a huge amounts of time otherwise. The time I spent at the library and the expense my parents put out for encyclopedias. Who knows what will be available in 30 years from now. ; D

760jjsole but don't judge we had our share of 70s tech for instance the mattel electronic football game , the pong and asteroids arcade machines and the space invaders game, and for tv well remember because in our time of the 70s the tvs were huge ,bulky , and not much color out of and well music really the only thing tech related was a record player and we had to buy the records for 14,15 dollars and when we got home you would put the needle on the record and when you listened to it ,it felt like if you were in heaven .

760jjsole And Disneyland in the 70s had a Futureworld where we could experience tech developments like picture phones - now used by everyone everyday

760jjsole, there's a real, albeit slow awakening taking place. People are getting fed up with the whole social media, internet, reality TV bullshit that's being dumped onto us. We're being profited off of it. Before we know it, the internet, hopefully, will be like the TV or the phone. People were fascinated by it when they were first around, but they eventually just became tools, no more, no less. It didn't disrupt people from living their real lives. Of course the internet is entirely different, but one can only hope...

SevenFoot Pelican That's one of the best posts I've ever read on RU-vid. Bless you for putting it in perspective for us.

Like they sing in the song Beach Baby: "But now it's fading away..."

Vos sOS arg?

So True. Bethany Bible College. Gone. Scottville, California [right by Santa Cruz]. Sunflower Natural Foods & Restaurant, 1977. Santa Cruz Avenue. “We May Never pass this way again.” : Seals and Croft.

Sad that the best of America life is long gone

It was great then in Whittier you could walk the streets, take your girlfriend to the park and not worry about getting shot.

It was. I was there.

Yeap it was. I had long blonde hair.. Vans tennis shoes and bell botton Levi's. Rode our bikes everywhere. Its was so carefree

@@mrsandmom5947 Remember custom made Van's shoes were a big deal? I had mine made in yellow and blue. Those were fun times.

+James Dauphinais Thanks, James!

That's "Dunphy," not "Dunfee."

beat me to it....

KHJ was a rock station too.

It’s not cal Worthington it’s cal Worthington and his dog 🐶 spot

It was. There was a feeling of hope and optimism, but the strains were already showing.

@@johnmphodgson Out of curiosity, what were the "strains" and their causes?

Jeffrey Wiseman People in the affluent white suburbs where I lived had a good standard of living but seemed to work very hard and were worried about health insurance. In the UK we have universal health insurance and everybody gets a month’s paid vacation every year. Also, I had always thought of the US as the land of freedom and equality (the Pilgrim Fathers sailed to escape oppression) and the poverty of East LA, Watts and other areas was distressing. I felt menace and didn’t get out of the car when filming in some neighbourhoods.

@@johnmphodgson Thank you.

SEEMS wonderful, and by modern-day comparison it might've been in some cases. But every generation has its share of +'s and (-)'s. I was born and raised in L.A., with the good fortune of having a father who made a lot of money there in RE development. It allowed us to live comfortably in the Belmont Shore area of Long Beach, and so when I'd turn on the news and watch rioting in Watts barely 8 or 9 miles away, it drove home a serious disconnect between the life I'd grown up in and the lives of so many others just a few miles inland who were red-lined into poverty and vice. As a 10 y/o I had a hard time reconciling the two worlds I saw on the news but it struck fear in my heart and because of that there were areas of L.A. I wanted no part of. I will say, from the perspective of someone who grew up there, that the 70s was a lost decade for many of us -- burned out from the upheaval of the 60s and people turning inward seeking fulfillment and purpose. Certainly the toughest 10 years of my life and I wouldn't want to repeat it.

Tom Julian Not as much welfare.

Because there wasn’t a fast food place every other city block .

I think there was more welfare.

normandyangel What are you talking about. Integration was already happening

1977 was the first year kids from the Eastside were bused to once all white schools in the Valley. My brother took a bus to Mount Gleason Jr. High and Verdugo Hills High in Tujunga, Sun Valley. Those neighborhoods presently have more Latinos now than they did in 70s.

People are so into themselves and their phones... as compared to what? CIgarettes? Think back, if your are old enough, you couldn't walk into anybody's home back then and not suffocate from cigarette smoke. Bars and restaurants served food while you could barely see through the air. My parents used to tell me to "go outside and chop wood", if I complained about the air quality. I'll take the "people into their phones" any day of the week, over people into breathing in 10,000 poisonous gases with every puff.

@@BrisLS1 Wow. No one I know had that experience and only a few people in our family smoked and had to go outside if they did. This seemed to be true for nearly all of the people I spoke to about it. So, maybe it depends on how your family and friends thought about it.

@@BrisLS1 That was definitely not my experience in the 70s. I didn't grow up knowing anyone who smoked. Smoking was an issue in the 70s, but it was not an issue with my family or friends.

+randy moyan - I agree. '77 was good and lousy for me. I remember seeing Star Wars at the Chinese Theater, getting my first guitar, and then the summer of '77, particularly August 16th, where I was watching TV in the afternoon, and they broke in with the news of Elvis' death, which bummed me out the rest of the summer.

I'm the same age, and from Canada as well. This video brought back a lot of childhood memories from the 70's.

Me too.

I wish you spoke better english.

Was born and raised in So-Cal, didn't know what clean air was until I moved to Washington State.

@@Jadecrest123 LOL. Yeah I didn't get it until I drove over the mountains.

@Beth Sprung Yeah and all you Californians moved up here and destroyed what was magical about the Pac NW.

yes, the need for wheels as a teenager was prioity #1

John Hodgson thank you for sharing this.

I was a senior in high school and remember that time well. It's sad how much has changed and how much hasn't. More than anything, this film reminds one to enjoy every moment, because they don't last.

I wish you would do one of Orange County in the 70's- 80's.

Smoov Operata i understand that back then it was just called “Star Wars”...cuz there were no others, just this original -kinda weird to think about but good the movie turned into a franchise 💗

It was just called .star Wars in 77.

I did a lot of swimming pool service work there, before it was incorporated.

I lived in Highland Park Glendale in 70s riding my Big Wheel and playing with my Evel Knievel stunt cycle going to Dodger games

Big Dog, you’re not lying. I, too, was born in 77. The beginning of the self-esteem movement and pushing college down every kid’s throat...which has led to this point in history. The beginning of western civilization’s rapid decline into mad impatience, fake hate crimes, and dressing up children as sexy drag queens.

Many thanks for your comments. As it happens, I did submit this for entry to film school but it didn't conform to the aesthetic of the time. I was told at a UK film festival that it needed a British voice-over to explain it - but I eschew voice over! It's only been appreciated since I uploaded it to RU-vid. It's on 16mm film and could probably be re-transferred as you suggest. Thanks again for your kind remaks.

It was paradise to us too, coming from the UK.

agree. Capitalism would fail us all. Have to have some basic standards for sure. And suprise suprise car companies were able to produce better produces after all.

I did notice the clear differences of wealth, as you see in the movie.

+Jim Wilson You are so right about people romanticizing on this board. I am the same age as you and it was not until probably my late teens that I realized that a burning throat/chest was NOT normal. I remember the "smog days" where we were not allowed to go out to PE or play during lunch because the air quality was so hazardous. Another memory of LA is that almost every summer there would be another LA serial killer roaming the streets. There were much more dangers back then but we accepted risks more in those days than we did today where a child needs 24x7 monitoring or you are negligent as a parent. As for technology, all I needed to keep me occupied as a kid was a transistor radio where I could listen to the Lakers, Angels, Dodgers, Rams. Today, I cant even imagine listening to a sporting even for three hours with no other source of entertainment to keep me occupied.

J

the air quality in L.A was horrible back then...all that unleaded fuel...

Maybe because it was too dry. I can’t really remember I was only 3 -4 . I do remember as I was probably 6 that we were getting more rain and it was green like what we see now.

yeah, too often people talk about their own decade as the best when infact they are just blinded by bias.

Nixon grew up in a house in Yorba Linda where they kept food cool in a small box under the floorboards surrounded by earth.

Al Aleman haha true

Never thought about that. Wouldn't be surprised why law enforcement wasn't that enforced like today maybe...even though I know asshole cops were WAY worse back then. Was just harder for cops to found about anything up until the 90s maybe.

Thanks! I was trying to bring out the contrast.

@@johnmphodgson Very Well Done.. Beautiful actually, I was left in thought of my youth, I'm 46 as of a few days ago, grew up here in Orange County, with Family in L.A. Thank you very much for the Post..

Everyone says that about their youth. We all do. I say the same about the 90’s.