Welcome to Southern California (1953) 

My condolences to those of you who didn't grow up in So Cal in the 50's, 60's and 70's.

I lived in the Baldwin Hills Village Green and was 10 years old in 1953. What a fabulous time to grow up in Los Angeles. I moved to Santa Barbara California 1979, which was perfect timing. Pioneered a 20-acre avocado Citrus Farm and Toro Canyon which I sold in 2004. I had a dream live as an American. Doesn't look too good now for the future. I hope I'm wrong.

1953 is the year my father moved to Los Angeles from upstate N.Y. He was 20 years old. My father got a job roofing houses with one if his Air Force buddies. His name was Dick Lerock. On the job Roofing a house one day a 18 year old beautiful red headed young lady came out of the house bringing my father and Lerock each a cold glass of Tea. That young ladies name was Velda Mooney. She was to be my mother. They were married 19 months later. My sister Kelly was first born in 1962, then in 1965 I came along. My parents worked hard, bought a house and remained married till 2015 when my father sucomed to Lung cancer. My mother is still with me and I make sure my mother knows I am thankful to her for giving me life and I love her more then anything in the world. I myself. I am doing OK. I caught terminal cancer at the age of 53. Current 56 I am still here. Loving my mother, my wife, my 2 children and my 5 grand children. God bless you all. I hope your life is beautiful and full of love. 😍

Not only is it exceptionally beautiful, it is clean. The people are clean, well-dressed and mannerly.

I grew up in LA, lived there for 45 years, moved two years ago. The last 10 years in LA became almost unbearable because the traffic got so bad and everywhere was so overcrowded. I've been to every single place this films covers including the Ambassador Hotel. I sure miss it.

Where and when my mother was raised..She would cry to see it now.

That L.A. is gone. And so is the Santa Fe railway.

God how I wish to be back in that time. It was much safer then now in 2023.

22:04 “This is an easy trip to Tijuana, you can travel country to country with no passport problems.” Not anymore my friend.

The year my aunt bought a new home on Orange Ave in Orange. For $4500 at 1% interest. We were in San Diego along Sunset near the beach. 25 cents for the zoo.

0:44 Laughing at the nice new freeway with very few cars. Today you'd see denser traffic than that at 3AM

I stayed in LA for few days in 1953 on my way to Purdue at Adams and Western. The freeways weren't even open. After graduating from Purdue in 1955, I return to work for Lockheed Burbank and lived at Hollywood Way and Olive in Toluca Lake. I left LA in 1972 after working for Hughes Aircraft in Fullerton. Those were the ending of the Golden Years of LA.

This was so cal at its finest. Disneyland just about the open, no pollution, no traffic, pure beaches. They had it all.

When people think of California, this is what they imagine. Far cry from today’s reality.

The way we say Los Angeles has changed so much.

I’m from Southern California It doesn’t matter how long it’s been I love Los Angeles.

Hearing all these cities that once had these amazing events. This is beyond sad. Can't go anywhere near Hollywood or even Pomona these days. Can't even go to Riverside or SB counties and beyond because the cancer has spread that far. I am sorry to see things have gotten to this point in California.

You can find hundreds of videos showing how nice California is today. A video is a video. You can film what you want depending of what you are willing to show the spectator.

When SO CAL . was the ENVY of the Nation !!!!

The fact that we are going to lose all of this because people don't pay attention and don't want to hear the truth, will be the saddest thing that ever happened.

California's golden age. I would have loved to have been alive then and visited or lived out there during that time.

Great footage and narration of a beautiful era in the great state of California. I have visited most of these places. California truly has a lot to offer, beautiful state. Thanks for posting.

I lived back in the 60’s and pickup trucks had rifles in their back windows, we left our cars wide open, never locked our doors to our homes and never knew what a security system was. What happened to that life.

Now LA is overcrowded, dirty and way too expensive to live.

California when it was affordable to live in!

The copyright is actually 1945 which would more closely match the fashions and cars in the documentary.

Southern California really did seem like paradise back then..

The way he saying Los Angeles is driving me crazy

As a British South Asian born in the 80’s who always has wanted to time travel - thank you! I love this era especially due to Rock n Roll. Not sure how I would fit it back then but amazing still...

I was born in 1953 in LA. The 60s were fun for a kid in LA. 70s were all right. After that really went down hill fast.

Reminds me of when Squidward discovers the utopian Squidwardville.

smh i grew up in Southern California and its honestly depressing how shitty of a place it is to live in 2019

Those highways looked empty.

The optimism and positivity of that time...Looking into a bright future... The voice (sounds so official) and the music...it's like "everything will be fine"...

California in the early to mid 20th century must have been awesome!

Repeat and repeat again "diversity is our strength"

The late 1940s to 1950s was the pinnacle of American society. It has been in decline ever since.

Is he saying Los Angeles with a hard “G?”😂 It sounds like he’s saying Los Angle-is.🤣

What wonderful improvements have been made since the 50's by our wise and talented leadership!

It looks nothing like LA now. It used to be so much more beautiful. 😭😭

The magnificent voice of Art Gilmore!

Ohh how the mighty have fallen.

I was born and raised in LA but for the life of me I don't know where Los AnGELES is?

Where are the tents, homeless drug addicts, poop and needles? This cant be the same place

Nearest thing to heaven on Earth was LA in the 50's.

This is almost satire now! LOL

Come for the crime , stay for the Typhus and TB.

Pre cultural enrichment California looked really nice.

This can't be LA. Weres all the gangbangers and homeless junkies?

I think we all know why it was so great back then. It’s glaringly obvious, but don’t you dare speak of the facts.

Life in LA before over population, drugs and and hi speed chases. I'm glad I left.

"Los Angle-less" I couldn't get past hearing the way he said Los Angeles.

Good footage,my grandparents came from Italy in the early-mid 1900’s,came into New York,then left for Los Angeles,and lived in the City Terrace area until the 1970’s.

Back when America was Great and no SJWs!

My mom was born in '53. I was born in 1973 in Torrance and loved my time growing up in California and living there until 1994 when I went away for college to Utah. I've stayed living in Utah for 30 years now, and I've seen the changes to Utah's demographics over the past 3 decades as more Californians have moved here. It's crazy.

How funny. I didn't think of it until I saw the end of the video. Maybe cause of the year. But my mom was Homecoming Queen in the Rose Parade in Pasadena about that time.

My god, how far California has fallen since then!

Man the good ol days ! What an absolute toilet bowl now...sad to see how much America has changed for the worse

Those days are gone for good.

This is not the nineteen forties, there are clearly early fifties automobiles driving the streets. Unless of course Los Angeles was somehow ahead of it's time! 0:55 1951 Ford ( cross traffic )0:57 1950 Pontiac (waiting at light ), 4:23 1952 Chevy convertible 6:25 1950 LIncoln, At Studio entrance, 20:57/24:57 1953 Chevy ( left hand under the film id number). Also in the Coronado parking lot there are quite a few 1952 and 1953 autos. Cars in that era were easy to identify by grilles, and rear ends as they changed every year! I don't like to be a nitpicker but I was born in the forties, and grew up in the fifties!

Welp, it's all gone now. At least I got to experience it in the 80s :((

I have lived in l an all my life. I remember going to downtown l a as a kid. It was clean and safe. Now I wouldn’t even drive in downtown especially Main Street. It’s all homeless people. It smells really bad. I worked at the World Trade Center in the late 1970’s. It was okay back then. It’s a shame downtown has so much history now it’s overrun by a lot of people that don’t even pick up the trash on the street. My mom and dad wouldn’t believe it if they saw it now.

Thank you so much for uploading this video I just loved it

I’m almost speechless. By the time I was inSan Bernardino CA & Riverside. My parents had to keep their eyes on me at all times when playing outside. No one smiled. And my brother always scared me , telling me if we went across the border they would kidnap me and sell me.

California was an absolute paradise.

I swear this guy and that music was in every film they showed us in grade school in the '60s.

This is when the average person could actually afford to go live in California.

My grandma was a teenager in LA during this time. She's suffering dementia, so I'm hoping this will spark any long term memories.

reminds me of the beginning of every old-school Tom and Jerry haha

I was 9 years old when this film was made. I am practically in tears seeing the Los Angeles of my childhood.

I'd love to see a 2020 version recreating the exact scenes in current form.

Who would have thought.. 70 years later homeless crapping in the streets and tossing dirty needles on the ground.. Progress eh?

I'm 76 and feel fortunate to grow up as a kid in 1950's SoCal. When the population was half what it is today and it was safe to walk to school and play outside with your friends! A much simpler time, to be sure!

I live 30 miles south of LA/ Hollywood. The place is literally a dump. Junkies and homeless everywhere, it’s so sad.

Wow it looks exactly the same with the exception of the graffiti, homeless, smog, traffic and gangs.

A fortunate baby boomer I was to be Born in Los Angeles in 56. My parents took me to all these places. So grateful to have lived there until 76. It really was like this. The stunningly varied geography, the ornate Spanish architecture, the sublime weather, and the limitless hope of the future of our nation. It was all there. It kills me to see it now with the crime, the homelessness, the dirtiness and ostentatiousness. Old Southern California, I miss you.

i wonder how these people would react in seeing their city in 66 years

I’m a native born Californian of 59 years. I couldn’t even get halfway through the 25 minutes. It’s too depressing.

Born and raised in Los Angeles in 1998. Dad was born in 1953 and I envy the era he was able to grow up in. In sunny California

Probably the best quality of life ever, post WW2 LA had it all.

It’s crazy to think that all the older people shown throughout the video were born in the late 1800s. That’s insane that they witnessed so much change in so little time.

I know I'm being nostalgic but man I'd give anything to see L.A. unsoiled by waste and pollution and bad government

It'll never be this nice again

Where's the homeless feces and used needles?

Of all the places to be born and raised. It wasn't lost on me how fortunate I was to be born in Santa Monica CA.

Not a sweatpant, gym short or yoga pants back then

Who's watching this video in 2020 the year of the Coronavirus pandemic. Trust me, Southern California doesn't look anything like the movie we just watched. 🙁

*Almost everyone was elegantly dressed, cultured, fit, and never overweight. I need a time machine NOW !*

When I was growing up in Oregon, I often thought about how cool, neat, it would be to live in California, on the beach. Wow! those were the days. Today I live in California and I wish I were somewhere else.

Most people in this documentary have passed away. They took beautiful LA with them!!😢

People really took pride in how they dressed and carried themselves back then unlike today

This put a big smile on my face! Very magical! Wish life was still like this!

Omg people covered up and wore clothes amazing

It was once the dream to move to California, now it’s the dream to get the f**k out

My wife's grandma and grandpa found each other in LA around this time. They got married in Tijuana so it's really cool you showed it. She recently passed away so I watch old videos of LA trying to imagine what their life was like for them. They are truly amazing people, really unique and both are my idols. It's pretty amazing to see the LA they knew. They left LA in the early 70's but still use their old address as some of their passwords so I imagine LA then was magical time for them then.

A lot of those buildings are all gone now. Hollywood Blvd. is full of annoying and pestering tour guides. Also this is definitely before 1955 since Disneyland is not mentioned.

People of that era are turning in their graves to see what happened to LA

Went from the "City of Angels" to the "CIty of Demons" in about 2 generations.

As as lifelong Californian..this is so nice to see..but kinda hurts my heart a bit to see what it has come to now.

Oh wow!!! Look at that Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards without all the homeless people harassing or assaulting you. SMH.