What I was seeing was an apartment building that was near the neighborhood I grew up in. I have been collecting postcards of Googie architecture and particularly Anaheim motel subjects for a little over 5 years now and I have seen most of what's out there, but every once in a while there is something that is rare and special in a personal way. There are a lot of old motel cards out there as there were large runs on these cards that were given away at the front desk of the establishment. I doubt that there was more than one small run of these done in the early 60s, judging from the car and other details. The lot to the left is empty in the postcard, but another apartment building went up there shortly after. The Space Age does not seem to be there, but the back of the Anaheim Travelodge is clearly visible. The original Disneyland Hotel can be seen on the right side of the horizon.
Tthe most awesome thing about this card is the view of the Wonder Bowl's original multicolor schemed ball sign, before they went to an all aqua/blue color on the sign in the early 70s. You can see both the large sign and the smaller one that was at the back entrance of the bowling alley. Also visible, are some yellow ball globes with "Wonder Bowl" lettering.
As soon as I got this I knew I would have to go and do a "now" shot for the blog. Everyone loves then and nows. Anyway, I was unfortunately unable to get the exact same angle of the shot because it would require me to be on the roof of the apartments directly across the street. I got up as high as I could on the stairs to the second floor. The two-toned paint scheme is no longer, but the building is unchanged for the most part. Block wall screens adorn many of the apartments on this street and this one is still intact.
What has changed is that there are no longer any happy days by the poolside since it was filled in some years ago.
There is also the addition of the hideous black wrought iron that there is far too much of in Southern California these days.
