As cool as this 1959 Cadillac looks, it would have been a nightmare—for me, at least—to parallel park. Or to park at all, given how long it was. It may just be the angle of this shot, but it looks like it was as long as the Air Lite Luggage storefront was wide. Air Lite was at 6415 Hollywood Boulevard, which put it between Cahuenga Boulevard and Wilcox Ave. I wonder if the driver was shopping there, or was drinking at the next-door bar called—rather suggestively—My Desire. It looks like it could have been a bit barfly-ish, but I do like the sign. On the other side we can see Aldo’s which was a coffee shop type of restaurant. It was next door to the old KFWB radio station, and was where Sonny met Cher in the early 1960s. Air Lite later became the Thom McCann shoe store.
Unfortunately 6415 Hollywood is now an empty lot. I was rather hoping My Desire was still around. This image is from February 2021:
Aldo’s to the right of the luggage store also looks intriguing. My Desire, though, is tough to beat for a bar name. That would’ve been a good name for Ray Milland’s bar in Los Weekend.
For many years, I owned a 1968 Olds 98, which was essentially the same frame as the ’59 Caddy seen here. My all-time favorite car. Not that hard to parallel park, but I’ve always had an odd fondness for parallel parking. With 435 horses, it had power to burn. Once at Thanksgiving, I was looking for a parking space at the long-term lot at LAX. Every space was taken, save one which some yuppie in a Beemer had taken by parking half his car in one space and half in the other – because anyone in a Beemer is entitled to two spaces, apparently. I had the deep satisfaction of putting my Olds in low, touching my front bumper to the Beemer’s front bumper, and slowly pushing it back until it occupied the one space to which it was actually entitled. I always wondered what the schmuck thought when he found his car magically transported several feet in his absence.
What a great story, Bill. You’re right, people who drive those sorts of cars are the ones more likely to park like that, so good for you for nudging him back in place. I bet he did wonder what the hell happened!