Post #498073 by TikiG on Wed, Dec 9, 2009 7:52 AM

My neighborhood growing up was Brookhurst and Yorktown, Huntington Beach (1963-1977).

I remember the general area of Adams Ave. and Harbor Blvd very well. We used to grocery shop at Thriftimart at that corner (now Mesa Verde center). I learned to bowl at Kona Lanes. I went to the Edwards Cinema movie theater monthly (1st movie shown there was A Hard Days Night. Beatlemania at its OC peak.) The googie style building ATP talks about above - I think its the same building I'm thinking of - used to be a home-improvement/hardware/nursery center. Up and down that strip north and south of Adams Ave. were auto dealers, many with googie style showrooms, many A-frame buildings, tiki motels, etc. Costa Mesa in general was hugely a Polynesian vibe back then.

Back in the early to mid-1980s I moved back to Costa Mesa and lived in the apartment complex off of Harbor Blvd just south of Fair Dr.

This was the era of wholesale destruction of my beloved googie buildings. I took a compact VHS video camera around the area and taped all up and down Harbor Blvd., from Costa Mesa up to Disneyland. I'm sure I have footage of the motel Bigbro is requesting. I just need to find the damn tapes - needless to say that is going to take an effort to find the video tapes let alone the requested footage. The tapes may be destroyed or lost; I've moved many many times since then.

I'll start my search over the Christmas holiday and get back with everyone later.