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Los Angeles circa 1956. "Canadian Club imported whisky -- In 87 lands, the best in the house." No. 4 in a series of billboard photos from the files of Pacific Outdoor Advertising. View full size.
As an expat I am always confused by America's reverence for Crown Royal. CC and ginger ale is the drink in the land up north. The 12 year old CC is so smooth, it's best to drink with just some ice.
Down here in America there are Canadian whiskeys that you never see in Canada. What is Canadian Mist or Black Velvet?
Anyway Canadian Club is delicious.
The proof of CC in 1956 was 90.4. Currently, the same 6 year old whisky is 80 proof. Whiskies started to get watered down in the 70s, as they became less popular as drinks and costs rose for distillers. There is a lucrative market for older, unopened bottles.
''whisky" the Canadian way, without the ''E".
I lived in San Francisco's North Beach in the early 1980's just off North Point Street (major commuter route via the Golden Gate Bridge). From my apartment I could see two billboards set at an angle to the street. During my 2 or so years there, the billboards were frequently changed. Without exception, each billboard facing inbound traffic advertised a cigarette and every outbound billboard had a beer or liquor advertisement. I guess Canadian Club and Anacin would have worked too.
Except it was Canadian Mist when he was low on cash!
The films on offer seem to include “The Unguarded Moment” staring Esther Williams and George Nader (story by Rosalind Russell!) and “These Wilder Years” with James Cagney and Barbara Stanwyck.
Looking at the aerial view from 1950, it appears that there were actually a series of v-shaped double billboards along the street leading to the Gilmore.
CC and Coke was The favored cocktail of my in-laws. But ordering a CC and Coke in Mexico was always hilarious.
As one born and who spent most of his adult life in Detroit, Canada was always just a hop and jump away from fine vacations and weekends. We loved going South to Canada. (You think I erred? Look it up.)
The old B movies with a car chase always had a motorcycle cop hiding behind a sign like these, complete with picket fence.
Thanks to the Gilmore Drive-In theater sign, we can determine that this billboard stood on the northeast corner of West Third Street and The Grove Drive.
The jet is a good representation of a Grumman F9F-6 (or later) Cougar, used by the US Navy.
Oddly, the F9F-6 is rather fundamentally different than its predecessor, the straight winged F9F-5 Panther, but the Navy, being the Navy, just bumped up the dash number.
There is a plastic model of one somewhere in the attic.
From cinematreasures.org:
"The Gilmore Drive-In was located near the Farmers Market in the Fairfax area in Los Angeles. It had its entrance on W. 3rd Street at S. Fairfax Avenue. The Gilmore Drive-In opened by Sero Enterprises in 1948 with a capacity for 650 cars. Later taken over by Pacific Theatres, it was still open in November 1977, but had closed by January 1978. It sat for the next 5 years, before being razed."
The late (great) host of Jeopardy, Alex Trebek, who was a Canadian by birth, always ensured that there was a question (well, answer) on Canada tucked into the daily assortment. Not a whole category, by any means, but simply a single question. (The mostly American contestants could be embarrassingly bad at the token Canadianism.) Now that I see two Canadian-content posts in a row, I’m wondering if there’s a similar quota on Shorpy (not daily, but overall).
The Anacin girl would like to know.
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