I’m playing in Downey, California tonight, with the Whippersnappers, at the Downey Moose Lodge. I had some time to kill before the gig, so I took a tour of Downey’s historic locations (and of course I should mention that Downey is the home of the Blasters, one of the greatest rock ’n’ roll bands of all time):
8114 Phlox St.: former location of Paul Bigsby’s house and shop. This is just a storage lot now, but I saw the original house and attached garage back in the 1990s, before they tore it down. This is where Paul Bigsby invented the modern solidbody electric guitar (the instrument he made for Merle Travis in May 1948), where he also invented the modern pedal steel guitar (Speedy West’s tripleneck pedal steel in February 1948), and of course the Bigsby vibrato, which is still made today. The city of Downey should have seized the home and property as a historic location. It’s tragic that this place was torn down.
7447 Firestone Blvd: Johnnie’s Broiler (now Bob’s Big Boy), a historic diner with THE greatest neon.
10207 Lakewood Blvd: the oldest surviving McDonald’s restaurant. It’s amazing this one has survived and become a beloved institution. The sign is incredible!
Corner of Garfield and Gardendale: site of the Los Angeles poor farm cemetery, an enormous potter’s field where thousands of people were buried from the late 1800s through the 1960s. The Los Angeles poor farm is this enormous piece of property in the middle of Downey, about 125 acres. And now, unbelievably, developers are building a condo ON TOP OF the former poor farm cemetery! I guess because they were poor people and there were no gravestones, this is okay? Jesus, they made a movie about this plot, the movie was called Poltergeist and this doesn’t end well!
12021 Garfield Avenue: the Downey Moose Lodge, technically in the city of South Gate, a great, well preserved 1950s lodge hall where myself and the Whippersnappers are playing tonight! Come on down!
See more photos and a couple of long videos at Deke’s original Facebook post!
