

Racing on River Road
“Down Riverside Drive, you know how there’s a park and right across from it is Forest Lawn?” Mark Miller asks. “That road that runs there is River Road. That’s where everybody raced when we were kids. Friday and Saturday nights, you’d leave Bob’s at 11 or 12 and then you’d wind up over there until sunrise. It was only AM radio, so all the radio stations knew what was going on, and it was pretty common practice. The cops would go there and watch, and then they’d leave and go, ‘You guys just be careful.’ And then the faster cars would show up, and then the motorcycles would show up… The whole San Fernando Valley was a lot different then.”

“We used to go drag racing down on the River Road. You’d come here and meet up, and then go down there and race for money, and then come back here. Friday night!”
Photo by Daniel Deitch.

Hot Rod Romance
Larry Gillins can point out the exact spot in the Bob’s parking lot where, in 1960, his life changed forever. He was just a few years out of high school when he spotted a cheerleader he recognized: “I saw her sitting right down there in her dad’s Buick with another pretty blonde and said, ‘Hey, that’s that cheerleader. I’d like to take her out.’ So we walked over; she had a four-door car, and my friend and I, we just jumped in the back seat and said, ‘Hey, how are you?’ So that’s how we met, and then we got acquainted. I drove a nice car they liked. I took her out and we got married about a year and a half later.” The couple now has six children and 19 grandchildren, and they still love classic cars.




