One of my all time favs early on was the Custom House, on Whittier Blvd. in La Habra. My brother bought some chrome dash parts from the guy with the rope tie (JohnL remember his name?), along with a Quick-shift and other doo-dads. Tiny little corner store.... was his logo The Itch Spot? I also used to hang out at Newhouse Speed Shop in Montebello as well. Like Blair's in Pasadena, tons of used speed parts - all worth zillions today.
I spent the bulk of my VW money at Auto Haus (Beach Blvd, and Dale Street), then later on, the Orange store, F&A, and Gene Berg (first location),
I can't speak for the others, but boy did Blair's have the eye candy! Blown engines on stands, in the store front windows, and always a bevy of cars being worked on (converted to straight axles..................) in the side lot.
An interesting note, I recently learned from Russ Welch, founder of Russ' VW Recycling, that Blair's had a used car lot, and he was a delivery and wash boy there! Some great stories about delivering S396 Chevelles to the shop (sideways, down the street........clutch problems, you know) for repairs. No wonder it didn't last.
The Cal-look Lounge
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