Picture of Ralph Mooney, late 50's

Mike Perlowin · Post by **Mike Perlowin** » 24 Mar 2011 10:11 am

Somebody sent me this and asked me to post it.

R.I.P. Ralph

Dave Van Allen · Post by **Dave Van Allen** » 24 Mar 2011 11:14 am

Walkin down the street with a Fender under his arm with no case.... awesome

Mike Perlowin · Post by **Mike Perlowin** » 24 Mar 2011 2:10 pm

I just received the following note:

In the picture you posted, the car immediately behind, and to Ralph's right, is a 1961 Dodge Dart. It's more likely this picture was taken in '61 or '62, since Ralph played his home-built pedal steel up until about 1960.

Joe Goldmark · Post by **Joe Goldmark** » 24 Mar 2011 2:37 pm

Wonderful shot Mike!

Mike Daly · Post by **Mike Daly** » 24 Mar 2011 2:56 pm

Classic photo, Mike. Very cool...Mike Daly

Billy Tonnesen · Post by **Billy Tonnesen** » 24 Mar 2011 3:21 pm

The "Hub Cafe" has a familiar ring to it. This was possibly taken in the parking area for the Sunday afternoon "Cal's Corral" TV show behind the Huntington Park, Ca. upstairs Ballroom. Wish the license plates State could be made out. The Bands changed every half hour so the parking lot was always full of Musicians.

Tracy Sheehan · Post by **Tracy Sheehan** » 24 Mar 2011 6:33 pm

I am sure this is the Fender 1000 Ralph was playing
at Georges round up in Long Beach,Ca when i met him. He was playing for Wynn Stewart and i remember the steel as there was a bright light sitting on the floor shining up on his steel. Tracy

Greg Cutshaw · Post by **Greg Cutshaw** » 24 Mar 2011 7:17 pm

Google Pics has a few images of Ralph but not any as cool as the one above:

Google Images of Ralph Mooney!

I used Google Earth to street view all of the above locations including relevant Bank Of America ballroom locations, the hub cafe and the 2614 street address to no avail. How cool if someone could ID the location!

Greg

Colm Chomicky · Post by **Colm Chomicky** » 24 Mar 2011 7:24 pm

This photo was posted before and there were many good opinions as to where the photo was taken. Out of curiosity I checked out the Huntington Park Ballroom and the historic address is listed as 6130 Pacific Blvd, Huntington, CA (Pacific runs north-south).

The view in this photo based on shadows the could to the north assuming perhaps past the noon hour. East west blocks on cross-streets have the 2600 Block So the 2614 is consistent as a cross street address just immediately to the east of Pacific.

The previous post, I don't recall if anyone actually came up with the photo's true location, but it sure seems consistent with what Billy is saying.

In the photo the building to the the back left has a odd roof, similar to the building in the photo below in the vicinity of 6130 Pacific. Coincidence? Anyone else familiar with the area and Huntington Park Ballroom and what the area looked like back then who might also be able to confirm?

Maybe I am reading to much into this but it sort of is a puzzle that is bugging me.

Greg Cutshaw · Post by **Greg Cutshaw** » 25 Mar 2011 3:23 am

To Moon's left there is a break in the guard rail with the letters "IN" seeming to be a turn in to a parking lot. Google earth shows a guard rail on the Pacific side of the existing BOA parking lot. If so the strange roofed building and the next two buildings including the Hub Cafe are now gone and the next large building to our extreme right would be the current bank building.

Where's the FBI when you really need them? Cold cases, unsolved mysteries.......

Greg

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 25 Mar 2011 5:26 am

Well I for one am glad he is not walking into a Pawn Shop !

t

Greg Cutshaw · Post by **Greg Cutshaw** » 25 Mar 2011 5:44 am

He was just leaving Merle's gig to go to Buck's gig then over to the studio for a session with Bonnie and some guy named Wynn... no time to put it in the case.....

Greg

Colm Chomicky · Post by **Colm Chomicky** » 25 Mar 2011 5:52 am

Possible refinement of shot, 1/2 block to south from what I posted above. Note the angled parking spaces. This would be shot to the Northwest from the 2600 block of Clarendon.

Things seem to at least sorta-kinda fit. But there is still room for speculation pro or con.

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 25 Mar 2011 6:35 am

Well, based on the photo above, if Ralph walked across a 4 lane carrying his Steel, he should be in the Guinness World Book of records for that alone !

t

Colm Chomicky · Post by **Colm Chomicky** » 25 Mar 2011 7:18 am

This is Google street view from approximate above 1972 aire photo. Sorry, I am trapped in trying to figure out where this photo was taken, someone probably knows...and may point out the errors in my ways. Parking slots now angled opposite.

Eerily something similar here, eerily something different. Like trying to make sense of the Twilight Zone.

The building to the left cloaked in black as if in tribute to Ralph's passing.

Ted Solesky · Post by **Ted Solesky** » 25 Mar 2011 7:19 am

Hi folks, I gave Mike that picture. I thank him for posting it for me. The only stories I have on him are that he worked for Wynn and was getting $300, a week. And Buddy and Curly went to see him and Curly un-hooked his pedal rods ( clothes hangers) while Ralph was on stage as a joke. They had high admiration for Ralph's a pickin. I also heard that a drunk threw up on Ralph's geetar and he backed up and then pulled the plug calmly and carried it to a car wash and swished it off to get the job done and then went back to the club to finish the gig. When I talked to Don Rich about Ralph it brought a smile on his face and said, 'he looks like a truck driver.' But Don surely admired his talent. Glad you all like the pix and, thanks again Mike for helping me.

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 25 Mar 2011 7:39 am

What's holding up the volume pedal? Did he have strings on both necks?

Greg Cutshaw · Post by **Greg Cutshaw** » 25 Mar 2011 8:13 am

Colm, keep going! This is interesting. How cool it would be to get a pic of one of us standing there today. It's all part of history and the history of Moon beats the history channel any day.

As for other pics..... an ex GF of mine showed me a pic of Moon outside his hotel room washing his Fender pedal steel down with a garden hose in the bright morning sun after a late night gig. Not sure why but apparently he wasn't into the finer points of guitar lubrication, cabinet drop and hysteresis (clue: check out the craftsmanship on the "Ralph Mooney logo letters of the front of the guitar)... he just picked the tar out of it.

Greg

Colm Chomicky · Post by **Colm Chomicky** » 25 Mar 2011 9:53 am

Billy Mentioned Cal's Corral

Apparently there is a 180 minute video of some of the performances but as how and where available I would have no idea.

http://www.moviestation.org/movie/156834/Cal's_Corral

Also some interesting previous threads on Cal's Corral including references to Ralph's stint there.

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... a26239b0d7

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... edd9097253

Perhaps one of those membership could chime in on this photo also?

Billy Tonnesen · Post by **Billy Tonnesen** » 25 Mar 2011 2:38 pm

In reference to Ralph carrying his Steel: If indeed this picture was at Cal's Corral, there was no time to assemble your Steel on the Stage. You put it up in the parking lot, muscled it up the back outside metal stair case, and somehow got it on the Stage while the previous Band was exiting. No time to check how close in tune you were. It was just, plug in and hope for the best. This was a Union Gig and paid $12.00 for the half hour. At times it was pure chaos !

Tucker Jackson · Post by **Tucker Jackson** » 25 Mar 2011 2:56 pm

Colm, I've been looking at the pictures you've posted -- I love a good mystery!

I think that Mooney's photo was taken on the south side of Park Place, looking to the northwest with the back of the venue on the left side of the picture. The first aerial photo you posted is the closest one to being correct... except that Park Place is the road just off of the bottom of the picture (running parallel to the bottom edge).

Here's my thinking: if you look at the road in the Mooney picture, it's extremely narrow. The car is poaching over the center line and there's actually a telephone pole in the lane on the far side of the street (behind Mooney's steel). There don't appear to be proper curbs on either side of the street. This is not major thoroughfare.

You'll also notice there is a street sign on the far side of the street facing away from the camera. This could indicate that this was a one-way street.

I agree that the steet address on the side of the building is an excellent indicator that this is just a few doors east of Pacific Ave. The very distinctive roofline of the venue is visible on the building too. And Mooney is obviously not going to be walking his steel more than a block or two from the venue. The shadow in both aerial photos indicate that the street in the Mooney photo runs roughly east-west. This precludes Rita Ave (a one-way running north-south and parallel to the back of the venue) from being the street in question -- and Rita is also too wide, as are all the other streets in the vicinity except for Park Pl.

I don't think the shot was taken looking across Clarendon street (the most recent picture you posted) because that street is far wider than the one in the old picture.

All of this adds up to the picture being taken just south of the venue looking across Park Place. Unfortunately, Google map's street view don't go down that little, short street -- but you can see from the shot on Pacific Ave the entrance to Park Place... and it is indeed a narrow street. The only thing that isn't a good fit is the direction of the parking lines, but we know that in 50 years, it's easy enough to paint in a new scheme.

Just a theory... I don't really know. And it doesn't really matter.

Colm Chomicky · Post by **Colm Chomicky** » 25 Mar 2011 3:18 pm

Tucker,
You are right, I did try to get a shot off of Park at the same angle but there was no street view in Google. Too bad I am in Kansas and can't just drive over there for some on-site inspection

Billy Tonnesen · Post by **Billy Tonnesen** » 25 Mar 2011 9:00 pm

Colm:

You would not want to drive over there if you could. Huntington Park is now like a Foreign Country. I will say no more about this subject.

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 27 Mar 2011 4:49 am

Colm, sorry to rain of the prade, but I have seen that reference to the Cal's - KCOP listing before. That listing is not actually referring to any recorded material for Cal's Corral, it's simply a reference to the original show. It was three hours long.
Whoever added the info to the database just pulled a bunch of names of artists who have been referenced as having appeared on the show.

Larry Carlton appeared on the show, possibly the one time, as an amateur act.
It seems a sad fact, but Cal Worthington wouldn't spring for videotape, it was an expensive option, and in those days, well.. it was just a TV show to help sell cars.
It was an awesome concept, but not something that people thought of as an archive.

Of course we hope that someday something might pop up!

J.

Colm Chomicky · Post by **Colm Chomicky** » 27 Mar 2011 10:41 am

Such a cool picture that Mike posted, and now we know a little part of the story given the recollections of Billy Tonnesen who first suggested the location being in Huntington Park, Cal's Corral. A glimpse to the past and now we also know a little more about what Ralph Mooney was up to with Fender in tow with Billy Tonnessen's insight as follows:

"If indeed this picture was at Cal's Corral, there was no time to assemble your Steel on the Stage. You put it up in the parking lot, muscled it up the back outside metal stair case, and somehow got it on the Stage while the previous Band was exiting. No time to check how close in tune you were. It was just, plug in and hope for the best. This was a Union Gig and paid $12.00 for the half hour. At times it was pure chaos !"

Some of us certainly can relate to that! I also learned what a promoter and king of car salesmen showmen Cal Worthington was. He even rode an elephant to sell his cars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOsLdT4s ... EC2CBD7893

With everyone's insight, I have no doubt where this photo was taken, here is a reverse angle shot (to south east) looking toward the spot that Ralph was lugging his guitar.

The Steel Guitar Forum

Picture of Ralph Mooney, late 50's

Picture of Ralph Mooney, late 50's

1961 or 62?