Saturday, November 15, 2008

Day-Ray Products, Inc.

"Since 1941," the website for Day-Ray Products, Inc. proclaims, "Day-Ray has partnered with airlines and manufacturers..." The overview continues, "Today we provide leading-edge technology and designs to meet the high demands of the modern aerospace industry."

All those advanced 21st Century solutions coming from a great old building that looks like the setting for an atomic age Twilight Zone episode or a film noir confrontation between Fred MacMurray and Barbra Stanwyck? I love it! The old Day-Ray sign is my favorite in South Pas ... well, maybe second favorite right after the wonderful neon sign for Gus's BBQ. (Incidentally, Gus's is right up the street from Day-Ray.) Even the name Day-Ray is right out of a Philip K. Dick version of the future.

Retro meets high tech... things like this make my inner nerd very happy.

18 comments:

Webradio said...

Hello Laurie !
It's funny... The old building with the great technology...

Have a good day !

Keith said...

Reminds me of the grade school classrooms I went to back in the day.

Mister Earl said...

Right out of the genre of The Day the Earth Stood Still - aliens attack the earth while the only scientist who can save the world works feverishly in this lab! Meanwhile, in Altadena, an Italian grocer scribbles a strange language on a note pad as he looks skyward. Shift scene to Rocky Horror! Brad and Janet (or Jon and Laurie) are stranded in a thunderstorm and knock on this door seeking assistance...

Yesterday's Papers: I will sit in the corner Dixie Jane (Mom), but only for a minor. I mean, I did not say anything about altar boys. Laurie, the greatest compliment an internet humorist can receive is "You made me spew (milk, Diet Coke, Pepsi, coffee) out my nose or on my monitor." So thanks for that, and you need to sit in the corner as well!

Hope said...

I love everything about this post and photo....retro meets high tech....perfect!

And I always enjoy reading Mister Earl's comments so much. Laurie isn't the only one spewing milk out her nose!

Mister Earl said...

Thanks. So there is Hope for me after all.

Sharon said...

This is the kind of business you'd expect to see in a high-tech, glass box-like building. Interesting.

Mister Earl said...

I wonder if Day-Ray has any connection to Faye Wray, of King Kong fame?

And speaking of Faye Wray, did you know that her son, Bob Riskin, owns McCabe's Guitar Shop, where he started working in 1960?

Hope said...

Lol, Mr. Earl...yes, there is Hope.

Patrizzi Intergarlictica said...

Laurie, I know I should be commenting on this post but I'm too excited. Would You Believe on Fair Oaks near the Mason's Bldg. is having a closeout on costumes and they have santa suits and everything for really really really cheap. Piles of hats, too. Rock bottom prices. I was there last night. The hours are odd and written on the windows. This is the last day or tomorrow.

Laurie Allee said...

HOly moly, Miss H. Mister Earl emailed me about a great department-store-sized yard sale on Meridian and now you tell me about a fabulous costume sale at Would You Believe? All on the day of the South Pas Music and Arts Festival on MIssion? WHY AM I STILL SITTING AT THE COMPUTER!?!? :-)

Eki said...

I like your yesterday's photo very much, Laurie. The glowing mural in the evening darkness is very nice and evocative of its religious significance.

Anonymous said...

So NASA downsized.

Ken Mac said...

omigod. This belongs in the GOSP all time greatest shots top ten. ! I love it. You can almost smell the 60s ad men (MAD MEN) doing business and dreaming up ad schemes behind it's rhyming facade. How has South Pasadena kept so much coolness intact>!

Virginia said...

Well Mister Earl has cracked me up tonight. I am wondering WHY I am blog surfing when I should be packing and repacking and adding more stuff I won't wear or be able to tote!!! One last pass over South Pas. LOVE Day Ray. That's too good. I knew KM would groove in it and he did! Look at his new pic. HIlarious.
Au revoir Laurie and gang.
V

Unknown said...

You can call me Day
and you can call me Ray
but you doesn't have to call me Johnson

Sorry, but that is what came to mind immediately. For those who don't have a clue what I'm talking about, It is a shtick that comedian Bill Saluga did in the 70's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoYsfbq3vMc&feature=related

Dixie Jane said...

Well, let's see. My first reaction to this photo: An accordion trailor that opens up by Day and closes at night, baking from solar energy from the sun's Rays. They make great hot cross buns.

What kind of Geiger counter do you have for finding such places, Laurie?

Laurie Allee said...

Hey kids,

Ah, I'm so happy you guys are digging the Day-Ray vibe. Great comments and conversation, everyone. Ken, I KNEW you'd love this one!

Altadenahiker, another great one-liner. I love your warped and wonderful mind.

Judy, RayJay leading into Mister Earl's Dylan reference. We're all dating ourselves here! :-)

Virginia, get packing girl, you got an international plane to catch! Au revoir, Madame, et bon voyage!

Dixie Mom -- your scenario is so weirdly fabulous it is right out of a Charlie Kaufman screenplay. You clever woman, you.

Big hugs all around, guys. Til tomorrow...

Megan Lynch said...

Sometime in late 2011, they renovated the sign. It now says just "Day-Ray". The good news is that they renovated instead of replacing with a completely different sign. The bad news is...I kinda miss the old sign, dilapidated as it was. The patina isn't there anymore.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/spidra/6288239782