Incinerators In Los Angeles' Past
It was not uncommon for some homes in Southern California to have incinerators up to the early 1960s. I can only speak for living in Los Angeles County. Here, the actual units were typically outside of the house, usually in a corner of the back yard far away from the back door or windows.
There were some houses that had units like the one shown in the 4/6/2009 Picture of the Day, but the only one that I can actually remember seeing inside was in a particular model home around 1964 or 1965, when my parents were house hunting. Waste King appliances were almost a given at the time in some new housing tracts (much like we today see bottom of the line GE, Kenmore, or Frigidaire items), particularly dishwashers and garbage disposals. The incinerator in question was a gas model that was in the garage, near the laundry hookups. My aunt and uncle bought a similar house nearby, but without the incinerator. As it turned out, this was a pricey extra that many passed on.
What most people had in their backyards, was a concrete and metal structure about five feet high and three feet wide, with a hooded funnel on top. Some had slanted fronts on which a hinged door was placed, while other incinerators resembled large filing cabinets. Most of these particular units had to have the fire started manually. Yes, certain youngsters noticed a vague similarity to the slant-front Westinghouses of the time.
Most people burned their trash on late Thursday afternoon, although this also happened on a couple of other days during the week. My grandmothers and mother all insisted that my grandfathers and father burn the trash on Thursday because it worked out best that way, and this was also the day that smoke and fumes were least objectionable.
Unlike today, most households here did not own automatic clothes dryers, but clotheslines. Monday and Saturday were the days that most washing was done. The smoke and smell generated by an incinerator would often be fairly thick in the air, often lingering for a day or so even with a moderate afternoon/evening breeze. To give an idea of what it could be like, imagine the smoke from a charcoal barbecue and multiply it by three. Children and pets were not usually allowed to play outside nearby when the trash was being burned, and this was certainly my experience.
Many people did not want the smoke to discolor and the smell to linger in just washed and dried laundry - the threat from birds was already bad enough. The thinking was that waiting a day after the burning would allow for smoke and odors to disappear and not contaminate what was being put on the clothesline. Even with the best of efforts, this still happened, and I remember more than once my mother having to rewash an entire load when the air was still during the summer months. This was also around the time when smog in Los Angeles began receiving attention in the national press, and was the target of many comedians.
Trash burning largely ended in LA County during the mid 1960s as many communities began to physically collect garbage and dispose of it in landfills (dumps). Some areas, as where my parents still live, outrightly forbade the burning of trash, and this restriction continues to the present day. Incinerator units are pretty much a memory here now, although there is an occasional newspaper or magazine ad that appears for them.
Darryl
