Harbie The Seal
Bringing up the Shady Dell again, I was wondering about the origin of Harbie - the faded fiberglass seal that greets you at the boat. I figured he was some old mascot for some forgotten business, but I couldn’t help but think as to how a seal which generally goes with the ocean found it’s way out to the Arizona desert mountains near the Mexico border.
Enter Google…
Right off the bat, a photo of a vintage Harbie turns up at RoadsidePeek.com. Apparently, Harbie is the mascot of Harbor Gasoline - a Los Angeles/Orange County chain of gas stations that lasted through to the early 1970s. Can’t remember Harbor Gas at all, but it probably never made it down to south O.C. at all.
Alumni of Hawthorne High School remember Harbie a lot. A Harbie was spotted at a Colorado River resort (could this one be the Shady Dell Harbie?) and another remembers the gas station…
Do you remember the Harbor gas station at 115th and Inglewood ave. Had the little plastic seal and even had decals. Name of seal was “Harbie”.
Another alumni remembers a Harbie at an Anaheim trailer park…
There are two posted at the entrance of a trailer park on Harbor Blvd in Anaheim (Harbor and Chapman?, just south of the Target store.)
Meanwhile, these folks find a Harbie out near the Channel Islands beach:
we lived in a waterfront apartment in channel islands while we waited for our house to be built. there was a playground opposite the apartment where aly fell in love with a horrible old fiberglass seal called ‘harbie’
April 26th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Harbie decals were given out to kids and the fiberglass harbie stood happily on Ventura Blvd. In Studio City. Just south of Colfax Avenue on Ventura Blvd., on the south side. They blew concrete onto the hillside to stabilize it during the rains in that era. The station was modern for 1960 but became a Gulf station in about 1963-64 then many other off brands in the later years.