Los Angeles’ landmarks aren’t what they used...

Los Angeles’ landmarks aren’t what they used to be. And local photographer William Reagh has for nearly a half-century dramatically captured the disappearing act with his camera.

Reagh’s streetscapes--which contrast the rural Los Angeles of yesteryear with its modern, glass-and-steel counterpart--are on display through this weekend in the city Cultural Affairs Department’s photography center at 412 S. Park View St.

He is also assembling his second “The Changing Face of L.A.” calendar, which spotlights changes in a half-dozen sites downtown, from Dodger Stadium to the 3rd Street tunnel.

Reagh, who came to Los Angeles in 1935 from Kansas, said he got the idea for the calendar while going through his file of old negatives. “I knew things had changed but I was really shocked at what I was looking at. Things that no longer exist.”

He returned to some of the locations he had shot before, “I had to make a record of the changes,” he said. One old shot of city streetcars junked at Terminal Island showed the abandoned vehicles piled forlornly on top of each other like cord wood. A photograph taken recently near the same location shows piles of recent model automobiles in the same pose.

The City of Angels seems to age effortlessly, but for its residents, growing old can sometimes be a lonely prospect. To combat that reclusion, Grand Peoples Co., a senior citizens organization, has scheduled hundreds of excursions, including dozens during May--designated nationwide as Older Americans’ Month.

Among the trips planned for the 1,000 senior citizens groups in the county, are tours to Descanso Gardens, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu, a Pomona horse ranch, and Los Angeles Harbor. The nonprofit group gets funds from the city and county to pay for transportation, and also offers complimentary tickets for those who can’t afford the trips.

Spokesman Leland Bard said the group has provided excursions for more than 250,000 people since 1981. He explained the group’s philosophy, “We are here to keep seniors turned on.”

Jeff and Maria Falasca are trying to keep a bit of Hollywood lore alive with the formation of an official fan club dedicated to a freckle-faced little boy and a sea monster.

The duo, of course, is Beany and Cecil, two of the biggest stars from the dawn of children’s television programming. “Time for Beany,” featured Beany Boy, and his friend, Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent. The show, created by the late Bob Clampett, one of Hollywood’s best-known animators, ran from 1950 to 1955 and won three Emmys.

The Falascas, who reside in Canoga Park, began collecting Beany memorabilia after viewing a toy show that reminded them how much they liked the old program. They started a small version of the fan club in 1984 but disbanded in 1985 when they moved to Illinois. Now back in Southern California, Jeff, who is a food distributor, and Maria, who is an assistant to a map maker, have decided to start the club anew on a grander scale.

Fan club members will receive a membership button and a bimonthly newspaper that will include classified Beany ads. The club will also keep tabs on the show’s other characters--Tearalong, the Dotted Lion; Harecules, the intellectual rabbit, and Rin-Tin-Can, the mechanical dog.