Unseen JFK in Los Angeles — Ending with the Apollo 10 Astronauts’ Visit Los Angeles

This digitized 8mm reel captures a remarkable sweep of California history — but its most powerful moments come from two extraordinary appearances: John F. Kennedy on the campaign trail and the Apollo 10 astronauts visiting Los Angeles at the height of the space age. The film begins in 1955 at Disneyland, just months after the park opened, but soon moves into national history. In September 1960, JFK arrives in Los Angeles, campaigning for the presidency. The footage is brief but electrifying — rare, street‑level shots of Kennedy, surrounded by supporters, signs, and the energy of a nation on the brink of change. It’s a glimpse of JFK not from newsreels, but from a family’s camera, preserved for more than six decades. The reel then jumps forward to the late 1960s, where history meets the space race. At the Ambassador Hotel, the Apollo 10 astronauts appear during their Los Angeles visit — a quiet, candid moment with the very crew who orbited the Moon just weeks before Apollo 11’s landing. Their presence adds a second brush with American greatness, bookending the film with two defining figures of the era: Kennedy and the astronauts who fulfilled his vision. Along the way, the reel also captures: • Palm Springs Aerial Tramway before its remodel • The Queen Mary in 1967, newly transformed into a museum ship • The final run of the Lark Train at Glendale Station in 1968 What began as a family’s home movie has become a time capsule — a lost California journey that unexpectedly preserves JFK’s campaign and the Apollo 10 crew, two moments that shaped the American century.