What is that thing?

It's Siren Number 144, a type 1 rotating siren, specifically, the Federal Model 500T, a 10 HP dual-tone siren introduced in 1954 for Civil Defense purposes produced by Federal Sign and Signal Corporation.

The Civil Defense Siren was first conceived of during World War II following the attack on Pearl Harbor, but the number of sirens and siren systems in most cities spread much more rapidly during the Cold War. Federally distributed pamphlets and films, aimed at educating both adults and children, would spread the word of what to do in case of an alert.

Why dual-tone? One to signal an attack and one to signal an alert. The Attack signal sounds only in case of enemy attack. The signal is a 3- to 5-minute wavering sound, or short blasts on whistles, horns of other devices. The attack signal means that an actual enemy attack against the United States has been detected, and that protective action should be taken immediately. The Alert signal (or Attention signal) is used by local governments to get the attention of citizens in a time of impending natural disaster or peacetime emergency. The signal is a 3- to 5-minute steady blast.

"The sirens were turned off in 1986, but I so remember hearing that ominous siren wail at 10:00 a.m. on the last Friday of every month. It was a test to make sure the sirens worked, during the Cold War Era. When I was a school child, we were supposed to duck under our desks and cover our heads and especially our eyes… Duck and cover would not have prevented us from becoming toast. Maybe one of those spiffy, underground bomb-shelters would have helped."

-Ellen Bloom

Siren Number 144 is in Cheviot just off of Motor on Bannockburn Drive and is one of over 200 sirens still existing in the city. If you want to totally geek-out on where they are (or were) check out wirechief.com. Dennis made a list.

Believe it or not, there were also 16 line-of-sight anti-aircraft missile sites around Los Angeles, as well as radar and control sites. Each of the launch sites was equipped with a number of Ajax and Hercules missiles. All were closed after the START ONE treaty between the US and USSR.

A big thanks to coldwarla.com. This site gave us all the information we needed and a few other rabbit holes to crawl down, including one on bomb shelters. If you have one of those from the Cold War era, we'd really like to see it!