Don "Penguin" Loster

A 1960s business card for Don "Penguin" Loster, a pioneer in the use of hydraulic lifts for lowering cars. Known for his innovative work in the Southern California custom car scene, Penguin's shop became synonymous with "extra low" rides. Based in Hollydale near Downey and Paramount, Loster worked alongside his close friend Bear in a tight-knit community where creativity thrived in the mid-1960s. Photo from The Mike Kosulandich Collection.

Don "Penguin" Loster is a pioneer when it comes to installing hydraulic lifts on cars.

Bear & Penguin

In 2017 Keith Christensen told Kustomrama that Pengunine's mother had a grill next to his shop; "There was an in between community between Downey and Paramount. There were two little communities in that tiny location, Hollydale and Clearwater, better known as Hynes. They were the stomping grounds of the Dutch and Portuguese. There is still two businesses there, one called Clearwater Lumber and Hines Truck and Wagon Scales, a big old barn that the dairymen used to pull their loads in to and weigh them. Both, to me are historical landmarks. I had a muffler shop in Hollydale, called Action Muffler. Next door, there was a little-tiny restaurant with four stables and some round bar stools that mounted to the floor on a chrome posts. It was called Berthas Grill if I remember right. No parking, just curb, sidewalk and Berthas. Her son was Penguin, who was the inseparable buddy of Bear. About like Laurel and Hardy. Whatever one did the other joined in and you can imagine hydraulics from them. I cut many of their platform parts for them. If you went into Berthas there they were at the front little table."

Don Loster's Cars

Don Loster's 1959 Ford Galaxie