Water and Power Associates Informing the Public about Critical Water and Energy Issues facing Los Angeles and California

Historical Notes

Built in 1932 as the Valley Municipal Building and designed as a miniature of Los Angeles City Hall by architect Peter K. Schaborum, Van Nuys City Hall gained recognition as a Historic-Cultural Monument in 1978.

Historical Notes

Originally, the Valley Municipal Bulding housed a Hospital in one wing of the base and the Police Department and Municipal Court, complete with jail, in the other. With the population growth in the fifties and sixties, the hospital and police station were eventually relocated to roomier sites, and the building was remodeled to house other City offices.*#*

Historical Notes

On October 18, 1978, the Valley Municipal Building (Van Nuys City Hall) was declared Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 202 (Click HERE to see complete listing).

Historical Notes

Chitsett Avenue was named after William P. Whitsett who is remembered by some as the "Father of Van Nuys." He was also a major land developer and water official in Los Angeles. The street was first known as Encino Avenue.

Victory Boulevard was named in honor of the Valley's World War I veterans in 1924. The segment west of Balboa Boulevard did not open until 1955.

Click HERE to see more SFV Street Name Origins.

Historical Notes

In 1944, Bing Crosby’s recording of “San Fernando Valley” reaches No. 1 on the charts, no doubt prompting plenty of GIs to move here after the war.

Historical Notes

When soldiers returned to California from World War II, many of them settled in the San Fernando Valley, at that time mostly farmland, where lots were affordable and pre-fab homes available. Some people literally built their own houses.

Historical Notes

Birmingham General Hospital (later Birmingham Army Hospital) was built in Van Nuys in late 1943 and early 1944 to serve as both a general hospital and a debarkation hospital. Originally named Van Nuys General Hospital, it was soon renamed in honor of Named for Brigadier General Henry Patrick Birmingham, Medical Corps, U.S. Army.  Its stucco buildings had 1777 beds, of which 800 were devoted to debarkation activities.^

Historical Notes

The hospital had a small prisoner of war compound. Due to its location so close to Hollywood, many radio and movie stars visited patients at the hospital. Jack Benny even broadcasted his annual Christmas Part from the hospital in 1944.

Historical Notes

In 1946 Birmingham became a VA hospital, which closed in June, 1950, just as the Korean War was about to begin. The combination Birmingham Jr High/High School opened in 1955.

Historical Notes

The VA closed the hospital in 1950. After 1950 the facility was converted into local use for public schools, while the army retained a piece for use in the air defense of Los Angeles. Part of the former Birmingham Army Hospital facility was used as an air defense missile battalion headquarters from 1956 to 1968.^

Historical Notes

Spence Air Photos was a one-man company ~ photographer, "Robert Earl Spence". He began shooting aerials in 1918. In the 1920s he had numerous clients hiring him to shoot homes and businesses. Spence would shoot images at an angle, not straight down, showing many additional building details. Spence was not a pilot, he hired an airplane pilot to fly him overhead while he leaned out from the cockpit with a bulky camera to get angled shots of the landscape. His method captured the details of the homes and their surroundings all the way to the horizon. He continued to photograph homes for 50 years.

In 1971, Spence retired and donated his collection of 110,000 negatives to the University of California Geography Department. He passed away in 1974.****^

At UCLA, the Spence Collection is part of The Benjamin and Gladys Thomas Air Photo Archives.

Historical Notes

In the 1930’s, Northridge Milling Co was known as North Los Angeles Feed Store and located 1 block further north.  It changed names alongside the name change of the town to Northridge. In early 1952, the business changed hands and was then called Brown’s.

Originally called Zelzah, the town that we call Northridge today was renamed North Los Angeles on July 1, 1929. In 1938, this area of the San Fernando Valley was renamed Northridge Village. Few evidences of the "village" remain.

Historical Notes

Mr. A.G. Rowlands built a market on the corner of Devonshire and Zelzah early in 1933. This grocery store has changed hands several times, but has been in continuous operation since its opening. #^#^

Historical Notes

Chatsworth is a more developed street than Devonshire at this time because it was the main street of Granada Hills. Lassen is the street on the extreme left. It was a dirt road between Zelzah and Lindley. Lindley didn't go through to Devonshire until the the Police station was built in 70s or 80s. The historic cedar trees on White Oak between San Jose and Chatsworth are visible.

Historical Notes

In 1943, Helen Dillman and Pete Spears purchased 40 acres for $80,000 with plans to construct a harness racing track, but a wartime construction moratorium temporarily put the project on hold. Weekly Sunday afternoon harness races, called matinees, began in 1946.*^

Historical Notes

The State of California bought the property for $140,000 in 1948, at which time it also became the home of the 51st District Agricultural Association's annual San Fernando Valley Fair. *^

Historical Notes

Devonshire Downs later became a venue for concerts and other events, including rodeos.

Historical Notes

The Downs hosted annual fireworks shows and the Scoutcraft Fair, but entertained its largest crowd the weekend of June 20-22, 1969. Newport '69, which drew at least 200,000 people, was the nation's biggest outdoor rock festival until Woodstock, headlined by Jimi Hendrix, Eric Burdon, Marvin Gaye and others. In 1959 the expanding San Fernando Valley State College (now CSUN) claimed the land for expansion, but in 2001 virtually the entire site was razed for a private industrial park under lease to the school.

Historical Notes

In the summer of 1969, an estimated 200,000 people—a record number at the time—dropped in to the sun-drenched Devonshire Downs racetrack in Northridge (now part of the CSUN campus) to hear a stellar list performers including Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, Creedence Clearwater, The Rascals, The Byrds, Booker T. & the M.G.’s, Ike & Tina Turner, Eric Burdon, Jethro Tull, Marvin Gaye, The Grass Roots, Three Dog Night and Johnny Winter.

List of Performers:

Friday, June 20, 1969:  Ike & Tina Turner, Albert King, Edwin Hawkins Singers, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Joe Cocker, Southwind, Spirit and Taj Mahal.

Saturday, June 21, 1969:  Albert Collins, Brenton Wood, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Charity, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Eric Burdon and War, Friends of Distinction, Jethro Tull, Lee Michaels, Love, Steppenwolf and Sweetwater.

Sunday, June 22, 1969:  Booker T. & the M.G.'s, The Chambers Brothers, The Flock, The Grass Roots, Johnny Winter, Marvin Gaye, Mother Earth, Jimi Hendrix jam with Buddy Miles, Eric Burdon and Mother Earth, Poco, The Byrds, The Rascals and Three Dog Night.*^

Historical Notes

The Heaven on Earth Ranch, first located in Glendale, California (later moved to Lake View Terrace), was available for visitors to come and spend a day with the horses and enjoy the mock western town that served as the ranch's backdrop.#^

Historical Notes

The Rivoli Theatre opened in 1921 at Sherman Way near Erwin Street.  That chunk of Sherman later got renamed Van Nuys Blvd. The address is listed as 6262 Van Nuys Blvd. in the 1926 city directory, 6260 in 1928, 6258 in the 1939/40 directory with it being called the Fox Rivoli.

By 1959 or 1960 the building got remodelled and emerged as the Capri Theatre. The theater closed in the early 70s and was demolished for a Federal Building parking lot. The theatre's former location is now part of the site of the Van Nuys / City of LA Braude "Constituent Service Center." The theatre was just north of Erwin which now dead ends at Van Nuys Blvd. What had been Erwin east of Van Nuys Blvd. is a pedestrian walkway between the City of LA building and the Federal Building to the south.^

Historical Notes

The California Bank building was built in 1911 by H.J. Whitley and was originally known as the Bank of Van Nuys. The building is now the Country General Store and has been family owned since 1956.*^^^

Historical Notes

Television usage in the United States skyrocketed after World War II with the lifting of the manufacturing freeze, war-related technological advances, the gradual expansion of the television networks westward, the drop in television prices caused by mass production, increased leisure time, and additional disposable income. While only 0.5% of U.S. households had a television in 1946, 55.7% had one in 1954, and 90% by 1962.

By the late 1960s and early 1970s, color television had come into wide use.*^

Historical Notes

In 1955, only 10 percent of U.S. households had a clothes dryer, probably because they were expensive. Back then, the average price for a dryer was $230. Adjusted to today’s dollars, that lowly laundry appliance would have cost between $2,000 to $3,000.^

Historical Notes

The Van Nuys Drive-In was one of many Pacific drive-ins that had murals on their screen towers. The outdoor theater opened in 1948 and parked 891 cars. It lost its mural and original screen tower when it became a tri-plex drive-in.^**^

Historical Notes

During its last year, it was the last drive-in located in the San Fernando Valley. As Pacific Theatres closed the theater, its marquee said “closed for the season”. That season never came.

The Van Nuys Drive-In sat empty for a few years and was being used to store cars from a nearby dealership. It was demolished in the late-1990’s.^**^

Historical Notes

Steel magnate Henry J. Kaiser had a motto: "Find a need and fill it." After World War II, Kaiser and land developer Fritz B. Burns realized returning GIs would need homes and plenty of them. Kaiser Homes bought about 400 acres of the Panorama Ranch dairy farm with plans to build 3,000 two- and three-bedroom homes. With $500 down, a veteran could purchase a two-bedroom home for $10,000. For Kaiser, whose father went blind and daughter died due to improper medical care, healthcare was a priority. Central to the plan for Panorama City was the Permanente Hospital. It was renamed Kaiser Permanente in 1953.^^^

Historical Notes

The General Motors Assembly plant started production in 1947. It was one of the first major industrial companies to come to the San Fernando Valley and aided in its transformation from an agricultural to a suburban/industrial area.^

Historical Notes

The importance of industry to the Valley’s development is vividly illustrated in the last two views of the GM Assembly Division plant at Van Nuys. The top picture was taken in early 1948, less than a year after the plant began operations. Five years later, about the same time of year in 1953, as shown in the lower photo, thousands of homes had been built on acreage that was undeveloped real estate when the plant was built.+^^

Historical Notes

The GM Plant assembled Camaros and Firebirds on the same line.

Historical Notes

"The Plant" officially opened in 1947 and produced GM models such as the Chevrolet Corvair, Nova, Camaro and the Pontiac Firebird. When in full production, the plant employed 3,500 workers and helped to expand industrial, commerce and residential development.*^^^

(1960s)*^*# - View showing the assembly line at the General Motors Plant in Van Nuys.

Historical Notes

The GM Assembly Plant was closed in 1992 when Camaro/Firebird production was moved to Sainte-Thérèse Assembly in Quebec.

The site was razed in 1998. A retail and industrial complex, known as The Plant, was built on the 68-acre site, as well as Station 81 of the Los Angeles Fire Department. The retail portion totals 365,000 square feet and is home to 35 retail stores and restaurants. A 16-screen movie theater honors the site history with an automotive theme décor. GM continues to operate a car-testing facility on 27 acres next to The Plant.*^

Historical Notes

Panorama City is known as the San Fernando Valley's first planned community. In 1948, it was developed as such by residential developer Fritz B. Burns and industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. The master plan was created by architectural firm Wurdeman & Becket.  Burns, seeing the tremendous potential fortune that could be made as large numbers of World War II veterans came home and started families, teamed up with Kaiser in 1945 to form Kaiser Community Homes. The vast majority of the houses were bought with loans issued by the FHA or the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, better known as the G.I. Bill. Homes in the area were sold with racially discriminatory covenants. A "Conditions, Covenants, Restrictions" document filed with the county recorder declared that no Panorama City lot could be "used or occupied by any person whose blood is not entirely that of the white or Caucasian race."  Such restrictive covenants, which sometimes also limited ownership to people "of the Christian faith", were common in many communities at the time, and although rendered legally unenforceable by the Civil Rights Act of 1968 they may still be found on some older property deeds. De facto integration was accelerated by the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977. The CRA-insured credit was provided to the entire community without regard to race or income, causing white flight as with many other areas of the San Fernando Valley.  During the period of desegregation busing, Panorama City was exempted due to its diversity.

In its history, Panorama City was once adjacent to General Motors' largest assembly plant to date. Today, the Van Nuys Assembly plant has been replaced with a large shopping center named The Plant, which includes stores and restaurants such as Regency Theatres, Ross, Babies "R" Us, The Home Depot, Hometown Buffet, Blaze Pizza, In-N-Out Burger, Starbucks Coffee and others.

Panorama City touches Mission Hills on the north, Arleta on the northeast, Sun Valley on the east, Valley Glen on the southeast, Van Nuys on the south and North Hills on the west.  For the most part, the community is a mixture of small single-family homes and low-rise apartment buildings.*^

Historical Notes

During 1955-1964, the Panorama Mall featured over 100 stores including the department stores Broadway, Robinson’s, Montgomery Ward, and Orbach’s. The center was enclosed in 1980 under ownership of The Macerich Company. Broadway closed its doors in 1996 and the first Walmart Super Center opened in May 1998. This was the first Walmart in the City of Los Angeles and first multi-level Walmart in the United States. La Curacao opened in 1995 focusing on hard goods and changed their name to Curacao in 2012. The mall was purchased by Primestor Development in November 2015.^

Historical Notes

The Broadway–Valley shopping center, as it was then known, opened on October 10, 1955, as a single strip of stores along Van Nuys Blvd. north of Roscoe Blvd, with 89,000 square feet  of retail space adjacent to and sharing a parking lot with a 226,000-square-foot Broadway department store designed by architect Welton Becket. Silverwoods, Mandel's, Kinney Shoes, Lerner's and Woolworth were the other stores in the complex.^

Historical Notes

The shopping center’s anchor department stores opened as follows:

The Broadway, opened October 10, 1955, 226,000 square feet, 3 stories, currently Walmart

Montgomery Ward, opened September 13, 1961, 154,537 square feet, 2 stories, closed in 2001, building currently empty

J. W. Robinson's, opened on June 27, 1961

Ohrbach's, opened October 7, 1964, 115,000 square feet, 7.5-acre site, cost $5 million to build, currently the Valley Indoor Swap Meet. ^

Historical Notes

The new Valley Robinson’s was the fifth outlet for the company, which was founded in Los Angeles in 1883 by Joseph Winchester Robinson.*

Historical Notes

With the opening of Orbach's department store in 1964. . . Panorama Mall was the ONLY shopping center in the Valley that had 4 major department stores: Broadway, Robinson’s, Montgomery Ward, and Orbach’s.

Historical Notes

People would come from across the Valley to do their shopping here.  The Panorama shopping district had a hundred-plus shops including several major department stores such as Broadway, Robinson’s, Montgomery Ward, and Orbach’s. Perhaps not the most attractive feature of Panorama City, a testimony to the lively retail economy of the time, was 18 acres of parking lots.

Historical Notes

Photo caption dated October 27, 1954 reads "Contractors are rushing to complete work on the new Panorama Market located at 10321 Sepulveda Blvd. at Devonshire Street. Company officials revealed today it will open during November. This new layout pictured above embraces 55,000 square feet of floor space and among its many features will be a free check cashing booth, free parking for hundreds of cars and unlimited one-stop shopping facilities at one of the most modern shopping centers with the latest innovations in the Southland. Ground for the project was broken last Spring. Arthur Froehlich is architect."

Historical Notes

The Orcutt Ranch, formally called Rancho Sombra del Roble, was the vacation and retirement estate of William Warren Orcutt and his wife Mary Logan Orcutt. The adobe residence, as well as the estate’s garden, ranch structures, oak trees, and citrus orchard have historic significance because of the distinction of its owner W.W. Orcutt, pioneer of the oil production industry in California and discoverer of the prehistoric fossils at the La Brea Tar Pits.

In January 22, 1965, the City of Los Angeles designated a 24-acre portion of the estate as Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 31 (Click HERE to see complete listing), which included the residence, ranch structures, garden, oaks, and citrus orchard. At that time, Mrs. Orcutt was still residing within the adobe residence. One year later, the City of Los Angeles, Department of Recreation and Parks, acquired the property, preserving the site.*^^*

Historical Notes

Rancho El Escorpión was a 1,110-acre Mexican land grant given in 1845 by Governor Pío Pico to three Chumash Native Americans - Odón Eusebia, Urbano, and Mañuel.

In 1871, Miguel Leonis, of the historic Leonis Adobe in Calabasas, acquired Rancho El Escorpión. He used the land for cattle and sheep herds. Leonis took control of the rancho and added land by bullying, litigating, or buying up homesteaders. Though illiterate and only speaking Basque, he was often in court, with over thirty property disputes recorded. He hired Mexican and Malibu Chumash gunmen to expand his lands by threatening homesteaders and squatters.

In 1850 Miguel Leonis, took Espiritu, the daughter of a Chumash chief Odón Eusebia , as his wife and moved to the base of Castle Peak. When Leonis died, he left only a small portion of his estate to Espiritu, who retained lawyer Horace Bell to acquire the whole of the estate.

As payment for legal services rendered, Espiritu gave Bell some of the land.  Bell's son Charles, also a lawyer and Calabasas Justice of the Peace in 1906, later built his home there. The community of Bell Canyon derives its name from Charles.

Historical Notes

The Leonis barn was demolished by developers in the 1960's and the entire little valley filled in.

In the late 1960s, the land, then a 1,700-acre cattle ranch, was purchased by Spruce Land and Boise Cascade, subdivided and named Woodland Hills Country Estates.  One year later, the new subdivision of Bell Canyon went on the market and almost all of the 700 lots sold during the first weekend.*##*

The remaining land, encompassing parts of present day West Hills and Woodland HIlls, was also quickly developed.

Historical Notes

Between February 27th and March 3rd, 1938 Los Angeles was inundated with two storm systems delivering record breaking rainfalls. By March 3rd, the San Gabriel Mountains received 32 inches of rain, more than their average yearly total, and Los Angeles received over 10 inches of rainfall over the 5-day storm. 115 people lost their lives, thousands more were evacuated, over 6000 homes were damaged or destroyed, and 108,000 acres - one third of Los Angeles - was flooded. The San Fernando Valley, Venice, Compton, and Long Beach were the worst hit. The Los Angeles River was completely warped - new inlets were carved by the rushing water and the channels in areas shifted, nearly as much as a mile.

Total channelization of the river began a few months later. With funding from the Works Progress Administration and the federal government as a result of the Flood Control Act, contractors and construction crews worked around the clock under the supervision of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, lowering and widening the channel and cementing the banks and river bottom. By the end, 20 years later, contractors had moved "twenty million cubic yards of earth (roughly 800,000 dump truck loads worth).*

Historical Notes

After the great flood of 1938, the Army Corps of Engineers took the lead role in channelizing the river and constructing several dams which would create flood control basins behind them. Channelization began in 1938, and by 1960, the project was completed to form the present fifty-one mile engineered waterway. Included in this work were Hansen Dam, completed in 1940 and followed by Sepulveda Dam in 1941.*^

Historical Notes

For 28 years the Sepulveda Dam did its job without incident until 1969 when the Los Angeles River overflowed its banks causing millions of dollars in damage. In 1988 the Los Angeles River's banks were raised to avoid another incident. In 1994 a hundred-year flood occurred in the Los Angeles River. The dam was restored and went without incident for another 11 years until the Los Angeles River again overflowed its banks in 2005.*^

Historical Notes

Since 1938, 278 miles of river and tributaries were retrofitted and more than 300 bridges were built. With the river encased in cement, the natural sharp turns were now straightened. Any evidence of vegetation was completely removed, allowing runoff from the San Gabriel Mountains to escape through the river and out of Long Beach at up to 45 miles-per-hour. Streets and sewers were connected to drains along the river, designed to quickly capture and move rainfall away from the surrounding streets.**^^

Historical Notes

To this day, despite the flood control channels, flooding still occurs in certain intersections of the San Fernando Valley especially after heavy rains.

Historical Notes

In the 1950s, Valley residents who wanted to learn to ski might have considered Harold Larson's Viking Ski Center at 13733 Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks.

Historical Notes

The above photo was taken from atop the next-door ferris wheel at Kiddyland.

Historical Notes

Thanks to its geographic location and its proximity to entertainment industry businesses, Studio City has served as the home for eclectic restaurants and nightclubs providing a variety of amusement and atmosphere. Several film industry professionals operated their own niteries, such as screen villain Jack La Rue and Academy Award winning cinematographer James Wong Howe. Others featured eclectic decoration or strong celebrity clientele. Some venues hosted variety performers entertaining guests, such as clubs at 11502 Ventura Blvd. and 12449 Ventura Blvd.*

Historical Notes

The semaphore traffic signals used in Los Angeles in the 1920s - 1940s were manufactured by the Acme Traffic Signal Company. These signals had "Stop" and "Go" semaphore arms that would pop up, along with small red and green lights and bells that would ring to indicate the change in signal. The semaphore signals had a third, smaller yellow light at the bottom that would flash to indicate caution.

Acme semaphores were used in Valley until the mid-1950s, when they were replaced by the standard three-light traffic signals we see today.

Click HERE to see more Early Los Angeles Semaphores.

Historical Notes

The West Valley Freeway Flyer service began in 1959 as part of efforts by the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) to provide faster and more efficient commuter bus service. The Freeway Flyer service promised to "melt miles and minutes off the map" by using the newly constructed freeways to bypass traffic congestion on surface streets. In the early years, the Freeway Flyer service started with just 4 buses per day from the San Fernando Valley, but quickly grew to 15 buses per day as ridership increased.

The MTA found that wherever they established Freeway Flyer express and limited-stop service, ridership increased significantly, with one line seeing a 39% increase and another 32%. This early success with the Freeway Flyer concept encouraged the MTA that a modern, fast mass transit system could attract many drivers to leave their cars at home and ride the buses instead.*

Historical Notes

The longtime diner opened the Studio City location in 1948. This expansion was the first after Du-par's debuted at the Original Farmer's market in 1938.

Historical Notes

The first Du-par's was founded in 1938 at the Los Angeles Farmers Market by James Dunn and Edward Parsons, who combined their surnames to create the restaurant's name. The chain was purchased in 2004 by an investor group led by W.W. "Biff" Naylor, the son of noted California restaurateur Tiny Naylor. Du-par's expanded in 2009 to include several locations from the bankrupt Bakers Square chain.^

Historical Notes

The Studio City location closed its doors for good on December 31, 2017.

The building is currently (2019) occupied by Sephora. Click HERE for contemporary view.

Historical Notes

11502 Ventura Blvd. has hosted a revolving clientele of clubs since at least 1936, when Rex’s White Cabin operated at the location. The Everglades premiered at the location in December 1939, featuring singing star Beth Williams, accompanied by Harry Powell and his Gladesmen, per the December 7, 1939 Van Nuys Valley News. The club offered dinner and dancing, and such special cuisine as Chicken a la Maryland.

The Zomba Café proffered colorful entertainment to men looking for a little excitement, opening in 1941. A blurb in the September 5, 1942 issue of Variety stated, “Unusual atmosphere at the Zomba Cafe, 11502 Ventura Blvd. Radio’s Jimmy Jackson greets you with song. Also orchestra leader Eugene Jackson (formerly of Our Gang Comedies) gives you “a bit of Africa.” (Jackson played Farina’s older brother, “Pineapple,” in Our Gang Comedies).*

Historical Notes

Zomba operated mostly as an upscale burlesque club for men looking for an “afternoon delight,” with B-girls performing on raised and separate platforms as well as in choreographed numbers, per the American Guild of Variety Artists yearbook. Comedians acted as emcees, trying to inject some humor and energy into proceedings, especially between acts. Atmosphere and decorations carried an African and safari theme, suggesting exotic pleasures.*

Historical Notes

Sometime in 1968 the Zomba Café closed, replaced by current tenant, the gay cowboy bar, Oil Can Harry’s (closed in 2021).

Historical Notes

The Encino film Theatre opened in August 10, 1949 and was located at 16342 Ventura Blvd. The theater featured two hours of entertainment nightly; a feature, a short and a newsreel at one admission price. The theater held 1,000 seats which were staggered to provide clear views from every chair. The bottom half of the marquee is advertising the 1948 film noir, "They Live by Night." *^^^

Historical Notes

Love's Wood Pit BBQs were a chain of barbeque restaurants, known for their delicious BBQ sauce, tender meat and smokey wood pit flavour that were located primarily on the West Coast of the US in the late '60s and early '70s.
A victim of increasing competition, ownership changes and infighting within the company, they began disappearing around the late '70s.*

Historical Notes

This photo was originally identified as being in Canoga Park because of the large sign seen on the corner. But if you look underneath the "Canoga Park" sign there is an arrow pointing right (north) on Topanga Cyn. Blvd.

Historical Notes

Snow fell in the San Fernando Valley and in most of Southern California during a 3-day storm from Jan 9 through Jan 12, 1949.

Historical Notes

In a Jan. 10, 1999, Los Angeles Times article, columnist Cecilia Rasmussen wrote:

On Jan. 10, 1949, in the middle of the worst housing shortage in Los Angeles history, more than half an inch of snow covered the Civic Center. The San Fernando Valley was pelted with the unfamiliar white stuff for three days, accumulating almost a foot.

The rare snowfall produced wondrous vistas and unexpected difficulties, as some motorists besieged with frozen radiators were trapped in their cars in Laurel Canyon for several hours.

Historical Notes

The Lark was an overnight passenger train of the Southern Pacific Company on the 470-mile run between San Francisco and Los Angeles. It became a streamliner in 1941 and was discontinued on April 8, 1968. The Lark ran along the same route as the Coast Daylight and was often pulled by a locomotive wearing the famous Daylight paint scheme of orange, red, and black.

Historical Notes

The Coast Daylight, originally known as the Daylight Limited, was a passenger train on the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) between Los Angeles and San Francisco, California, via SP's Coast Line. In the eyes of many the "most beautiful passenger train in the world," it carried a stunning red, orange, and black color scheme.

Historical Notes

The Coast Daylight operated from 1937 until 1974, one of the few passenger trains retained by Amtrak in 1971. Amtrak merged it with the Coast Starlight in 1974.

Historical Notes

The Original Chatsworth Depot was built in 1893 near the intersection of Marilla and Topanga. Chatsworth's second depot (seen above) was built around 1910, located south of Devonshire Street on the west side of the tracks.

Historical Notes

By the early 1960s the above Chatsworth Depot fell into disuse and was razed by Southern Pacific (December, 1962).

In 1997 a new depot and town center was erected between Devonshire and Lassen streets.

Historical Notes

Completed in 1933, Reseda Park was made possible through federal funding by the New Deal Agency: Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC).  The Annual Report from 1932-33 of the Los Angeles Board of Park Commissioners reads: 

“Reseda Park is one of the city parks located in San Fernando Valley at Reseda and Etiwanda Avenues, Kittridge Street, and Victory Boulevard. Being forty acres in area it provides a delightful recreational spot for the residents of San Fernando Valley.

A great deal of improvement was accomplished during 1932-1933 with the help of the RFC and County Welfare workmen. Fifteen hundred lineal feet of walks were built, involving the grading of 600 cubic yards of dirt, and lining the walks with 2,100 lineal feet of 1×4 redwood curbing. The flood channel for 1,450 feet was improved necessitating the removal of 2,250 cubic yards of dirt. Three acres of park land were cleared and eight acres graded, removing 2,400 cubic yards of dirt. New picnic grounds were also built, totaling two acres. A new sprinkling system was installed necessitating the laying of 10,880 lineal feet of pipe. Improving the park from a landscape standpoint, 520 trees were trimmed, 350 trees moved, 1,280 new trees planted, 7,520 new shrubs planted, and 24,700 flowering plants were placed in the shrub beds and around the banks of the lagoon. About five acres of ground were planted in new grass. One pergola was also built and a new comfort station constructed in the picnic grove. This park is becoming very popular with residents of the San Fernando Valley for picnic suppers during the extreme warm weather.” *

Historical Notes

The HOLLYWOODLAND sign was erected in 1923 to advertise a new housing development in the hills above the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. In 1949 the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce contracted to repair and rebuild the sign. The contract stipulated that “LAND” be removed to reflect the district, not the housing development.* (Click HERE to see more in Early Views of Hollywood).

Historical Notes

The Ventura Freeway wasn’t built until the late 1950s and opened on April 5, 1960.*^

Historical Notes

The Valley Plaza Mall was built in 1951 and, at the time, was the largest mall west of the Mississippi River. It was the first mall in the U.S. geared toward the automobile and was built in anticipation of the yet to be completed Ventura and Hollywood Freeways.^*#

The 101 Freeway from Ventura to its intersection with the Hollywood Freeway in the southeastern San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles (the Hollywood Split) was built in the late 1950s and opened on April 5, 1960. East of the Hollywood Freeway intersection, it is signed as State Route 134 which was built by 1971.*^

The Hollywood Freeway (Route 170) between the Ventura Freeway and the Golden State Freeway (Interstate 5) was completed in 1958.*^

Los Angeles Valley College was founded on September 12, 1949 to meet the tremendous growth of the San Fernando Valley during the 1940s and early 1950s. The college was officially chartered by the Los Angeles Board of Education in June 1949, and was located on the campus of Van Nuys High School. In 1951 Valley College moved to its permanent 105-acre site on Fulton Avenue in Valley Glen.*^

Historical Notes

McDaniel’s Markets was an independent supermarket chain which featured a jaunty Scotsman as their mascot and a tartan pattern as a key design element in their ads and on stores. By mid-1957, McDaniel’s had six stores, located in North Hollywood, Beverly Hills, East L.A., Maywood and Baldwin Park, according to the Los Angeles Times. That year, McDaniel’s bought out the six-store Walker’s Market chain, and between those stores and additional units built over the years, the company eventually grew to almost 25 stores. In the early 60’s McDaniel’s went bankrupt, selling their choicest locations to Food Giant Markets.*

Historical Notes

Before being acquired by CVS Health in 2008, Longs Drugs was a chain of over 500 stores, located primarily on the West Coast of the United States. They had stores located in California, Hawaii, Nevada, Arizona, Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington, and was headquartered in Walnut Creek, California.*^

Historical Notes

At 165-feet tall and 35-feet wide, it was the tallest building in the San Fernando Valley when its steel frame and precast wall sections rose out of the Valley Plaza Shopping Center in 1960. In those days its 100 thriving stores and shops made up what was believed to be the largest retail complex west of Chicago.^^^

Historical Notes

The Los Angeles Federal Savings and Loan Assn. spent $1 million on the building, including land and construction costs. Modernist architects Douglas Honnold and John Rex were hired to give the project the maximum bang for its buck.^^^

(1976)#^# – Postcard view of the Los Angeles Federal Savings Building, located at 12160 Victory Boulevard, North Hollywood. The Valley Plaza sign is seen across the street.

Historical Notes

In 1976, a Bicentennial mural was commissioned by LA Federal Savings.

Several financial institutions have operated the Victory Boulevard building over the years. Its current owner is Wells Fargo Bank.^^^

Historical Notes

Until the early 1980s, every Thrifty store featured a tube tester, usually located near the cosmetics display case. Vacuum tubes were still used in a wide variety of consumer electronics such as TVs and radios, and the local Thrifty store was a convenient place to test them and purchase replacements. Thrifty published a brochure helping customers diagnose which tubes might be responsible for various TV malfunctions. The brochure also provided numbered stickers to aid consumers in reinstalling working tubes in their correct sockets.

Thrifty PayLess Holdings, Inc. was a pharmacy holding company that owned the Thrifty Drugs and PayLess Drug Stores chains in the western United States.  In 1996, Rite Aid acquired 1,000 West Coast stores from Thrifty PayLess Holdings, creating a chain with over 3,500 drug stores.

Rite Aid preserved the Thrifty Ice Cream brand because it won numerous awards in its history, and remained well-known for its affordable prices, quirky flavors, and iconic cylinder-shaped scoops.*^

Historical Notes

There were at least two other Van De Kamp’s coffee shops in the San Fernando Valley.  One was at San Fernando Road and Fletcher Drive.  The other, was on the southeast corner of Roscoe Blvd and Reseda Blvd, where the Facey Medical Building is located today.

Historical Notes

Russell C. Wendell, a doughnut machine salesman, created the Big Donut Drive-in. There were 10 locations, built over the course of the 1950s. At least five Big Donuts survive: they are Kindle's Donuts in unincorporated Westmont (this is the original location, built in 1950), (2) Randy's Donuts in Inglewood near LAX, the Donut King II in Gardena (3), Dale's Donuts in Compton (5), and Bellflower Bagels in Bellflower (8). Each features the distinctive giant doughnut constructed of rolled steel bars covered with gunite, a material used in swimming pools. Five Big Donuts have been demolished. They were located in Culver City (4), North Hollywood (6), Inglewood (on Imperial Hwy, 7), Van Nuys (9) and Reseda (10).

The building style dates to a period in the early 20th century that saw a proliferation of Programmatic Architecture throughout Southern California. This style had its heyday from the mid-1920s to the mid-1930s. By the 1950s however, the trend of designing structures in the shape of the product sold there had changed to focus on signs rather than architecture itself.*^

Click HERE to see more examples of Programmatic Architecture.

Historical Notes

Valley Times photo captions reads: “Clear skies in Van Nuys - November, 1954. A 15-mile visibility could be seen with no smog in sight. The City had recently changed the home incinerator burning hours from morning to evening. Landmarks noted include Van Nuys High School, Saint Elisabeth Catholic Church, and the former VA hospital in Sepulveda.”

Historical Notes

Photograph caption dated September 23, 1955 reads, "Special left turn only lanes, known as shadow lanes, are being used in Van Nuys on Van Nuys boulevard from Oxnard to Vanowen streets. This view is looking north on Van Nuys at Victory boulevard. Left turn lane is immediately to the left of normal center line. This is first time in Los Angeles such lanes have been painted on rather than constructed of raised concrete or bars." ++#

Historical Notes

Herald Examiner photo caption reads: ‘Said to be the busiest intersection in Los Angeles, it is a far cry from former years when traffic in Van Nuys was light’.

Historical Notes

During the 1960s, the commercial district along Van Nuys Boulevard continued to thrive. The boulevard was bustling with activity, with a wide range of shops, restaurants, and entertainment venues. Shopping centers, such as the Van Nuys Fashion Square, provided residents with convenient access to various retail options.

Historical Notes

Cupid's was originally established in 1946 as Walsh's Hot Dogs by Richard and Bernice Walsh. Shortly thereafter Richard changed the name to Cupid's; which was Bernice's nickname. For nearly 40 years Richard and Bernice ran the North Hollywood, Van Nuys and Canoga Park locations.

In the early 80's their long haired surfer son Rick took over.  2009 brought on the 3rd generation of Walsh's to continue the Cupid's tradition. Sisters, Kelly and Morgan Walsh, have now taken the reigns.++^^

Historical Notes

Today, there are the 3 locations still owned and operated by the original founding family:  Canoga Park, Simi Valley, and Northridge.  The Victory and Tyrone Cupid's seen above no longer exists.  It’s now just a parking lot.

Historical Notes

Today, a Denny's Restaurant is located on the site where the Lankershim and Burbank Cupid's once stood. Click HERE for contemporary view.

Historical Notes

During the War many streetlights throughout the City were blacked-out on top as a preventative measure. Click HERE to see more in Early Views of Los Angeles Streetlights.

Historical Notes

*These early signals, manufactured by the Acme Traffic Signal Co., paired “Stop” and “Go” semaphore arms with small red and green lights. Bells played the role of today’s amber or yellow lights, ringing when the flags changed—a process that took five seconds.

Historical Notes

The Klump Building was demolished after sustaining damage in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake.

See the intersection of Lankershim and Chandler in: 1891 / 1924 / 2018

Historical Notes

The El Portal has a great history. It was the final theatre to be designed by prolific theatre architect Lewis Arthur Smith. Seating was provided for 1,346 on a single floor and the decorative style was Spanish Renaissance Revival. Movies, supported by a vaudeville show ran here for several years, until the arrival of talkies.

Vaudeville played an important part in the first decades of El Portal, as live acts were used as added incentive to bring people in to see the newfangled silent pictures, starring the first stars of Hollywood, such as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Laurel and Hardy. In fact, to measure an audience's response to their films, both Laurel and Hardy were known to frequent El Portal, slipping in after the audience was seated for showings of their own films. Oliver Hardy lived for many years nearby in Van Nuys, golfed at the in Toluca Lake, died in North Hollywood and is buried there.

Harold Lloyd also used to listen to the laughter of audiences watching his films at El Portal. He and his brother were silent partners in the Shreves Filling Station, which was then on Lankershim across from the theater.*

Click HERE to see more Early Views of the Portal Theatre.

Historical Notes

Even before large daily newspapers were widely circulated in the San Fernando Valley, residents had many places to turn for news. In the 1880s, it was The San Fernando Comet and the Burbank News. In the 20th Century, they could catch up on local happenings with such community newspapers as San Fernando Valley Press, San Fernando Valley Reporter, San Fernando Valley Journal, Sylmar Breeze, Sherman Oaks Sun, Studio City Graphic, Encinian and Woodland Hills Reporter.^^^

While the newspaper building seen above was later demolished and replaced with a large apartment complex, many of the commercial buildings seen across Magnolia Blvd. (left of center) remain standing.*

Historical Notes

Originally located at 1534 N. Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood, Lewis Dean Mosher moved his business to this location in 1942. After retiring his son, Merill, operated the business until he also retired. The original structure on Burbank Blvd is no longer there, but the house next door, where Lewis Dean and his wife lived starting in 1927, is still there. Click HERE for Contemporary View.

Click HERE to see original Hollywood location.

Historical Notes

The Foodtime Market grocery store, located in the turreted building now occupied by the Valley Village post office, was the largest business in the historic district and operated from 1950 until sometime in the late 1960s.^

Historical Notes

VALLEY VILLAGE – The history of Valley Village went back to the 1930s, when workers at nearby motion picture studios built houses there. The local post office on Magnolia Boulevard canceled all mail with a "Valley Village" postmark. It was, however, officially a section of North Hollywood.  The idea of separating Valley Village from North Hollywood was brought into public light with a meeting of about 300 homeowners at Colfax Avenue Elementary School in December 1985, yet it wasn't until 1991 that Valley Village got seven new blue reflective markers from the city of Los Angeles to mark its borders.

Historical Notes

For more than 50 years Rathbun's Department Store was key shopping location in the San Fernando Valley. Established before malls, Rathbun's was one of the few high style stores in the Valley. Shopping downtown Los Angeles was an occasion for holidays.

Hall Rathbun started the store on Pico Boulevard (near where the Staples Center is today) in the early 20th century and moved it to North Hollywood around 1914.  In 1972, Rathbuns was sold to Nahas Department Stores, which didn’t last too many years after that.^

Historical Notes

Interesting facts: Amelia Earhart bought her clothes and shoes there. Raquel Welch worked with her mom on the switchboard for a while.^

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