Nostalgia (Los Angeles, Riverside, Glendale: store, garden, bars)

[barbtoo]

The place across from Alta Dena Dairy was called Valley Gardens and I used to go there to watch hockey games, until a fight broke out and I refused to go there again! We played in the empty lot before Super Fair was built until one of my friends started sinking into the mud and we couldn't get her out and had to run for "grown up" help to get her out....our parent's then refused to let us go there to play. Leons was a favorite place for our parents who used to end up in the bar with the piano player. And Sunday mornings we ate at another restaurant kitty corner from Leons called "Tommy's". I think that's an Enterprise rental Car Agency now. The thing I'm having a hard time remembering is that I recall a Bob's Big Boy on Lankershim in No. Hollywood that we used to go to after school sometimes. I'm thinking it burned down, but not sure. Does anyone remember this????

[barbtoo]

Originally Posted by onlyonejudy

I remember the money canisters and the creaking wood floors, egg salad sandwiches at the lunch counter, the candy counter.................

I remember the drive in movies exactly as you do....a shame the kids now will never experience that! I also remember those money canisters at J.C. Pennys!

[barbtoo]

Originally Posted by wehotex

here is a link to old Los Angeles area telephone prefixes:

Telephone Prefix Locations

I remember go cart racing on Vanowen in No. Hollywood and a place called Circle T Raceway where we raced little remote cars on tracks. That was so much fun...I also remember all us neighborhood kids playing hide & go seek, red rover, kickball etc in the streets of our neighborhoods until it was too dark to see...those were the days!

[barbtoo]

Originally Posted by Gidget

Oh, I love the picture of the KMET bumper sticker. "A little bit of heaven,
94.7, KMET Weedledee..." Ace Young, Paraquat Kelly. KLOS held a memorial the day KMET abruptly went off the air. Can't remember the station that replace KMET...KLOS referred to it as a "rinse and spit" station. When I was really little the big rock stations were KFWB and KRLA.

The old phone number prefixes...instead of saying 846-1898 my parents would say TH6-1898 or Thornwall6-1898. I think Glendale was "Citrus" and Canoga Park was "Diamond." Hollywood might have actually been "Hollywood" with "HO" for short.

And the Santa Claus who lived for years on a store rooftop in Carpenteria along the 101? He now resides incongruously in Oxnard along the freeway. Weird.

Which reminds me of Santa's Village near Arrowhead.

and North Hollywood was Poplar or PO3-1491

[barbtoo]

Originally Posted by theatregal

Yes, that sounds like the place. It was owned by the same people that owned "Tony's" in Burbank on Burbank Blvd (near where it meets Victory). I tried to take my kids' there in 1998, but it was gone. I still compare every sub I have to those... they were great.
I remember that you always ordered a half sandwhich there, because they just cut off the hard ends of the french bread... so you really got more than a half.

Wow...Engineer Bill.... I remember drinking my milk while I watched him (some kind of a game). Remember Popeye...the host, sailor something..., he always drew a picture from a "squiggle". Do you remember Sheriff John?

LOL... I had forgotten The Bear Pit..... I loved going there when I was a kid!

the milk game was red light/green light as I recall

[jdavid93225]

Originally Posted by barbtoo

I remember go cart racing on Vanowen in No. Hollywood and a place called Circle T Raceway where we raced little remote cars on tracks. That was so much fun...I also remember all us neighborhood kids playing hide & go seek, red rover, kickball etc in the streets of our neighborhoods until it was too dark to see...those were the days!

Circle T was on Vanowen, about a block west of Vineland, wasn't it? I remember going there once or twice, but I didn't have any slot cars to race there. I was more into model railroads at the time.

[onlyonejudy]

My son still has some slot cars - I used to love going to the places with the big tracks - are there any still around?

[barbtoo]

the last one I saw was a 3 or 4 years ago at the Burbank Mall. I think it was downstairs by the big sporting goods store. Don't remember the name of it tho sorry!

[jalopy43]

Yes! Slot car tracks were cool. There was a resurgance,a few years back, but never did catch on with the 'kids", just 'boomers" remembering thier past, now with more money. Remember when a pocketfull of coins,was all you needed for a great Saturday morning? Those days,in the Valley,were captured on many TV series. My favories are 'Adam 12",and 'Emergency". If you watch close, you can read the street signs,and gas prices!! (42.9) a gallon!!! The last song played on KMET,was 'It's only rock,and roll, by the 'Stones....

[William Peterson]

Originally Posted by JustPassinThru

"Does anyone remember Jungleland in Thousand Oaks? I grew up in Ventura County (born in the 40's), and our parents would take us to Jungleland fairly often. We loved that "theme" park. It had great wild animal exhibits and fantastic shows. Lions were always my favorite. It was large enough to entertain anyone, yet not so large that you couldn't see everything in just one afternoon."
I remember that whenever it rained heavily the park flooded and they were hard pressed to get the animals out of their cages to safety.

How about this one? Ralph Helfer's Africa USA? Was located in the mountains near Fillmore. Ralph promoted his training method as "affection training". While in jr college nearby I applied for a job as a lion trainer there. That's when I learned that the affection part came into play after you got the animal's attention. Decided against going through with it, but it may have been a missed opportunity (Vegas?).

Yes used to live in Thousand Oaks. Graduate of Cal Lutheran there. Jungleland imported wild animals from all over the world, big supplier to zoo's.