Nostalgia (Burbank, Vista, Culver City: centers, money, area)

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by Daisies in her footsteps

What about Devonshire Downs??? Does anyone remember that place?

Do I ever. This is the concert I attended back in '69.

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by Daisies in her footsteps

Okay, I was actually talking about a different theatre/club. It was actually on Sherman Way, east of Reseda Blvd. This is the one I used to go to.

That looks like an old pylon Safeway market. I wonder if it was, back in the day?

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Fontucky

That looks like an old pylon Safeway market. I wonder if it was, back in the day?

It was Sav-ON. You can see the "ON" in teh photo. I would buy candy bars for eight cents there then go into the Reseda Theater...this is around 1970.

[jdavid93225]

Originally Posted by Daisies in her footsteps

What about Devonshire Downs??? Does anyone remember that place? They had concerts in the 70's there, but I remember it for the Halloween haunted houses that scared the **** out of me when I was young!

I remember going there for the San Fernando Valley Fair once in the late 80s (I think it was 1987). Asleep at the Wheel was performing the night I went. I believe that fair was held at Hansen Dam starting the following year.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by theatregal

Wow.... Thank you so much for this post! My husband and I have about everything they did....
Not sure where this shot was taken.... Newport/Balboa?

Looks very much like Newport Harbor to me with Lido Island (my former home) to their starboard.

[breeze823]

Originally Posted by Charles

It was Sav-ON. You can see the "ON" in teh photo. I would buy candy bars for eight cents there then go into the Reseda Theater...this is around 1970.

very cool photo!

["Bronco Mike"]

Originally Posted by majoun

The West LA store was called Pronto, the Pasadena store was called Trader Joe's.

There's a big display in the West LA Trader Joe's about the history of TJ's. The Pronto stores were originally intended to be convenience stores, as apparently 7/11 didn't have a big CA presence until the mid '60s. (I'm too young to remember when they actually established a big presence, as there have been 7/11s as long as I remember). Once 7/11 got big Trader Joe's converted its Pronto stores into Trader Joe's stores. (I know the West LA store wasn't the only Pronto although it was the first - I think the Sherman Oaks TJ's may have begun as a Pronto.)

I DO remember when the Pronto store became a Trader Joe's, and, at that time, it was the only TJ's on the Westside.

I grew up in West LA, and I used to go to the Pronto's(now Trader Joe's) on National and Westwood Blvd, with my mom pretty often. I remember when it was Pronto's, they used to rate their orange juice everyday, on a scale from 1 to 10. There also used to be an Akron store on the corner of National and Sepulveda. Akron, if I remember correctly, was kind of like a Pier 1 Store, with a lot of items for your home. There used to be quite a few Akron stores here in Southern California, but I think they were all gone by the early to mid 80's.

[Charles]

[quote="Bronco Mike";8831159]There also used to be an Akron store on the corner of National and Sepulveda. Akron, if I remember correctly, was kind of like a Pier 1 Store, with a lot of items for your home. There used to be quite a few Akron stores here in Southern California, but I think they were all gone by the early to mid 80's.[/quote]

[youtube]4kE63Bznp5A[/youtube]
[URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kE63Bznp5A&hd=1"]YouTube - The Akron Store-1981[/url]

["Bronco Mike"]

Originally Posted by Daisies in her footsteps

I thought I was the only person alive to remember this place!!! I moved to Northridge in 1978 and have so many fond, but also fuzzy!, memories of those days. My sister and I used to go the the Northridge Waterslides with our neighbors. I remember my mom didn't like us going because she thought it was too dangerous. Which it probably was! I doubt there was much thought given to safety or to the mass of germs which polluted the water!!!!

Other things I remember are Gemco in Granada Hills, Skateland (still there!) on Parthenia and Lindley, The New Breed-it was a store in the Northridge Mall that sold iron-on shirts, Vans shoe stores, Bullocks and The Broadway, Don Ricardo's Mexican restaurant in the Northridge mall, along with Fiddler's Three and some German restaurant where the food court is now. Alpha Beta was our local grocery store. The 118 freeway ended at Balboa! Farrell's of course. The Winnetka drive-in theatre. Actually SMOKING cigarettes inside the theatre at the NR mall way in the back row! Jordache and Sergio Valente jeans.

I love the posts about sky-writing. I totally remember that! What the heck happened to all those fun and innocent times?? Oh, and we went to Dodger games like crazy! My mom loved Steve Sax! It is so fun to watch Mike Soscia coach the Angels now.

I moved to the Valley in 1988, and worked for Coast Federal Bank for 10 years, in one of their corporate offices. First, we were in Granada Hills on the corner of Chatsworth and Zelzah, on the property where the Treasury used to be. I don't remember the Treasury, since I think they were only in the Valley, and not the Westside, where I grew up, and by the time I moved to the Valley in 1988, they were long gone. I remember going to the UA Theatres across the street, in the TJ Maxx shopping mall, with my friends, and occasionally a co-worker, many times after work. Our corporate office moved from Granada Hills to the corner of Roscoe and Fallbrook in West Hills in 1995, and then we were bought by Home Saviings about 2 1/2 years later, who were bought out right after that by Washington Mutual, and of course, WaMu was just bought out by Chase. I used to reminisce about places in West LA from my childhood, that are no longer around. But, I now find that there're a lot of places that I used to like going to in the Valley, in the late 80's, the 90's, and even from earlier this decade that are now gone, and that I have very fond memories of.

["Bronco Mike"]

Originally Posted by Charles

YouTube - The Akron Store-1981

That was pretty cool Charles. Thanks for that link.