Although we take for granted the large super markets in town, there was a time not so long ago when smaller neighborhood markets were a common sight in Burbank.
Small mom & pop markets seemed to be a staple of the community up through the 1960′s. Because my dad was a salesman for the Geo. A. Hormel Company, (he sold Spam) we tended to shop in a lot of the markets that were his customers. He felt it would help his business if the market owners knew his family shopped there.
One of the first markets I remember was a small store on the northeast corner of Hollywood Way and Magnolia. It was an old brick building next the that famous landmark, the Pumpkin. It, along with the Pumpkin building were torn down for a gas station, which in turn was razed for a building that became Bar’s TV. It’s now a Quizno’s. Just across the street and down a half block was the Vega Market. It was named during World War II after the Lockheed Vega Aircraft Company. It was small by today’s standards, but larger than most market then. I recall seeing the famous wrestler Baron Leone make an appearance there. He was handing out orchids to the ladies.
Because we lived in Magnolia Park, we would often drive just across the border to Weboy’s Market on Victory just past Clybourn. It was owned by the Augustine brothers. I remember they had a big toy rack near the check out stands. If I rounded up carts in the parking lot while my mom shopped, they would let me pick out a toy for free.
When we moved closer to the center of town in the 50′s, we started shopping at Magnuson’s Market on Magnolia near Lomita. It was just a store front, but they seemed to carry a lot of stuff. It was my favorite place to get Milk Duds when I was in junior high. Just across Magnolia, at the corner of Shelton was Joe’s Market. It was more of a shack built onto the front of an old house. Joe, an older Italian gentleman, used to play Italian opera music all the time. The market’s biggest and best feature was a water-filled cooler right in front of the counter where Joe kept ice cold soft drinks in bottles. When you bought one he would dry it off with a towel for you.
If we wanted meat, we headed to The Village Market on Olive near Catalina. Charlie Taormina was the owner and butcher. You would point at the cut of meat in the case, and he would trim and slice it to your specifications, before weighing it and wrapping it in butcher paper. Then he would write the price on it in grease pencil. I recall the time country and western singer Eddie Dean (he wrote the song “Hillbilly Heaven”) was at the butcher counter. Eddie’s deep, rich voice, sort of reverberated off the counter. We used to shop there a lot in the 1960′s.
There were many other markets in town, including Tony’s over at Victory and Burbank, Curti’s on Magnolia at Reese, Johnny’s open air market on Verdugo east of Victory where my aunt and uncle used to shop, and Winstead’s on Burbank at Wyoming. My friend Tony Trotta remembers a market on Mariposa near Chandler. He can’t remember the name, but said they always called it the “Little Green Store,” because the building was painted green.
One market offered a shopping experience like no other in town — Bill’s Ranch Market at Alameda and San Fernando Road. Just going from the parking lot to the market, past all the food vendors and various sellers made it more like going to a carnival than a market. It was special.
As the bigger chain store moved into town, or built new and larger stores, the mom & pop stores couldn’t compete. The Shopping Bag on Glenaoks, the Cracker Barrel and Piggly Wiggly on Alameda, the Food Giant at Alameda and Pass, the Thriftymarts, and the Market Basket on Victory and Chandler, were just too big for the little guys to compete against. By the way, most of those big markets are gone today. Market Basket, where I once worked as a box boy, is now Toys R Us. The Thriftymart at Burbank and Edison is now Smart & Final. The old Cracker Barrel, after being a Von’s, is now the Southern California Automobile Club’s office. If the big stores weren’t competition enough, the advent of the 7-Eleven stores in the 1960′s was the final blow. Those 7-Eleven’s are still around, but they just don’t have the charm and personal quality that we got from the mom & pops.
Those small stores seemed to have everything we needed back then, but as I wander the miles of aisles in the Pavilions store on Alameda, or Von’s on Pass, or the Ralph’s on Buena Vista, overwhelmed by all the items and varieties, I wonder how we kept from starving back then.
Jokes, novelties, magic tricks — they were all really fascinating when I was a kid. There was a store in Magnolia Park back in the 1950’s, the Party Shop on Magnolia Boulevard. It had them all, just about every kind of item you could want and then some.
There was always some item that we just had to buy so we could trick our friends and family. There was Alum Chewing Gum. It was regular gum coated with powdered al um. When chewed, it made your mouth go very dry and your lips and tongue swell up a little. I don’t think they are allowed to sell it today. Then there were the plastic ice cubes with various simulated insects inside. Whoppie Cushions were among my favorites. Up through junior high, my friends and I found the cushion irresistible.
Joy Buzzers, however, were really special. At 25 cents, one was exactly the same as my weekly allowance. It was just a little metal wind-up device, not much bigger than the diameter of a quarter. It had a ring that slipped on your finger so you cold hide the device in the palm of your hand. When it came in contact with someone, it vibrated. Being a 10 year-old kid, I didn’t exactly have many opportunities to shake peoples’ hands. So I found other more ingenious ways to use it. Put under a pillow on the bed, or under the sheets, it would give any unsuspecting person a jolt. My parents must have gotten tired of my tricks, but they never let on. Instead my mom stuck the thing under the sheet in my bed one night. I jumped a couple of feet in the air when it went off. Oh the fond memories of the Joy Buzzer.
There is a darker side to my Joy Buzzer story, however. When I was in the 5 th grade at Henry M. Mingay Elementary School, I brought the buzzer to school. I wasn’t even using it on anyone. I just had it in my hand, making it buzz as I walked across the playground. Unfortunately, I passed within 50 feet of Miss Lee. She was a first-year teacher. Not much taller than the students — but obviously a mean lady. She called me over and demanded I turn over my Joy Buzzer. She said I could have it back at the end of the school year.
Several months passed by before that day in June when school finally ended. As soon as I was dismissed at 3 o’clock, I went straight to Miss Lee’s room to reclaim my confiscated property. I can still see it in my mind. She opened her desk drawer –crammed full with ill-gotten toys confiscated from other innocent students. She rummaged around for a few seconds before announcing that she couldn’t find my Joy Buzzer. How can you lose a Joy Buzzer? It was obvious to me that she had kept it for herself.
A half-century has gone by, but I haven’t forgotten. I’m still mad at Miss Lee. To this day, I think about how she “stole” my Joy Buzzer. Now that I’m a teacher, I haven’t let the lesson I learned that day escape me. I don’t like confiscating stuff from students. If I do take something away, like an annoying toy, or cell phone, or CD player — relatively harmless objects that they shouldn’t have at school — I give it back to them at the end of the class period. I never want to be like that mean old Miss Lee.
I bet she’s probably sitting at home right now, close to 80 years-old, consumed with guilt all these years — still playing with MY Joy Buzzer.
The Magnolia Theater building today.
The Magnolia, down on Magnolia Blvd. near the border with North Hollywood, was popular with us in the1970′s. . By then, the California had turned into a church. The 1971 Sylmar Earthquake had wrecked the Loma. The Magnolia has been a recording studio since 1979.
Burbank’s two drive-in theaters were always popular. The San-Val, located at San Fernando Road and Winona, opened in 1938. The Pickwick on Alameda opened in 1949. It was a great place for families to go and watch movies, but we teenagers were it’s most loyal customers. Although it was popular in the summer, we’d even go in the winter. Most of the time when we were on a date, it didn’t really matter what movie was playing. The Pickwick charged per person, so sneaking friends in was popular. At the recent memorial service for Sunday Henig, one of her friends from the Burroughs High class of 1972, told about Sunday filling the trunk of her big yellow Buick with her friends, then driving into the Pickwick where they would all emerge to watch the movie. The San-Val was replaced by industrial buildings, and the Pickwick is now the Pavilion’s shopping center. Those were the days.
For more information about the old movie theaters in Burbank and other communities, check out Cinema Treasures on the internet. It has a wealth of information.