DePauk – Here in Van Nuys

DePauk Family Photographs in Van Nuys: 1940s and 50s

September 17, 2014September 17, 2014Posted in HistoryTagged DePauk, history, Photography, Van Nuys and the Valley9 Comments

I had published some of these a few years ago, photographs sent to me by Philip DePauk, a one-time resident of Van Nuys who now lives in Virginia. His family owned a photo studio on Gilmore near Van Nuys Boulevard and his father and uncle also worked for a Ford dealership located here.

These images are both stunning and sad, sad for the lost way of life that once existed here, a gentle place where orange groves and endless vistas promised opportunities and happiness in a state where agriculture, industry and education were all advanced and the envy of the world.

Modern people often dismiss the past by citing the prejudices of that era. Women who could not work. Gays who could not marry. Japanese rounded up during WWII. Blacks and Hispanics who were relegated to ghettos, kept out of the workplace, discriminated against in every sense of the word. These were all bad aspects of law and custom thankfully banished.

Yet our landscape, moral and cultural, is degraded worse today. This I believe.

This is our present.

Photo Credits: Malingering

Living as we do now, in a completely tolerant California, are we not victimized, all of us, by the crude violence, the grossness of language, the vulgarity of dress, the assault of trashy behavior, that demeans all of us? We live in a Van Nuys that shames us. Some of us react by renaming our neighborhoods Lake Balboa, Sherman Oaks, Valley Glen. Others just flee by moving away, abandoning Van Nuys Boulevard, crawling deeper into our digital drugs, withdrawing from human interaction which is often uncivilized and often barbaric.

One small example….

On my street, I often see cars parked in the shade. When the drivers move on, what’s left behind are fast food wrappers, cans, and bottles in the gutter. And at LA Fitness, going to my morning workout, I see a parking lot littered with junk food from last night’s fitness members. At the alley next to SavOn, people urinate in broad daylight. Prostitutes walk the street. And these are just examples of our less violent behavior.

Where is our respect for ourselves and for each other?

Serbers Foods. Hatteras and VNB. This building stood until 2014.

In the DePauk Family, typical of that time period, there is a certain modesty to behavior. There is no “attitude” just hard working, well groomed people who conduct themselves with some decorum.

And for the generation whose lives were tempered and toughened by the Great Depression and World War Two, a flooding street was a good photo, not a moment for an emotional breakdown and an online fit of anger.

The one negative photo in this set, in my mind, is the widening of Victory Boulevard (1954) and the cutting down of trees that once lined the street. For this act of civic “improvement” spelled the end of civilized Van Nuys, making the hot streets hotter, the speeding cars faster, the abandonment of walkable and neighborhood oriented life lost to the automobile.

The DePauk Family in Van Nuys.

December 26, 2012December 26, 2012Posted in History, Van Nuys and the ValleyTagged 1940s, 1950s, CA, cars, DePauk, history, Photos, San Fernando Valley, VanNuys4 Comments

Phil DePauk, who now lives in Virginia, has been a follower of this blog for a few years
and he graciously sent me some new (old) photos from his family archives. He is the young boy in these photos.

Phil DePauk and his extended family lived in Van Nuys in the 1940s and 50s and operated a well-known local photo studio located at Gilmore and Van Nuys Bl. It closed in the early 1960s.

One of the other addresses that pops up is: 14204 Haynes St. a block located just west of Hazeltine. Phil either lived or spent time here.

A recent Google Maps view shows that the neighborhood is still single-family residential, but now many of the once plain and friendly houses are sheathed in ironwork and other embellishments of modern paranoia.

There are many cars in these photos. Phil’s father worked at Wray Brothers Ford which was located near the intersection of Calvert and VNB, two blocks n. of Oxnard.

I wrote to Phil this morning to clarify some family facts and here are his words:

“My Dad worked as a mechanic at Wray Brothers Ford from 1948 to 1958.

After Ford, my Dad worked at Pacific Tire and Battery Co. on Sylvan St. across from the old library.

My Uncle Ed (now age 83, sharp as a tack and living in Canoga Park) started working at California Bank (Sylvan and VN Blvd) after his discharge from the Army.

He subsequently worked at numerous other banks before retiring as a Vice President. My Uncle Dan was the manager of the McMahans used furniture store before his transfer to Marysville. My Uncle Bill started his own photo studio in North Hollywood. My Uncle Ed lives in Canoga Park and always enjoys reliving memories and making new friends if you have an interest.”

Vintage Van Nuys

December 30, 2010December 30, 2010Posted in Van Nuys and the ValleyTagged DePauk, Historical, photographs, Van Nuys and the Valley32 Comments

Phillip DePauk lived in Van Nuys in the 1950s. His grandfather owned a photography studio located at Gilmore and Van Nuys Blvd. These photos come from his archives and he kindly consented to allow me to publish them.

164894_1733154536620_1471232698_31737392_3755560_n — Widening of Victory Blvd.

In Mr. DePauk’s images, one can see some of the rapid changes that came to Van Nuys in the late 1950s and early 60s: demolition of old houses on the site of the Valley Governmental Center, the widening of Victory Blvd.

CHS-32894 — USC Digital Library: Van Nuys, CA circa 1945

Before WWII, Van Nuys had been a small town surrounded by orange and walnut groves. One could literally walk from Van Nuys Bl. over to Hazeltine’s agricultural area. After the war, the Valley and California exploded in population. Every square acre of land was developed for housing, shopping malls, freeways, and factories.

We often think of the 1950s as a halcyon era of perfect families and happy times.

DePauk 1 4 52 — Flooding in Van Nuys 1/4/1952

167065_1738431988553_1471232698_31753362_1995055_n — 1948. Grandfather's home at 14248 Sylvan St. Van Nuys.

164594_1733131736050_1471232698_31737366_1077152_n — 1/4/1952: Van Nuys Bl.

164387_1733135816152_1471232698_31737371_6818990_n — 1/4/1952: Near Van Nuys Grammar School/Tyrone & Gilmore Sts.

But the seeds of California’s destruction were born in the 1950s. The car was king so roads were widened and pedestrians marginalized. Vast shopping centers destroyed local shopping and emptied out Van Nuys Blvd. Historic old houses were razed and replaced with faceless office towers and parking lots. Citrus groves were obliterated and local agriculture disappeared from the San Fernando Valley.

And conservatives welcomed vast migrations of undocumented workers to California as a source of cheap labor.

And liberals championed an ethnic centered curriculum to teach children that American history mattered less than group think identity. And that ethnic empathy for some triumphed over lawful behavior for all.

And conservatives said that government was evil. The same government which might have enforced the law.

And liberals said that government could do everything. Robbing individuals of the consequences of their own actions.

And Californians went to the polls to ignorantly legislate by ballot those issues that were already decided by lobbyists spending millions on TV advertising.

And today we live in the midst of what we have wrought.

No place in Van Nuys looks as good today as it did in 1950 and Mr. DePauk’s photos, even of flood ravaged streets, somehow seem more civilized than a sunny day on Vanowen and Kester in 2010.

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