Tag: LAPL

The McKinley Home for Boys: 13840 Riverside Drive, Sherman Oaks, CA.

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Photograph caption dated November 12, 1948 reads, “Exterior view of the new $125,000 gymnasium, given McKinley Home for Boys by the Kiwanis Clubs of Greater Los Angeles, as youngsters pour out after practice. Some of them go to study, others to definite work chores and some to the football field. Jake Kehrer, one of the playground supervisors, is their friend and counsellor [sic] and also a firm coach in the sporting events. If two boys get into an argument that needs settling, they put on gloves and work it out under Marquis of Queensberry rules.”

The Reverend and Mrs. Uriah Gregory established the Industrial Home Society in 1900. Their mission: to look after orphaned, abused and homeless children at their 33-acre estate in Artesia, CA.

Later renamed The McKinley Home For Boys (after President William McKinley who was assassinated in 1901), the institution acquired, around 1920, some 200 acres of land in “Van Nuys” which is now covered by the expanse of the Fashion Square Mall in Sherman Oaks. (see photos above/below credit: LAPL)

From 1920 to 1960, the home operated out of its eclectic architectural barracks and main building, a mixture of Mission and Spanish architecture which housed 150-250 boys at any one time.

Vintage photographs show that the home was a focus point of many well-meaning, civic-minded men and women who funded athletic, work, and farming activities, as well as other character building exercises for children who were given a lousy start in life.

Photograph caption dated July 18, 1960 reads, “Approving transaction from precarious perch on monkey bar, Terry Fox, 13, resident of McKinley Home for Boys, watches as Encino Jaycee, Robert L. Levey, left, presents check to George T. Swartzott, McKinley superintendent. Jaycees raised funds through Concours D’ Elegance benefit. Donation will purchase play equipment for McKinley boys.”
Photograph caption dated October 27, 1955 reads, “McKinley boys draw steady bead during intramural marbles playoff. Intramurals are part of outdoor program which includes summer mountain camping in Wrightwood area of Big Pines. Boys spend three weeks each at camp. Los Angeles Kiwanis Club, which contributes 10 percent of McKinley’s total annual budget, pays full costs of camp. In addition to sports boys receive training in religion of their choice.”
Photograph caption dated October 27, 1955 reads, “James Ryan, left, and Bob Bickel tend poultry they are raising to earn spending money. As part of small animal project, McKinley boys are raising rabbits guinea pigs, calves for marketing. Boys acquire money to purchase animals by performing chores for homeowners and Valley businessmen. Another pocket money source is working at building and grounds maintenance at McKinley. Home officials feel boys learn to value money by running own enterprises.”

Mr. M.H. Whittier, the Kiwanis, and other bankers, oilmen, developers and anyone who wanted public do-gooding on their resume, heartily pitched in labor and dollars to keep the boys happy playing football, raising chickens, instructing swimming, boxing, gymnastics, football; all the activities that might steer them clear of trouble. And into a productive life of work, family, marriage, proper procreation and moral behavior.

Photograph caption dated May 30, 1961 reads, “McKinley Home for Boys honored community leaders and outstanding students at its Awards Banquet, presenting certificates for achievement. Among recipients were Harold McKee, front left, 6903 Rubio Ave., Van Nuys; Mrs. Ben F. Leach, 12156 Blix St., North Hollywood; Mrs. Gerald Hewitt, 13602 Valley Vista Blvd., Sherman Oaks; Nate Miller, 4817 Woodman Ave., Sherman Oaks, and Mrs. Robert Sweeney, 13015 Dickens St., North Hollywood. At rear are George T. Swartzott, superintendent of McKinley Home, 13840 Riverside Dr., Sherman Oaks, with some award-winning boys.”
Photograph caption dated September 10, 1959 reads, “Wedding Party At McKinley — Mr. and Mrs. Roy Widener, married last weekend at McKinley Home for Boys in Sherman Oaks, cut wedding cake with their sons. Boys are, from left, Roy Jr., 11, and Ralph Widener, 13, and Bob Corey, 12. Couple met at McKinley where boys have lived for three years.
Photograph caption dated April 29, 1957 reads “In shade of deodars and oaks at McKinley Home for Boys in Sherman Oaks families meet to discuss fall-out, roentgens, deterioration and other topics familiar to their calling as radiological monitors for civil defense. Meeting was attended mainly by squads from the Valley.”

Alas, the boys and their home were no match for the powerful Ventura Freeway which sliced through their grounds in 1958 and forced the home and its crew-cut youngsters to flee to San Dimas.

Photograph caption dated October 27, 1960 reads, “A scoopful of sidewalk superintendents watch as ground is broken at McKinley Home for Boys in Sherman Oaks to pave way for new 29-are shopping center at the site bounded by Woodman, Hazeltine and Riverside drive. The McKinley home moves to new quarters, now under construction in San Dimas. Digging the first hole for Bullock’s department store are Marty Becker, 8, and Tim Mitchell, 9, who are looking up to Mathew Frost, 10.”
Photograph caption dated June 21, 1961 reads, “There were more important things to do Tuesday than play ball at McKinley Home for Boys in Sherman Oaks. It was moving day. After 40 years, the Valley landmark moved from 13840 Riverside Dr. to the new, sprawling McKinley Home in San Dimas in San Gabriel Valley. But Tom Pearce, 12, and Melvin Conklin, 12, had to give the ball just one more pitch before they packed up and moved on. It’s easy to pack, center photo. You have boxes and things go in boxes. Orderly, of course. But it’s hard to leave the building, last photo, and climb onto the bus. A new home may be fun, but the old home has memories.”
Photograph caption dated August 8, 1960 reads, “Clay Johnson, 26, 16048 Celtic Ave., Granada Hills, alumnus of McKinley Home for Boys, 13840 Riverside Dr., Sherman Oaks, peers through chain-link fence with student Mike Chacon, 9, at Ventura Freeway, a major cause forcing move of home out of Valley early next year. Freeway rolls to within three feet of home. More than 200 alumni paid final respects to 40-year-old home Saturday.”

The Bullocks Company soon came in with its plan for a 29-acre mall and the last photos of the McKinley Home in Van Nuys (Sherman Oaks) show it next to the concrete structure that would soon house a shopping center.

The twin monsters of modern vapidity, the freeway and the shopping mall, would triumph here as they would everywhere else.

Lost in the destruction was a unique community artfully housed in exotic and historic buildings, a verdant expanse of a place where those without loving parents or family might come together under the careful, strict, instructive guidance of teachers, coaches, and philanthropists who were determined to set the boys straight.

60 years later, 100,000 men and women sleep on the sidewalks and live next to the garbage, and defecate in public, in “prosperous” Los Angeles, but once upon a time this city and its elite had a tough-hearted way of taking care of people who nobody else would.

Photograph caption dated July 4, 1961 reads, “The McKinley Home for Boys disappears from its site of 40 years, along Ventura Freeway in Sherman Oaks. More than 80 boys from the home are now in new quarters in San Dimas, paid for by sale of the valuable Valley property to Bullock’s for the newest Valley department store.”

Builders Emporium, Van Nuys, CA, 1950s

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1948: Builder’s Emporium

Item: Valley News, October 30, 1955

With $1,013,430,131 LA building permit valuations recorded for the first nine months of this year, all indications point to 1955 topping any previous year in the history of Los Angeles County construction, according to Ouentin W. Best, chairman of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce Construction Industries Committee.

The January through September figure marks only the fourth time that construction activity in the county has gone over the billion dollar figure in any one year. The Chamber report pointed out that since three months still remain giving the 12-month total for 1955. There can be little doubt that the year will record an all-time high, Houses Gain 14%! Unprecedented construction during the same nine months of last year. A total of 51,067 residential permits have been issued to date in 1955, compared to 47,699 at the three- quarter mark in 1954, A total of 15,522 building permits were issued during the month of September with a valuation of $885,428.934.

[Permits were issued for the construction of 32,008 units in 2016, down 6 percent from 34,034 the year prior] (Source: KPCC)

Population of Los Angeles County in 1955: 5.1 million

Population of Los Angeles County in 2017: 10.2 million (State of CA)

And in Van Nuys, CA, at the corner of Oxnard and Sepulveda, Builders Emporium, established 1948, was doing a booming business.

Not only did it sell building supplies, tools, and machinery; it also seems to have had quite a golf and fishing, sporting goods department.

What follows are mid 1950s publicity photos connected to the store. They were published in the Valley Times Newspaper (LAPL). Their original, great captions cannot be improved upon by satire.

Here they are:

Photograph caption dated April 29, 1955 reads “Motion picture and TV Eyeful Norma Brooks gets close supervision on proper stance to be used when teeing off from attentive golf pro Jim Curtis, preparatory to free four-day clinic of Builders Emporium.” The store is located at 5960 Sepulveda Boulevard in Van Nuys.

 

Builders Emporium, 5960 Sepulveda, Van Nuys, is launching a new sports department and this outdoor group is helping to announce the fact to the public. Left to right, back row, are Sherry Hall, Rea Regal (sic) (Miss Van Nuys) and Kathy Sellers. Merchandising Manager Pete Campbell is on the left while Doye O’Dell, popular TV cowboy star, is examining the rifle on the right.

 

Circa 1957.

October 13, 1955 : “First slice of spectacular 40-foot birthday cake is being served by Victor M. Carter, store president, at ninth anniversary celebration of Builders Emporium, Sepulveda Boulevard and Oxnard street, Van Nuys. Cake was served with ice cream to thousands of visitors who joined in festivities.”

May 29, 1956:  “Pete Campbell escorts Ree Regul, Miss Van Nuys, on tour of enlarged fishing section of sports goods department of Builders Emporium, Van Nuys. Recently expanded fishing section will carry complete line of equipment to satisfy needs of all fishing enthusiasts, according to Campbell.”

April 9, 1955: “‘This bunny is a honey’ say the ‘small-fry’ making their pre-holiday visit with the Builders Emporium Easter Bunny at Sepulveda and Oxnard in Van Nuys. The ‘B. E. Bunny’ passed out thousands of free chocolate rabbits to the youngsters at the giant hardware store.”

August 30, 1955 reads “Claire Weeks, Miss Van Nuys of 1955, learns workings of $239 De Walt Power Shop, which will be awarded Sept. 22 as grand prize in Builders Emporium toy building contest. One hundred additional prizes will be awarded. All toys will be donated to Childrens (sic) Hospital, City of Hope and St. John’s Children’s Hospital. Polk Riley, power tool department manager, demonstrates outfit. Entry blanks are available at Builders Emporium.”

 

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Fighting Smut in Van Nuys, 1959

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When fighting smut, 58 years ago, it was required to first visit the hairdresser, put on a string of pearls, some earrings and dark lipstick, and select a nice dress with a flattering collar. Only then would your observational and judicial powers come alive to fight that moral blight which arrived in a plain brown envelope.

Source: Valley Times/ LAPL.

October 21, 1959 reads, “Officers of Sierra Cahuenga District Junior Clubwomen read reports by postal authorities on mail-order pornography problem in United States and pledge their organization to help fight ruthless racket. From left are Mmes. I. M. Kenoffel, district president; Edwin Flues, president of Van Nuys Alpha Juniors, and Paul H. Parker, district youth committee chairman.”

(Two of the women are incorrectly identified as “Edwin” and “Paul.)

 

Fashionable Life: Van Nuys, 1959.

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LAPL: Valley Times Collection

 

“Photograph caption dated May 24, 1959 reads “Jack Shitlock, manager of Mr. L, Van Nuys new women’s sportswear shop, welcomes Anne Cwerman as fashion coordinator. The shop, keyed for college and career women, is at 6505 Van Nuys Blvd., Van Nuys.”

Tom Cluster’s Van Nuys (1955-1962).

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map
Cluster Home: 6944 Columbus south of Marlin Pl.

A few weeks ago I received a lovely email, and some photos from Tom Cluster, a reader of this blog.

Here is one excerpt:

Dear Andy,

I just discovered your blog about Van Nuys.  I’m entranced by it.  I’m almost 70.  Our family moved to 6944 Columbus Avenue in the summer of 1955.  It was a small tract of new homes.  We moved from Westchester (near LAX).  A lot of people moved from Westchester to the Valley because the airport was expanding and streets were being eaten up.  Our new neighborhood was between Kester, Vose, Sepulveda, and Vanowen.

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Andy Devine (1905-77)
Andy Devine (1905-77)

The local celebrity was Andy Devine, who still lived in his big house on 6947 Kester, down near Basset.  At Halloween he’d hand out small boxes of Sugar Pops.  There was an old swimming pool across the street that he had built years before – the Crystal Plunge – and we’d swim there in the summer. We had smog alerts in those days and if there was a big rain we wouldn’t go to school because Kester St. would flood.

There was a family on Vose who sold eggs from their chickens – the mother and father had survived the Holocaust and had the tattooed numbers on their forearms.

[Then as now] It would get hot and there was no air conditioning, not at Valerio School (which in 1955-1956 was at the corner of Kester and Valerio, consisting entirely of temporary buildings with a dirt playground) and not in our homes.  Still, I have fond memories of Van Nuys.

Valerio St. School June 1956
Valerio St. School June 1956

The area where the Presbyterian Hospital is now was a big empty field full of tumbleweeds – we’d make forts and paths there.  When the hospital was built it was small compared to what it is today.  It was just two circular wings designed by William Leonard Pereira. (1909-1985) of  Pereira and Luckman.

March 18, 1957 reads "Discussing modern innovations of Valley Presbyterian Hospital, nearing completion at 15107 Vanowen St., are Mrs. Barbara Holt, member of hospital's board of directors, and from left, J. H. Wray, Jim Cross and Walter Rueff, members of San Fernando Automobile Dealers Association committee for hospital's fund drive." (LAPL)
March 18, 1957 reads “Discussing modern innovations of Valley Presbyterian Hospital, nearing completion at 15107 Vanowen St., are Mrs. Barbara Holt, member of hospital’s board of directors, and from left, J. H. Wray, Jim Cross and Walter Rueff, members of San Fernando Automobile Dealers Association committee for hospital’s fund drive.” (LAPL)
Valley Presbyterian Hospital, 15107 Vanowen Street, Van Nuys, designed by Pereira & Luckman. Photograph dated January 15, 1964 Ph: Geo. Brich
Valley Presbyterian Hospital, 15107 Vanowen Street, Van Nuys, designed by Pereira & Luckman. Photograph dated January 15, 1964 Ph: Geo. Brich
Photograph caption dated February 20, 1961 reads "Larry Peskin, 17, left, 10038 Noble St., Sepulveda, completes hospital course. Fellow graduate examining syringe is Warren Wilkinson, 17, 9439 Louise Ave., Northridge." The young men completed a 20-hour training course to become volunteers at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys. Ph: Jon Woods
Photograph caption dated February 20, 1961 reads “Larry Peskin, 17, left, 10038 Noble St., Sepulveda, completes hospital course. Fellow graduate examining syringe is Warren Wilkinson, 17, 9439 Louise Ave., Northridge.” The young men completed a 20-hour training course to become volunteers at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys. Ph: Jon Woods
January 5, 1959 reads "Janet Kellenberger, 15, and Jackie Suess, 17, members of Candy Stripers, from left, aid Sea Scouts Bob Wheeler, 17; Steve Bidwell, 16, and Mike Strange, 15, in volunteer cleanup program of Valley Presbyterian Hospital. Sea Scouts, auxiliary of Explorer Scouts of America, and other organizations volunteer work hours for Van Nuys medical center."
January 5, 1959 reads “Janet Kellenberger, 15, and Jackie Suess, 17, members of Candy Stripers, from left, aid Sea Scouts Bob Wheeler, 17; Steve Bidwell, 16, and Mike Strange, 15, in volunteer cleanup program of Valley Presbyterian Hospital. Sea Scouts, auxiliary of Explorer Scouts of America, and other organizations volunteer work hours for Van Nuys medical center.”

(Valley Presbyterian Hospital images courtesy of LAPL)

If you look at a map, you’ll see that Noble, Burnett, and Columbus extend from Basset to Marlin Place – the 6900 block.  The houses from 6900 up to 6932 were built in 1951, the houses beginning at 6932 were built in 1955.  Our houses (6932 and up) were in an old walnut grove, so there was plenty of shade.

I’ve attached a picture out front of our house.  The older end of the street didn’t have walnut trees and it always seemed hot.  What we didn’t understand was that the walnut trees would all soon die because sidewalks and asphalt and lawns aren’t good for them.  At that point our end of the street got hot and the trees that had been planted at the other end of the street grew up and gave it shade.  We moved out in 1962.  The people who bought our house are still there – probably the longest residing family in that block of Columbus.

1955-dec-burningleaves dec55sarahrakingleaves

My beautiful picture
My beautiful picture

If you look at Street View for 6944 Columbus you’ll see that it’s perfectly manicured.  The builder of our little tract was named Arthur Guyer – he built tracts throughout the Valley.  He built 15153 Marlin Place for himself in about 1957.

There was another local celebrity on that street, although he wasn’t famous then.  The Cerf family lived at 6932 Columbus, and Vinton Cerf, the oldest son, was attending Robert Fulton Jr. High.  Vinton is famous as the “father of the Internet”.  He and a buddy invented TCP/IP while at UCLA. The Cerfs left Van Nuys about the same time we did.

I won’t bore you with my memories of all the commercial establishments, but I will mention that Kenny’s Automotive at 14852 Vanowen, near Kester, was there in the 1950’s, just as it is today.  Another hold out from the old days is Lloyd’s Market, at 7219 Kester.  It was called Lloyd’s even back then, and we’d stop there every day when we walked home from Valerio.

More to come…..

 

 

 

1962: Fear Free Junior Colleges May Begin Charging Tuition.

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Valley College, 1962
Valley College, 1962

In 1962, junior colleges like Valley College were as free as high schools. Legally they were prohibited from collecting tuition.

“Pictured is a student walking the campus of Los Angeles Valley College with the photograph edited to show the word “Free?” hovering above. Photograph article dated August 13, 1962 partially reads, “There is increasing talk in school circles over the possibility of charging fees to students attending junior colleges in California…Currently, junior colleges (or two-year colleges) are considered part of the secondary school system and legal authorities have held that they may not charge fees any more than neighborhood elementary schools or high schools may.”

Photo Credit: Jeff Goldwater/ Valley Times Collection/ LAPL