My mother Roma Gibson was born in 1935 and grew up in the Pico-Robertson area on Los Angeles’ Westside. This is one of her stories. The Man with the Monocle Roma lived with her mother in a rented house at 8854 Alcott St., in a fairly quiet, residential neighborhood just a few blocks south of […]
My mother Roma Gibson was born in 1935 and grew up in the Pico-Robertson area on Los Angeles’ Westside. This is one of her stories. Roma lived on Alcott Street, a fairly quiet, residential neighborhood just a few blocks south of Robertson Boulevard. At the end of the street, as was quite typical in those […]
Right on the La Crescenta/La Cañada border is a part of La Cañada that seems to belong more to La Crescenta. It was especially confusing as a kid, having classmates who lived in La Cañada, but attended Glendale schools. The stretch of La Cañada from just west of the YMCA to the border at Briggs […]
“I’m bored!” That’s what a lot of kids say these days. It seems as though they’re not entertained unless they have a video game controller in their hands. Years ago, we were never bored. We didn’t have the time. We were busy working on hobbies, taking music lessons, or just being outside riding bikes and […]
In the 60s and 70s, we typically shopped in Montrose and La Crescenta. Once in a while, however, we’d make a trip downtown to the big city – Glendale. Heading south towards downtown, we’d pass landmarks like the “Keyhole” swimming pool, Pikes Verdugo Oaks and the International House of Pancakes. Near the IHOP was a […]
Growing up just south of Montrose, Saturday usually meant getting together with friends and heading north to spend the afternoon in the Montrose Shopping Park. Heading north on Verdugo Road we’d first pass by a lot full of shiny new Mercedes and Volvo automobiles. Do you remember Colonial Imports auto sales? Next we’d stop to […]
Statistics indicate that most new restaurants fail within two years. While restaurants come and go, years back there were quite a few local eateries that seemed like they’d been here forever and would never go out of business. What do you remember about these former restaurants? If you wanted barbecued chicken and ribs and great […]
With its many restaurants, salons, boutique shops and small-town charm, Montrose Shopping Park has become a popular shopping destination for many in southern California. It wasn’t so long ago, however, that Montrose was the shopping destination for nearby residents, offering most anything they might need within a couple of blocks. While a handful of businesses […]
It wasn’t so long ago that the Marketplace Shopping Center at the corner of Foothill Boulevard and Rosemont Avenue was host to a very different set of retail establishments than what exist today. There was no Verizon Store, no Starbucks, no Baja Fresh, and no Togo’s. The corner where O’Reilly Auto Parts and Foster’s Donuts […]
Kids these days complain that there’s nowhere to go and nothing to do here in the Crescenta Valley and, unfortunately, for the most part they’re right. Short of organized sports, hanging out at Starbucks, going to the movies or taking a trip down to the Glendale Galleria, there really isn’t much for kids to do […]