A Walk Through Montrose in 1929 – Part 7

Let’s continue our time travel adventure. We’ve gone back to 1929 and we’re walking west down Honolulu Avenue. In our last episode, we saw several small markets in the 2200 block of Honolulu. We even peeked inside the Safeway Market (where Mayhall’s Sewing and Vacuum Center are today) to get a feel for how shopping worked in 1929.

We take a few steps west and on our right is the Montrose Chamber of Commerce office (now the site of Cracking Crab seafood restaurant). The small office is busy as business in Montrose is booming with lots of new stores coming in.

Next to that is a lumber company to supply wood for the many new homes being built locally. (That site is now The Strand Salon, Drawn 2 Art and The Light Committee photography studio – but not the same building.) The smell of fresh lumber is in the air. We pass by the storefront of the lumber company where hardware and nails can be bought and come to a vacant lot on its west side (where Sake Sushi Bar is today). We can see open bays in back where the lumber is stacked. A green Ford Model A pickup truck chugs into the vacant lot from Honolulu and pulls up to several other old pickup trucks parked there. Men in overalls are busy loading lumber into the trucks. It looks like a lot of redwood siding. While there we notice there’s another lumber company just around the corner, also doing a brisk business.

We pause at the vacant lot and look across the street to the north side of Honolulu. There’s a business we recognize from the present, Thompson Bros. Cleaners (the building at 2275 Honolulu is now Wild Acai juice bar and Pedal Spin, and the current location of Thompson Bros. Cleaners is behind Black Cow restaurant). They must have a steam plant as we can see wisps of steam rising from vents in the roof. Suddenly there’s a loud whistle and a puff of steam. They have a steam whistle on the roof! We note the time, 12 noon, and remember that Thompson Bros. Cleaners had a steam whistle that went off at noon every day.

We continue walking west and come to a large brick building (now Pepe’s Mexican restaurant and Montrose Town Kitchen and Grill). This is Evans Garage according to the sign out front. We can see inside the building there are cars being worked on by mechanics. It also looks like part of the building is a new car dealership selling Hudson Essex cars.

Continuing along Honolulu approaching Ocean View Boulevard, we come on the most amazing building! It’s tall – two-stories – and cream colored. A high arched entryway extends up the full front of the building. Mission tiles are visible on the roof. Decorative ironwork frames a double door and above the door are the words Crescenta Cañada National Bank. This building is absolutely spectacular! (Today this is Starbuck’s Coffee.)

We enter through the front doors to find that the lobby is open to the ceiling of the second story, creating a cavernous lobby for the bank. The floor is polished concrete with decorative tiles imbedded. We look up to the ceiling and see big wooden beams above. The beams are dark wood with decorative painting on them. Tall expansive windows on both sides of the room pour in natural light.

To our right, on the west side of the lobby, are the tellers behind dark wood counters. A man in a suit approaches, introduces himself as the manager and welcomes us to this bank, which he says has just opened this year. He says he feels fortunate to open in such a prosperous and growing community. He’s obviously hoping we’ll open an account, so we make excuses and head back outside. (This spectacular building still exists as Starbuck’s, but the tall arched entryway and side windows have been framed in. The cavernous lobby is interrupted by a drop ceiling that hides the decorative beams above. A plywood façade hides the front of the building.)