The Old Neighborhood

I live on San Jose Ave. in Burbank, an area of the city that saw a lot of development in the 1940s.  My garden apartment, for instance, was built in 1947.

A few blocks down from my place are lots of small shops on Glenoaks Blvd.  Most occupy original buildings from that boom era.

While many houses and apartments have been demolished to make room for condos in recent years, it's great to see the mom-and-pop storefronts surviving.

Today on my daily walk I took along my camera to investigate 501 Glenoaks after spying this May 26, 1940 news clipping. Amazingly enough, I also found an undated photo of this exact building on the select photographs page on the Burbank Historical Society website.

Photo courtesy of the Burbank Historical Society.

While the neighborhood looks a lot different today, the building has retained much of it's original art deco flavor.  The once open-air market in now enclosed and divided into three storefronts that are currently occupied by a jeweler, a camera shop and H & R Block.

An awning covers the original sign-supporting border, once painted dual tone and now all black. 

A shoe repair and keysmith currently occupies the corner on the alley where Suzy's Home Bakery once filled the neighborhood with warm, sweet smells.  Suzy's neon sign may be long gone, but it's power source outlet is still there.

The retail space at the corner of San Jose and Glenoaks, the home of Andy's Finest Furniture for the past decade or so, is now empty.

Comments

[Harry Martin]

I love this kinda stuff -- especially architecture "then and now" -- very good spotting the old Art Deco influences. I do the same here in the downtown area of Escondido.