the newsletter of the Willmore city heritage association APR 2018

WCHA april MeetingWCHA april MeetingWCHA april Meeting

PLACE: PLACE: PLACE: Drake ParkDrake ParkDrake Park DATE:DATE:DATE: April 18April 18April 18 TIME: TIME: TIME: 7:00 p.m.7:00 p.m.7:00 p.m.———8:30 p.m.8:30 p.m.8:30 p.m.

We are thrilled to welcome this years Long

Beach Heritage honoree for Excellence in Ar-

chitecture and Urban Innovation Award, Stu-

dio One Eleven. Michael Bohn AIA and Alan

Pullman AIA’s firm is “an integrated practice of architecture, urbanism, and landscape de-

sign dedicated to creating vibrant communi-

ties.”

All are welcome at our general meetings—

please come and enjoy our community.

Those Were the DaysThose Were the DaysThose Were the Days By Jill BlackBy Jill BlackBy Jill Black

Every time I stop at Kress Market for my Avoca-

do/Turkey sandwich it brings back memories of what Pine Avenue and Kress Five and Dime store

used to be back in the 40’s , 50’s and 60’s. Pine

Avenue was the place to go. We all dressed up

when we went downtown in those days. My mom

usually wore gloves and a hat. The stores and side-walks were packed, especially at Christmas. That

was before we had huge shopping malls. I remem-

ber Hof's Hut (it was just below Buffum's Dept.

Store), Phillips Chicken Pie Shop, and Andy's Pan-

cakes. We also had Woolworth (Gold’s Gym is there

now) and Newberry’s dime stores. Thrifty and Rex-all Drug had lunch counters along with Kress and

Baking continued on page 2

The Willmore Baking CompanyThe Willmore Baking CompanyThe Willmore Baking Company Can there ever be enough delicious pastry in the

world?! With the support of 1st District Council-

woman Lena Gonzalez, WCHA will create the Will-

more Baking Company. It will cater to our under-

served, and diverse community of youth, women

and men who might like to learn useful life skills or explore undeveloped talents, whether for actual bak-

ing, or to acquire business acumen. WCHA mem-

ber, Alan Giomi was a professional baker for 49

years, both at his family bakery, and as manager of

a large commercial bakery. He is looking towards

being an asset to our community in retirement, see-ing the universal love of food as a wonderful means

of civic engagement. Alan, and his wife Sheila, did a

pilot program at a local homeless services organiza-

tion, Beacon For Him, with a number of successes –

people off the streets and either back home with their family, or gainfully employed. Jill continued on page 3

2 2

This project would vastly improve the quality of life

of many in our community, giving them opportunity

in a familiar and comfortable environment. Attract-ing other talented people who have a passion for

baking, as well as a desire to be of service, we fore-

see the Willmore Baking Company following along

the lines of other successes such as Homeboy In-

dustries, 5000 Pies, and MHA Village Cookie

Shoppe. Initially, we would use the commercial kitchen at

Cesar Chavez Park, offering free and contract clas-

ses. The delicious pastries would then be sold to

various partnering organizations and businesses.

Over the long term, it might be possible to have an actual “restaurant” setting, integrating the cooking

Baking continued from page 1 with training for wait staff and cashiers It would

also be a great way of teaching dining and social eti-

quette to both young folk and adults. We see Tea Parties in our future!

We want to create a permanent job training pro-

gram for our youth and others who need employable

skills, giving them a tangible feeling of accomplish-

ment. Our current economic climate, especially in

Downtown Long Beach supports entrepreneurial talents and businesses, and is the perfect spot for

this venture.

We are thrilled that Alan and Sheila have come up

with this wonderful idea, that will be so accessible

to our community and nearby schools. Stay tuned for more information, and how YOU can help with

this new venture.

3

Long Beach Then and NowLong Beach Then and NowLong Beach Then and Now

If you don’t know this page, you should! It has

some wonderful photos of old and sort-of current

Long Beach. I especially love this one. Do you

think that all that beautiful detail is still hidden be-

hind the new façade?!

TOP: A new Security First National Bank near

Fourth St. and Chery Ave. in Long Beach, Calif.

in the 1920s. On September 1, 1868, Isaias Hell-

man and Francisco Temple formed the banking

house of Hellman, Temple & Co., a small bank

in Los Angeles that would become Security First National Bank. In 1967, Security First National

Bank bought Pacific National Bank and became

Security Pacific National Bank.

BOTTOM:

The Gay and Lesbian Center of Greater Long

Beach, also known as The Center, on August 26, 2009. In 1985 The Center purchased the 7500

square-foot building.The building was renovated

and opened in 1986 as One in Long Beach. In

1997, One in Long Beach became the Gay and

Lesbian Center of Greater Long Beach.

This entry was posted in Then and Now on October

5, 2009.

Jamie Danno Photography credit

Photo credit: http://longbeachseen.com/ Jeff Gritchen

Woolworth's. The clothing stores that I remember

were The Wonder Shop, Genes, House of 9 and Ler-

ner's, the shoe stores were C.H. Baker and Leeds. We had a Western Union, Sav-On Drug, and Farm-

ers & Merchants Bank. The department stores were

Walker's and Buffum's. My mom had her one and

only charge account at Buffums. They didn't issue

Jill continued from page 1

Jill continued on page 4

High School Graduation

Sometime in 1954, while still in high school, I de-

cided to get a real job, not just babysitting, so I ap-

plied at Kress Five and Dime store. I was so excited to be hired. Kress was very large back then with a

basement. There were no fast food restaurants so

we all went to downtown Pine Avenue to apply.

When I worked at Kress I wore whatever school

clothes were in style at the time. At school we had

to wear skirts or dresses with hems below the knee and always bobby socks. Never jeans!!

My job assignment with Kress was selling oil cloth,

dishes, fish, parakeets, and canaries. I was too shy

to tell them I am terrified of birds so I just prayed no

one would make me go into that big walk-in para-keet cage to catch one. One lady came by every day

to hear the canaries sing. They were in separate

cages right behind my cash register. One day she

thought she had found the perfect singer. Of course

when I opened the cage out flew the bird. Eventual-

ly it was caught but I bet that bird never sang an-other note again!

Photo credit: Geoff Hagins

cards, she would just tell the cashier to put it on

her charge account. Morey's Music Store on 4th

and Pine was where we all hung out. You could go into a small booth and listen to the record of your

choice. We also had a theater just above Ocean on

the east side of Pine. It was called The Palace.

My mom worked in the top story of the Security

Building on 1st and Pine for the stock exchange for

24 yrs. When she had a coffee or lunch break it was usually at Woolworth or Rexall Drug. My

mother liked Woolworth’s soda fountain best. She

loved Woolworth's hot dogs and coffee. One of my

favorite memories was walking with my mother, af-

ter she got off work, to the small post office in the Jergens Trust Building. The reason that it is a fa-

vorite memory is because we always took the tunnel

under Ocean Blvd. to get there, then we could exit

on Pine Ave. There were many cute shops in the

tunnel, along with glass cases for local artists to

show off their creations. I remember the beautiful shiny floors and woodwork.

There was a law that you could not wear a bathing

suit on Pine Avenue. We used to swim at The

Plunge but always packed our bathing suits to

change when we got there, so we didn't get arrested. I never heard of them enforcing that law, but also

never saw anyone in their bathing suit either.

Jill continued from page 3

Jill continued on page 6 4

Calendar of events

Thunder Thursday PLACE: The Pike Outets

DATE: April 12

TIME: 6:30 p.m. Free-to-the-public festival that annually kicks

off the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach race

weekend with Verizon IndyCar Series pit stop

competitions, Tony Carbajal’s stunt motorcy-

cles, and freestyle motocross demonstrations.

Live music from The StrayTones and Hearts Like Lions, a vintage car show, and Beer Gar-

den round out the evening.

https://gplb.com/thunder-thursday-pike-

outlets-set-april-12/

Taste of Downtown PLACE: East Village

DATE: April 25-26

TIME: 6:00 p.m—10 p.m. Taste of Downtown showcases Downtown’s

culinary culture, where restaurants through-

out DTLB come to a single place to offer pa-

trons sample-sized portions of some of their

best dishes.

www.downtownlongbeach.org

Willmore City walking tour PLACE: Willmore City Historic District

DATE: April 28

TIME: 9:30 a.m.—12:00 p.m.

Willmore City was the first residential devel-

opment in Long Beach. Meeting at the Victo-rian Queen Anne Bembridge House, this tour

is designed as an introduction to a cross-

section of early 20th century residential archi-

tecture. The largest collection of early 1900’s

homes in Long Beach are found in the area.

www.lbheritage.org

LB Symphony Family concert PLACE: Terrace Theater DATE: April 29

TIME: 3:00 p.m.— 5:00 p.m.

The Long Beach Symphony’s Family Concert

at the Terrace Theater is entitled We Can Be

Heroes and ALL children are free! It includes

a Musical Playground before and after the performance. Sing along to Moana, Frozen,

Coco, Disney and Marvel music, as well as

Star Wars! Free activities Crafts, Dancing,

Parachute Play, and the Instrument Petting

Zoo. http://longbeachsymphony.org/concerts-

events/long-beach-symphony-family-

concert/

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6

I stayed with Kress all through high school work-

ing summer break and Christmas, singing Christ-

mas carols with good friends while walking around the store on our breaks. It was a fun place to work.

I still have my instruction booklet along with some

of my pay envelopes. I made $21.20 gross for the

week of December 1954.

I’m happy to see Pine Avenue coming back to life

again, but it will never be the same as it was back in 1954 when I was singing Christmas carols and

chasing canaries.

Jill continued from page 4

7

Willmore City Heritage Association

board members Kathleen Irvine, President &

Newsletter Editor (818) 470-0005 kathleen@willmorecity.org

Jenny Sersion, Vice President (310) 710-8456

jennyphoto@verizon.net

Hulean Tyler, Treasurer (562) 755-4640

huleantyler@yahoo.com Patty Lund, Secretary (323) 243-5863

puttyland@mac.com

Jim Danno, Outreach (818) 266 7110

jim@willmorecity.org

B Terhune Beebe (Terry) (323) 605-3126

terrybeebe@verizon.net Isaac Salgado (562) 972-9778

rugitcleaning@gmail.com

Ph. (562) 659-9455

Visit us at our website and on Facebook: www.willmorecity.org

www.facebook.com/pages/Willmore-City

-Heritage-Association

Willmore City Heritage Association Membership

Yearly membership/sponsorships due in JUNE.

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