What does Downey have?

"Paris has the Eiffel Tower. New York has the Empire State Building. What does Downey have? The world's oldest McDonald's!" So says Charles Phoenix (below in the hat), American humorist, historian, and author of Addicted to Americana. Phoenix and Chris Nichols (above), columnist at LA Magazine, were on hand to celebrate the 65th birthday of our unique Speedee and McDonald's in August (while DDP was on vacation).

Closed and nearly gone at one time, the building is restored and operational now, and even has a drive-through lane to help it stay competitive with the newer McDonald's down the street.

Happy belated birthday McDonald's!

The Downey Depot Transportation Center

Across the parking lot from the brick walls lies the Downey Depot Transportation Center. I've posted a close-up of this mural before (Not just any tiled wall), but I wanted to show you the entire building this time.

The center was built at the site of the old Downey train station. (There was an unsuccessful effort at the time to save the old station as a historical building.) You can see a picture of the old station here.

Double-parked

The first building of what eventually became Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church was built in 1909 on "a triangular lot bounded on the east by Crawford Street [now Downey Avenue], on the south by Fifth Street, and on the west by New Street." Back then, they probably didn't worry much about parking space, at least for cars.

More than 100 years later, they are still located on that same small triangular lot. And even though there is a dedicated parking lot a block away, the few parking spots right next to the church must be a constant temptation for those arriving late. So remember—no double parking!

A look at the past

One of the things I love about Europe is the history we just don't find in our little town of Downey. In Downey, our historical buildings are from the turn of the century—early 1900s or the Dismukes house, which was built in 1887.

We are ending our trip to France in a town called Annecy. The Chateau d'Annecy dates back to the 12th century—that is the High Middle Ages and predates Downey by over 600 years.

"I don’t believe in accidents. There are only encounters in history." 
~ Pablo Picasso

Narrow streets

Two-thirds of DDP is on the road again, visiting the South of France. (So please forgive us our occasional internet-related delays.) Today's picture is of a narrow, winding street in the old-town section of Clermont-Ferrand.

Reading about the history of this town reminds me yet again of how young my city is. In Downey, "historic" is something from the 19th century. Clermont-Ferrand, on the other hand, is one of the oldest cities in France, being mentioned in Greek and Roman times over 2,000 years ago.

Of course, the downside to all of this history and quaintness is a lack of space and modern conveniences.

Orange Estates oranges

Orange Estates still has remnants of the orange trees that once covered much of Downey.

KCET  wrote an interesting article that tells the tale of Downey: From Orange Groves to the Apollo Space Program.

Sometimes I forget how long people have lived in the Downey area. It was in the late 1800s that John G. Downey realized the great potential of the citrus industry in southern California. He imported a number of different varieties of oranges into his settlement, and by the 1880s there were many acres of orange groves in the areas adjacent to Downey.

Fun fact: An orange tree can grow to reach 30 feet and live for over a hundred years.

Memories

My wife and I often walk down this portion of 5th Street between Downey Ave and Brookshire. These two apartment buildings bring back memories of days when "Close to You" and "Only Just Begun" were hits on my AM radio.



The musical group, The Carpenters, were "the biggest selling group of the 70's." You can read more of their bio here. The Downey Library also has a permanent display of the Carpenters' music on display in the library's foyer.

What memories of the Carpenters do you have?

The Golden Arches

Yellow is the color of the arches that have been the McDonald's iconic image for nearly 65 years. With the world's oldest still-operating McDonald's in Downey, we have a unique draw for tourists interested in the historic restaurants.

I grew up visiting one of the Downey McDonald's once a week—on Friday night. All of us kids looked forward to a hamburger, fries, and a coke. It was a happy moment and a real treat!

"In the world of safe hues, like black, red and white, yellow shouts: "Look at me. I'm happy!" 
~  Joy Sewing

From chamber to flowers

While killing time waiting for my car to be washed a couple of weeks ago, I wandered by this relatively new florist shop next to the main post office. When I noticed the name of the business, A Unique Florist, I decided to go in and find out just what is unique about this shop.

Inside, I met proprietor Terri Head. Although her shop is new to this location, Terri has been doing business as a florist in Downey for many years. When her previous landlord decided to go a different direction with the building she was leasing, she found herself unexpectedly required to move by April 1, in the middle of one of her busiest times of the year.

But the move has gone well, and she's enjoying her new location near downtown Downey. One unique thing about her business is the history of her new building—it was the original Downey Chamber of Commerce building, as shown in Larry Latimer's book Downey (Images of America) and also in the Downey Conservancy photo on the counter.

Los Angeles State Historic Park

We have often talked about how conveniently located downtown Los Angeles is from Downey.  And I am always looking for another view of the LA skyline. This Saturday we had an easy 20-minute drive to downtown LA where we enjoyed walking around the 32-acre Los Angeles State Historic Park directly adjacent to Chinatown.

Not only is it a beautiful setting with a variety of different trees and plantings, it has incorporated some of the history of the area.

The Zanja Madre—"Mother Ditch"—is the original aqueduct that brought water to the Pueblo de Los Angeles from the Río Porciuncula. The original open, earthen ditch was completed by community laborers within a month of founding the pueblo.

Vintage aircraft and diners

Ruby's Diner, at the Promenade, is built on the site of the old Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation. Their decor, with its models and posters of vintage aircraft, pays tribute to the site's aeronautical heritage.

Hospital history

Going to the hospital is never fun, but one benefit of going to PIH in Downey is the opportunity to view the historical pictures of Downey that line the halls. I think this picture of the original Downey Community Hospital, located on 5th Street, is especially interesting, since it is both the predecessor of PIH and the hospital where I was born.

Another loss for Downey's history

I wrote yesterday about the Rives Mansion, which hopefully will be restored to its full potential. Another historic building, the Harriman House on the Rancho Los Amigos South Campus, won't be so lucky, since it was mostly destroyed by fire last night.

The building was erected in 1915 as the residence for the superintendent of the County Poor Farm. The first residents were William Harriman and his family, who lived here until his resignation in 1952. The 5,000 square foot house was designed in the Craftman style.

Cleaning up

We've written a lot about the Rives Mansion. It's a beautiful old house, built in 1911, that is on the National Register of Historic Places. The mansion has fallen on tough times lately.

Last month, the fence around the mansion's back area collapsed under all the overgrown vegetation. The collapse exposed overgrown weeds and lots of trash, as well as evidence that people were illegally living in the garage and water tower. The city of Downey went to court and got the OK to clean up the property. This picture shows the back area, with most of the debris cleaned up.

In the past, the mansion has been a private residence, a potential museum, and a potential steakhouse and wine garden, among other things. If money were no obstacle, what would you do with the mansion?

With a side of history

At Dubost Ranch in the Paso Robles area, we talked to Kate, one of the owners. She shared almost as much about the history of the Dubost Ranch as she shared about the wine that they produce. It was fun to talk with someone who enjoys and values her town's history as much as we enjoy learning about Downey.

The ranch in Adelaida has been in the Dubost family since 1882, when Auguste and Pauline Dubost, who had immigrated from France, settled here to open a general store to cater to the gold and silver miners. They also ran the post office and a dance hall. This 1880s spring wagon (right) was originally used by Auguste and Pauline to make the two-day trek over the hill to Cayucos to meet the clipper ships for supplies and mail for Adelaida. Their daughter-in-law Alexandrine later rode the wagon in the Pioneer Day Parade.

Alexandrine ran the general store and was the postmistress until 1936. Alexandrine's son Raymond farmed the ranch for over 90 years. (Raymond's son Curt is Kate's husband.) An intriguing follow-up to Alexandrine's story occurred in just the last year. (Forgive me, Kate, if I haven't got the details straight.) A woman in London bought a pile of old postcards at a flea market. The message on one of them was in French, and the last name of the addressee was Dubost. This woman used the internet to track down the Dubosts in California and contacted them. It turned out that the postcard, written in 1912, was from Alexandrine to family members that were still in France. (The lady sent the postcard to the present-day Dubosts.)

Only just begun

The Downey Patriot recently published an account by Downey resident Kathy Perez of a Carpenters tour she took. The tour covered numerous Downey locations that were a part of the Carpenters' lives, such as their family home, their school, and their church. The story reminded me that not too long ago, I spotted this electrical box that is decorated to commemorate Karen and Richard Carpenter and their spot in Downey's history.

Humans of Downey - George

"I've been working on the Downey Rose Parade Float for over 42 years. About 15 years ago we did a float called 'Fast Food Revelation.' It was kind of a replica of the original McDonald's restaurant on Florence Avenue and it happened to win the Founder's Trophy. I'm kind of happy about that one because I had a lot to do with that one. I was the guy that was in charge of decoration that year. I and a team of six other people made sure the decoration got done in time. Luckily, we didn't have any glitches in the decorations that year.

"Another year, we were doing a transformer design that had the float morph into another formation. We did this by having the left and right halves of the float fold open to reveal another design inside. But the two halves were part of the new design. The inside of the two halves had some heavy canvas that had to be covered with some living stuff that would move with the canvas. We couldn't find anything that worked well enough. It just didn't look right.

"In the city of Downey, I fight for historical preservation. I like to see old buildings, old houses restored and respected. I feel that if those walls could talk they would have great stories to tell us. I think it is a real tragedy that people don't see that in older buildings. I was the phone call that got the city to stop the owner of the Harvey's/Johnie's Broiler from illegally demolishing the building. It is now the Bob's Big Boy Broiler. My dad told me stories about Harvey's Broiler. He said the line used to be around the block to get into the parking lot. It was a carhop service. There were traffic cops on Firestone to direct the traffic going through. He said that at one time they even put a 15-minute time limit on parking in the lot to get food. So, if you think about all the people, all the lives, all the stories that have gone through those doors, it would be a travesty to tear it down. There have been voices, discussions inside. If those walls could tell you those discussions, those stories, we'd be a lot better off."
~ George

The El Teatro theater - now and then

Another hidden historical treasure in downtown Downey is the building that originally housed the El Teatro theater. If you grew up in Downey, you most likely remember the Avenue Theater. And maybe you remember the Meralta. But it's unlikely that you remember the El Teatro, built around 1915.

The theater showed silent movies starring the likes of Charlie Chaplin and Norma Talmadge (of the Talmadge Sisters). Old-timers report that Mary Pickford once performed here, and that Roy Rogers performed a benefit show here.

Around the far left corner of the picture below (courtesy of The Downey Conservancy), there would have been another archway leading into the ticketing area. You can see, in the picture to the right, where this archway has been enclosed and plastered over—and is now cracking away.

Under the surface

One of the things that George Redfox talked about on Saturday's downtown Downey historical walking tour was that, in so many cases, Downey's history is buried just under the surface, usually under a layer of stucco or drywall.

In this case, the Simply Elegante Designer Fashions shop has recently gone out of business. Tearing down the store's signage has revealed another layer of Downey's history—perhaps not as far back as George Redfox envisioned, but at least back as far as the '70s and '80s and the heyday of the waterbed!

Discovering downtown Downey

Today George Redfox of the Downey Conservancy led a walking tour of downtown Downey. What a treat.

As we passed by one of the old shops that now houses Palardy and Miller Auto Paint Supply, one of the workers saw our tour group (of almost 20 people) and invited us to come into the shop and see what the rest of the original building looked like.

The old skylight and windows looked like there was chicken wire inside them, and all of them were still intact—the original windows from the 1920s. I loved the painted original brick wall that was an adjoining wall for the next business.



All in all, it was a fun 2-hour walk around our city. I learned a few tidbits I had never heard before—like did you know we had an underground speakeasy int he 1930s? It is supposedly hidden underground, possibly under the Masonic Temple? Someone must know...