Burbank Time Capsule Revisited
ORGINIAL POST
An unidentified lady crosses the Olive Street bridge in 1959 in a picture found in the Burbank time capsule.
Burbank — A city that time hasn't forgotten
By Tony Castro, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/05/2009 09:08:58 PM PST
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If anyone can appreciate the photographs developed from film that was tucked away 50 years ago in a time capsule and unearthed in Burbank last month, it is Mary Jane Strickland, founder of the city's Historical Society.
Strickland, 84, whose family settled in Burbank in 1913 and whose father, George Cole, was the city's first police chief, said the town she grew up in is no longer the same.
"The biggest difference has to be that half the buildings I grew up with are gone," she said. "They've either been redeveloped or torn down.
"The city just changed."
For example, she said, the local single-screen movie theater was later replaced by an AMC megaplex, while big malls displaced mom-and-pop businesses. And when the Magnolia Bridge was built, she said, it dramatically changed the city.
"When they built the overpass, it cut the city in half," she recalled. "It closed off a lot of the streets you used to get across town, and it made getting across town harder."
Strickland, who worked for the city as a librarian and later in community relations, said that was why she remembered with mixed feelings the time when the capsule was enclosed in concrete at the bridge.
Last month, city officials carved out the tiny silver film canister.
Cheryl Case walks across the Olive Street bridge in Burbank on Thursday, March 5, 2009, in a scene much like that in a 1959 photo found in a time capsule unearthed last month. (Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer)
Deputy City Manager Joy Forbes said the capsule containing 35 mm film was taken directly to the Warner Bros. Studio, where technicians processed the shots of various buildings, schools and what was then the new city golf course.
"We didn't want to take the chance of opening it ourselves," Forbes said.
Strickland said she hopes to eventually get copies of the photographs and the time capsule itself for the Burbank Historical Society.
"The time capsule is an important part of the city's history," she said. "Understanding the past is important in understanding the present and the future."
A Burbank street scene from 1959 was captured in this time capsule recently unearthed in the city.
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Unveiling a historical tribute
This recently unveiled plaque on the Cusumano Civic Plaza commemorates the site of Burbank's first city hall.
By DAVID LAURELL
Published: Last Updated Tuesday, March 3, 2009 10:08 PM PST
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Members of the Burbank Heritage Commission joined city officials and representatives of the Cusumano Real Estate Group this past week to unveil a bronze plaque that memorializes the site of Burbank’s first City Hall.
Located on the northeast corner of what today is the Cusumano Civic Plaza on Olive Avenue and Third Street, the plaque commemorates the site of Burbank’s first governmental administrative building that housed the offices of the City Council and city manager, as well as the city’s police and fire departments.
Built in 1916, city business was conducted on this site until 1943 when the current City Hall building was built directly across the street. In 1959, Burbank’s first City Hall was demolished and replaced by the police headquarters that stood on the site until 1999 when the city’s safety services moved to their current facility a block north on Third Street.
"I would like to thank the Heritage Commission for keeping our city’s history alive," said Mayor Dave Golonski who went on to laud the educational value of the plaque.
From left, Burbank Senior Planner Michael Forbes with Assistant Planner Amanda Klotzsche and Burbank Historical Society President Carey Briggs at Monday's ceremony.
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