Beautiful Downtown Burbank

Found this postcard pic on Wes Clark/Mike McDaniel's wonderful Burbankia website. One of my first jobs a loooong time ago was at Burcal during Christmas break in the 60's!

Remembering downtown of yore

By Richard Tafilaw
Published: Last Updated Tuesday, March 30, 2010 10:00 PM PDT
source

Would you believe there once was an empty lot where, only a few decades ago, a traveling circus would arrive, set up a genuine “big top” and proceed to joyfully entertain Burbank residents young and old for a couple of weeks each year? Welcome to Beautiful Downtown Burbank, 1975.

The ultra-modern Golden Mall, one of our town’s great commercial failures, began where Macy’s now meets Cypress Avenue.

Mall organizers took six blocks of San Fernando Boulevard, blocked off automobile traffic and tried to make the old shopping district a user-friendly shopping experience with trees, fountains, grassy areas, benches and, of course, a wide variety of stores. It sort of succeeded for a while, but then that 800-pound gorilla — the Glendale Galleria — opened up. A noble effort, nonetheless.

Let’s reminisce a bit. Right across from today’s California Pizza Kitchen on Cypress was the Burbank Surplus & Western Wear store, where yours truly once picked up a pair of Levi’s bell-bottom patch pocket jeans, and I mean to tell you I looked “hotter than Georgia asphalt” in them!

Where the AMC Theatre in the Town Center mall now sits was a Goodyear Tire Center, and up by Magnolia Boulevard, in place of the Pomodoro Restaurant, my entire life savings safely rested inside the trusted vaults of Gibraltar Savings & Loan, sometimes as much as $400.

Directly across Magnolia was a favorite stop for many an anxious child with a complicit parent in tow — the Thrifty Drug Store with its low-cost scoops of delicious ice cream, and right next door, the shop now occupied by Urban Outfitters was the ever-fascinating J.J. Newberry’s — sort of a hybrid mixture of a five-and-dime store and a department store.

Across the way sat the venerable J.C. Penney’s building with, I’m not making this up, folks, a genuine elevator inside. Just in front where traffic flows freely today was a children’s playground and a convenient men’s and women’s washroom. How very thoughtful — today’s urban planners, please take note!

Continuing on south, you’d pass a Hallmark Shop and Kessler Jewelers. No, wait! Time out on the field! Kessler Jewelers? Is this 1975 or 2010? Yikes, it’s both — they’re still here today! Congratulations, guys, you get a longevity award.

Meanwhile, what’s that up ahead? Two delightful water fountains adjacent to the very popular Burcal Store at Palm Avenue! Burcal? I wonder how they came up with that catchy name. Kitty corner was a Sav-On drug store, and just west of that in the space now occupied by the AMC Theatre complex was the old Elks Lodge.

Farther south we encounter a Pep Boys and a Singer Sewing Center on our right and a classic Woolworth’s at the next corner on our left, now taken up by a Mairinello School of Beauty.

In the middle of Orange Grove, set back toward the east side of the mall, was a hexagonal public pavilion of sorts that was used for special occasions such as “Come Meet the Easter Bunny,” art exhibits, karate exhibitions, and I clearly remember seeing an Irish clog-dancing show there long before Riverdance came along.

Reaching Olive Avenue, in the spot today filled by the Universal City Studios Credit Union was a Wells Fargo Bank with a small Gas Company office next door, where I would pop in once a month and pay my bill in cash. Remember cash?

Across San Fernando Boulevard where the Tnn Mobile outlet now is was a variety store, but the real draw for me was stepping into a building some sources contend to be the oldest continually operated commercial building in the city. OK, maybe it’s not the Bradbury Building, but it’s all we’ve got.

I know I’ve missed more than a couple of favorite stops with friendly names like Al’s Bootery, Mamselles Shoes, Ed’s For Men & Young Men and Doty Lee’s, but cut me some slack — it was long ago and far away.

Unlike Pasadena’s Colorado and Glendale’s Brand boulevards, Burbank never opted to widen its main business thoroughfare, and it remains today a rather sleepy area during the day, but with the popularity of the AMC Theatre it does seem to do a respectable business in the evening and on weekends.

I do wonder what it will all be like in another 35 years, but I’ll be long gone then, and you’ll have to write that one.

RICHARD J. TAFILAW is a Burbank resident, small-business owner and freelance writer. He can be reached at tafilaw@hyjacks.net.

Florida Fishing

In four days, I'm moving from sunny California to sunny Florida and thought I'd share a few pics from the Panama City pier today of my daughter, Linda, her husband Ernie and granddaughter Lauren...


Linda reeling in her king






Ernie in blue with friend Gary who's holding Lauren







In Facebook, Linda wrote, "Ernie & Gary caught 2 fish from a wad of 4 or 5 and I caught a King today. Mike Clark caught a 48 to take all 3 spots in the Sunjammers Watersports tournament."
Website: http://www.sunjammers.com/

Burbankers Remember

Burbankers Remember
Edited by Wes Clark

An old TV show began, "There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them." If this is the case for New York City, there must be over 90,000 stories for Burbank!

The idea of this page is to capture some of the memories, lore and interesting tales about life lived in Burbank. The criterion for inclusion is that the tales be specially about life in Burbank - there are other forums for the San Fernando Valley and elsewhere. And, after all, the web site is named "Burbankia", right? I'm looking for things like using old Lockheed linen for dresses, or Burbank's Breathing Bush, or Love From Above... stuff like that.

To submit your Burbank stories contact me!

Wes

What Will Aging Rock Stars Sing?

Enjoy the humor of Tim Hawkins. Thanks Pam for the link!


source

MORE TIM HAWKINS HUMOR

Night Flight to Saigon to Save a Dog's Life by Don Ray

Received the following post from Don Ray (BHS '67). Click HERE visit his blog - thanks Don!


Gunship on runway in Vietnam

It was one of the most touching moments in my tour in Vietnam. I made the journey in late 1968 -- probably in October. I was with the 212th M.P. Company at a small detachment at the Soc Trang Army Airfield.

Countless times in my 30+ years as a reporter, producer, author and teacher, I've looked into the eyes of people I was interviewing and realized that they weren't there with me -- they had taken a mental journey into the past. They were somewhere else. I eventually learned to remain as silent as possible so that they could stay in that place -- any questions would quickly bring them back to the present.

Ten years ago I attended a memorial presentation at the unveiling of a statue honoring the bravery and dedication of the thousands of dogs what served our country in combat. I remember how, during the ceremony, I found myself in one of those trances -- I was in another place, in another time ....

The strange thing is that I wasn't with my dog Fritz, I was with a 105-pound German shepherd named Samson. I was back on a gunship in the middle of the night sky on our way from Dong Tam to Saigon. I was trying to take Samson to the veterinary hospital at Tan Son Nhut Airfield so a real veterinarian might keep him alive. Samson was suffering from encephalitis -- he was burning with fever and having trouble breathing through the muzzle. I had tied his paws together to keep him from trying to stand up.

Samson's handler was on R&R somewhere and had no idea that his best friend was fighting for his life. All I could think of was my own dog in a similar situation. How far would someone else go to save my dog Fritz? I was determined to get Samson to a place where someone could help him.

It had all begun a few hours earlier when someone discovered Samson nearly passed out in his kennel. Only a day or two earlier I had been "volunteered" to be the acting-vet tech at our little 12-dog detachment in Soc Trang, south of the Mekong Delta. The nearest veterinarian was in Can Tho. On the phone, he told us to get the temperature down (we put him in a bathtub-sized dip tank with ice water) and rush him to Saigon. A local dust-off (Med Evac) pilot agreed to take us as far as he could -- to the airfield at Dong Tam. It was after midnight, when he dropped us off and flew away. Even though I had neither the orders nor the authority to request a helicopter for the dog, I still insisted that the CQ runner (enlisted guy on duty) awaken the officer-of-the-day. I don't know how I did it, but I convinced the major in charge to authorize a Huey helicopter gunship to take us the rest of the way.

The pilot and copilot were not happy about the run. They were reluctant to help me load the stretcher into the copter. Of course, there were no side doors and no way to tie the stretcher down. I sat on the floor and held onto the back of the pilot's seat as we took off on a most frightening ride. As they'd bank to the right or the left, the stretcher would slide toward the open door. It took all my strength to keep the stretcher and myself from falling out.

There was nobody manning the M-60 machine guns at either of the open doors. But we were traveling fast enough and high enough that the bright red tracers rising from some ground fire was of little concern to the pilot and copilot.

We eventually landed at Tan Son Nhut Air Base at an evac hospital for people. Two Vietnamese ambulance drivers were afraid to load the dog into their 3/4-ton ambulance. Eventually, I convinced them that the dog was tied down, they finally helped me and then drove us to the triage area.

Two more Vietnamese workers opened the rear door of the ambulance and were equally shocked to see that the patient was a dog. One of them helped me carry the stretcher to one of the empty racks in what seemed like an ocean of occupied stretchers. Soon about 15-20 medical personnel were crowded around us pointing, laughing, and talking.

It was about that time Samson completely stopped breathing! All I could think of was doing that leg-lift-chest-push artificial respiration I had read about somewhere. But his front paws were tied together with gauze. I couldn't get them untied. All I could think about was Samson's handler coming home from R&R to find his dog was dead.

Everyone around me were just spectators -- amused spectators! By this time I was crying.

"Would someone please help me? Please?"

It was then that an angel -- a nurse -- yelled, "Get the %@*% out of my way!" and shoved her way through the crowd.

"What can I do?" she asked. I told her I couldn't untie the gauze. She reached in a pocket a pulled out some scissors and freed Samson's front legs.

She quickly caught on and started lifting his right leg while I pushed on his rib cage. Within two minutes he started breathing again. At almost that moment, some veterinarian technicians from the veterinary hospital arrived in a jeep, and I helped them load Samson into it. It happened so quickly that I never had a chance to thank that beautiful angel. She had vanished.

By sunrise it was clear Samson was going to survive. I knew I could face Samson's handler.

Decades later, on February 21, 2000, I sat listening to the poignant comments at the War Dogs Memorial dedication at March Air Force Base. I looked at all of the guys around me and I could feel the love each one had for his dog, and the lengths to which they would have gone to save their dogs' life or save the life of any other handler's dog.

After all, I'm convinced every dog handler who attended the ceremony was able to be there because of his dog -- and maybe because of the dogs of his fellow handlers. And I wondered how many lives Samson went on to save when he went back to work. And I wonder what ever became of that beautiful nurse.

If she only knew the importance of her work that night.

If you ever encounter a former Army nurse who says she served in Vietnam, please ask her if she remembers saving that dog's life.

--
Posted By Don Ray to Don Ray's Friends and Hideaways at 4/24/2010 08:39:00 AM


Fritz

May 2 - Family Fun Night

Received this email from Carol Hill Olmstead (BHS '61) today:

To keep my friends is my delight
So every chance I will invite
YOU...
to each event we host nearby!

The next opportunity is now!
COME TO A SPECIAL FAMILY FUN NIGHT
It's for ages 3 to 103

Play with words. Play with money.
Play with puzzles. Meet other families
Play with each other. See how you measure up,
Join a 2 Headed Snake Dance.

Prizes, soda pop, cheese pizza and ice cream dessert provided
SUNDAY MAY 2, 2010
5:30-7:30PM
ROUND TABLE PIZZA
In the Landmark Center
Corner light at
Victory and Buena Vista, Burbank, California

Please ask if you have questions.
Tell me you're coming:
Carol Hill Olmstead (Burbank High class of 1961): 408 828-2403
carol.h.olmstead@juno.com

Delta Theta Chi Sorority - California Rho Chapter
It's a non-collegiate, educational, nonprofit sorority, open to new members: ladies ages 18-108 who have similar interests.
Dues $60 annually. Membership not necessary for most events.
http://www.deltathetachi.org/

Larry Maxam Park Dedication, 17 April 2010

Robin and Linda Maxam, Receive Flag Honoring their Brother, MOH Receipient. Photo by John Boylan (more pics)

Wes Clark also has a wonderful presentation of the day's events. CLICK HERE to see.

Just received this email and photos from Cathy Nicholls Coyle ('67) - thanks Cathy!

Last Saturday, John & I attended the wonderful heartfelt Ceremony the City put on for the Dedication of the new Larry L. Maxam Park (formerly Pacific Park.)


When we first approached the tent area we were given Dedication Programs and commemorative coins:



There were many dignitaries there to recognize Larry's valor and sacrifice for his country including: R. Lee Ermey; Calif State Senator Carol Liu; Congressman Adam Schiff; the Burbank Councilmembers and some top ranking officials from the United States Marine Corps.


Samatha Morales, from John Muir Middle School, read her winning essay on "What the Medal of Honor means" and the First Battalian, Division 4 presented their "Battalion Motivation Logo" with Larry Maxam's profile:



Larry's Marine Photo and Citation were presented:


There was a stirring military 21 gun salute:


Two flags were folded in a time honored military tradition to be handed out to Larry's brother, Robin, and sister, Linda:




Larry's Viet Nam Marine Corps Company & Mickey DePalo, MC, posed behind the Memorial for photos:


Other attendees were:

Mike McDaniel ('74); & Dona Foy Bruckner talking to Linda Maxam ('68):


Linda Mustion ('67), signing the Guest Book:


Don Baldesaroni ('67) and his wife, Sue:


Mike Ranshaw ('66) also signing the guest book:


Scott Bruckner; Greg Alaimo & Bruce Keswick (all '66):


Joan ('67) & Freddy Ortega ('65) & their son, Michael:


John ('65) & I and Pam & Jon Kirkwood (both '64):


and George Colvin ('65), who wanted his photo taken with R. Lee Ermey:


I also saw Al Thouette at the Dedication. He told me that he and Gil Uribe ('66) were there the day Larry Maxam said that he was leaving school and joining the Marines. Here's a photo from the 2008 JBHS/BHS Alumni Picnic: Al Thouette '67, Jim Knight '66 and Gil Uribe '66.


As we were leaving John was given a special treat from Patricia Walmisley, Burbank Veterans Commemorative Committee, who shook his hand and thanked him for his service to his country.


All in all, it was a beautiful ceremony and a great tribute to Larry's bravery and sacrifice to his country.

I knew Larry Maxam when we both attended John Muir Jr. High. It was 1963 and I was in 8th grade and he was in 9th. He would often walk me and my sister home from school. We attended the local dances and I would often dance with him. We weren't boyfrend and girlfriend; after all, I was only 13. But I remember that he had a great sense of humor, that he was very handsome, and always a gentleman . Since he enlisted into the Marines when he was in the 11th grade, I didn't see much of him. But I do remember seeing him in the hallways and saying "Hi." I know there are very many of his classmates and alumni from Burbank High School that have stories to tell about what kind of friend and person he was. Some of those friends were at the Dedication. I feel blessed that I was able to spend a brief time in my life with such a valiant and brave soul. Rest in Peace Larry. You truly deserve a special place in our City and in our hearts.
Cathy Nicholls Coyle

4/20/10 UPDATE:
CLICK HERE to see Linda Mustion's post which has more great photos!

5/18/10 UPDATE:
Thanks to Wes Clark & Mike McDaniel, HERE IS THE TRANSCRIPT of Lt. Col. John B. Lang's Remarks for the Maxam Park Dedication, 17 April 2010.

And HERE are Mike McDaniel's photos of the day's events - thanks Mike!