Thursday, September 4, 2008

Ralphs Granada Hills, 1959

I dig this store the most! It sends me. This is none other than the Granada Hills Ralphs, which opened in November 1959 at 17020 Chatsworth Street, at the Balboa Boulevard intersection. This store is a stunning example of the individuality and high-concept architecture that Ralphs applied to its new supermarkets on a regular basis. A Ralphs manager summed up their philosophy for Progressive Grocer at the time – “We try to make each new unit a pilot store in which a good many architectural and merchandising experiments are undertaken - rather than getting a good pattern and cutting the new stores to fit that pattern”.

What a striking sight this store must have been, with its 60-foot tall tower sign out front. If retail store signs today showed such taste and restraint, the world would be a better place, don’t you think? The triple-faced sign featured a rotating quadruple “R” on top and mirrored spheres, long before they were called “disco balls”, suspended below the sign. For those who collect such information, the original cost of the large spheres was $500, the small ones $100. The building itself was an all-pink structure (with a large expanse of glass) with another knockout feature in the store’s peaked roof, which sported a pattern of huge white diamonds against a dark red background, all executed in Arizona natural colored pebbles, described as a “natural rock roof”. Wow. The interior, according to Ralphs’ press release, was “a pale apple green, creamy white and a wonderful shade of soft pink, all accented by the gleam of chrome and stainless steel”.

The store opened with a four-day “International Song-Dance-Food Festival”, featuring 250 folk dancers from 27 nations, the Tinkertown Train, Eddie Cletro and his band, and last but not least, Flippo the Clown. An hour-long live TV broadcast (not an uncommon occurrence for L.A. supermarket openings in those days) went out on the first evening on KHJ-TV. To top it off, there was a preview of the 1960 International Auto Show in the store’s parking lot. Almost enough to make you forget the milk.

In 1965, the store underwent a complete interior remodeling that received a great deal of press attention for its “departmentalized” approach. The peak-roofed structure still exists, though the building has been expanded. Unfortnately, the pebble roof has long since been either been covered over or replaced, the sign long ago relegated to history. It is now home to a Walgreens and a Staples.

13 comments:

  1. Wow. I grew up in Granada Hills and never realized that the building originally looked like that. The pebble roof seems to be unique feature not found anywhere else. This store I know was remodeled in the late 80s or early 90s and the east facade of the building (picture 3) had the windows removed (may have already been removed with a previous remodel). The remodel brought a cape cod style to the building with blueish/grayish wood siding. As Dave mentioned, this store is now a Staples/Walgreens (remodeled, enlarged and changed to a Spanish Mediterranean exterior) and closed in the late 1990s when Ralphs moved to a new building at Chatsworth/ Zelzah. When Ralphs took over Hughes, the existing Hughes on Devonshire/Balboa changed to Ralphs.

    That unique Ralphs sign was long gone by the 80s.

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  2. I'm sure since Staples stores don't have drop ceilings, you can look up into the angled roof and marvel how beautiful that store was back in the 70's.

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  3. 1950's kitsch at its most tasteful.
    Generally kitsch and tasteful don't go together, but here is an exception. The slogan "First in Southern California" could also mean first in store design.

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  4. I dig the awesome sign and that cute little R is great too!

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  5. Big signs like at this Ralphs seemed to be commonplace in Socal. Very visible from the freeways. There was a chain called "The Akron"-a equivalent to Pier 1 or Cost Plus"-that also used large three-sided signs.

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  6. Mchunter - Thanks for the expanded history on the store. I've seen the Windows Live Local current view, and only from the air is the building recognizable per the original. That sign would be worthy of the Las Vegas Sign Museum (basically a bunch of old casino signs sitting in the desert), but most likely it was scrapped.

    Jeff - Ralphs actually used drop ceilings in this one, but it would be cool to see the original structure.

    Ken - I think kitsch and tasteful can go together in certain cases like this! :) And I completely agree with your "First in Socal" opinion.

    Didi- I do too. The most. :)

    Anonymous- I've heard of The Akron. When were they in business?

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  7. WOW, I remember this store and that sign! My grandfather had a dry cleaning business son the south east corner of Chatsworth and Balboa. I don’t remember ever being in the store, we shopped at Food King at Fallbrook and Victory, but that sign was hard to miss!

    I remember Akron too, the was one in Tarzana on Ventura Blvd. right at the Tampa on-ramp, the structure is still there, not sure what it is. My dad bought a used payphone at Akron around 1975 for $20! They tons of them, weird store. I think they were in business until at least the 90's.

    Thanks for the great post!

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  8. Vintage Disneyland Tickets,

    Was your dad's dry cleaning business the Tinkerbill Cleaners?

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  9. Tim - Wow, one of the lucky ones (to have actually seen that fantastic sign)! I need to learn more about The Akron - I'd heard of them, but the payphone thing intrigues me!

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  10. Wow! Great photos...wish I had had these for my book on the history of Granada Hills! I am showing my age, but I remember when this store was new! Thanks for reminding me of what it looked like!

    Jim Hier

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  11. Jim - You're welcome. Sure wish I could have seen this one!

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  12. Are you sure this was not on Devonshire and Balboa? It looks a lot like (shapewise and position in the parking lot- as the current Ralphs on Devonshire and Balboa

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  13. ralphs used to sell the best strawberry frozen yogurt under the Ralphs brand name. It had to be the late 80s early 90s when I was young. They stopped selling it and I wonder why would they stop selling a product made by their own company? It wasn't like they had to battle/spend tons $$$ to some big manufacturing giants or anything!

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