Happy 5th of July!

I hope that everyone has had a great Independence Day weekend so far! There’s still a bit of it left – definitely time for another grocery store run. One of the great things about summer is being able to wear shorts nearly everywhere you go, just like these ladies hangin’ out at an L.A. area Market Basket store in the above photo, which was taken for a 1956 Saturday Evening Post article.

Wait – they’re in Southern California, where people dress like this all year long!

Today is this website’s second anniversary. Thanks to my friends, old and new, for your loyal readership and your very kind and informative comments and emails!

Two years in, I’m thinking of ways to improve the site. From those who keep up with Pleasant Family Shopping on a regular basis, I would love to know the answer to two questions: 1.) Why? and 2.) What would make it more worthwhile? If you think about it and have time to send me a quick email (my address is in the “profile” section at the upper right of the page), that would be great. Thanks so much!

Dave

I want to thank all of those who commented or who sent me an email response to this post. I think I've responded to everyone personally by now (please let me know if I haven't!). I deeply appreciate the great suggestions, the very kind and generous feedback and the affirmation of what I've attempted to do here. The strong sense I get is that most readers are happy with the direction and content of the site, and would like it to continue as it has. For sure, there are some improvements I would like to make in the site's appearance and some additional content I want to add that hopefully I will be able to get to over time. Your readership and responses are what makes this all worth it. I hope to continue, Lord willing, until there aren't any old store chains left!

Safeway's Windmill?

This photo (from 1963, location unknown) is intriguing to me for a couple of reasons – first, because it shows the “March of Progress” – a classic 50’s Safeway about to realize its destiny as a parking lot for the brand-new, gleaming Safeway/Super S store seen under construction in the background. On the new store, the plastic insert for the round, red “S” logo isn’t even installed yet!

Secondly, because of the famous Van de Kamp’s windmill sign on the pylon of the older store. Out of the many vintage Safeway photos I’ve seen, this is a first. As anyone who grew up in pre-1970 Southern California knows, the windmill signs were a fixture (literally) of grocery store facades all over the region. Vons, Thriftimart, Market Basket, A & P (before they cleared out of L.A. in the early 60’s), Food Giant and many others all featured Van de Kamp’s bakery departments and thus sported the familiar sign. In the couple of vintage film clips I’ve seen of them, the windmill blades really did turn, though I’m not sure if it was purely from the wind or with the assistance of a small electric motor.

I’ve always assumed that Safeway did their own baking for their stores. If someone knows the backstory on this, please let us know!

(Thanks to the sharp-eyed PFS reader who identified this store's location - at the corner of 3rd and Vermont in L.A. - now a Vons.)

A Gala Premiere - Studio City 1963

Here is the Grand Opening ad for the Studio City Market Basket store featured in the previous post. This ad appeared in the Pasadena Star-News on January 16, 1963. One of the interesting aspects of "Grand Opening" ads from these years is that they often featured photos or line drawings of the actual store in question. The line drawing in this case is a fairly accurate representation.

Market Basket Mayhem!!

Highly recommended viewing for fans of old supermarkets is the 1964 Jerry Lewis film “The Disorderly Orderly”. This film features le Jerry in typical fine form, wreaking havoc as he earnestly performs the duties of an entry-level job, this particular one being an orderly in a sanitarium. Our family digs this film, even though my wife is only 1/8th French!

The climactic scene features Jerry and company laying waste to the nearly-new Studio City, California Market Basket store, which was located at 11315 Ventura Boulevard. Not only is it funny, but it offers a rare, up-close look (especially when viewed in slow-motion) at a classic SoCal grocery store in the prime of its life. When you see this you’ll gasp, you’ll marvel, you’ll think “Man, they were running a heck of a promotion on Hi-C that day!”

A little background – the Market Basket chain of Southern California (not to be confused with the unaffiliated Texas and New England chains bearing the same name) was founded with a single store in Pasadena in 1930. By 1963, the year the Studio City store was opened, the company had 56 stores throughout L.A. and the surrounding regions. In October of that year the chain was acquired by Kroger, providing them a beachhead (no pun intended) in the vital Southern California market. Prior to this time, Kroger had no stores west of Kansas.

The Market Baskets’ most distinctive features, to be sure, were the gigantic “basket-weaved” signs that towered above each store. Even in an era when many L.A. thoroughfares boasted great, often outrageous signage, these babies really must have stood out.

A few more notes - the building still exists, although it is no longer a grocery store. Secondly, if you watch the film carefully, you can spot a “Cinnamon Cinder” nightclub near the Market Basket. There were several of these non-alcoholic clubs in the SoCal area in the early 60’s, and many now classic rock and roll acts played there. They were owned by legendary concert promoter and Newlywed Game host Bob Eubanks.