International Casino Club, Duarte, CA

Well, it is funny how reconstruction works. I found this video and saw the caption that reads

These soundboard excerpts of Van Halen playing ‘Superstition’ and ‘La Grange’ were recorded in 1975 at the International Casino in Duarte, CA.

But for the life of me, I could not recall the International Casino in Duarte. So I checked in with my brother, Joe, who recalled that it was located where the old Columbia Bowl was located.

Joe explained that the International Casino was THE building of the former Columbia Bowl.  He wrote,

Yeah . . . before Columbia Bowl there was the International Casino, maybe just for a year or two.  Before International Casino, it was called Royal Oaks Lanes, I believe.

Here is a matchbook from the Royal Oaks Lanes.

Here is a concert bill for Van Halen at the International Casino.

Joe added that

Barnacle Bill’s was next to the Crystal’s Cafe, I believe.

Joe said that

Yeah, Tom washed dishes there.  It might have been a different name when Tom worked there.

Motel Zanzibar

I always feel lucky to find such great photographs of old Duarte motels along Route 66, and Motel Zanzibar does not fail.  Grateful to Route 66.  Motel Zanzibar at the left and The Filly Motel to the right.  All that the caption of the photo says is “U. S. Highway “66” Duarte, California.”  The location of the motel and The Filly diner next door was 1524 East Huntington Driver, right where Cotter Avenue runs perpendicular to Huntington Drive.  The keeper of the flame over at “Route 66 Mother Road Postcards and more” did some nice work on the two establishments. 

The first two cards show the Hi-Way “66” Foothill Motel at 2435 East Huntington Drive. It had 25 hotel-type concrete cottages with closed garages, 6 with kitchens. All were elegantly furnished and fully carpeted. It was at the foot of the mountains at an altitude of 675 feet, in the orange grove section of California. It was owned by Dr. and Mrs. F.R. Braune and managed by A.W. Seeds. Later in life it came to be known as the Capri Motel but it couldn’t withstand the march of progress and was torn down a few years ago to make room for – https://goo.gl/maps/8T6kSpjT7An.

This old real photo card actually shows two Route 66 businesses in Duarte, CA – the Motel Zanzibar on the left and the conveniently located Filly Park ‘n’ Eat on the right. Rooms at the Zanzibar could be had for $3 and up and the Filly offered breakfast, short orders, sandwiches and malts. No trace remains of either business today at 1524 E Huntington Drive –https://goo.gl/maps/9Pb7aXmxV5M2.

The main problem I see with real photo postcards is that very few of them ever had information on the back about what the subject was on the front. Luckily a good magnifying glass was able to turn up a street number on the front of this card of the Monte Vista Motel in Duarte, CA, right on Route 66. Apparently the Monte Vista also had some sort of eating establishment as there’s a small “Kitchen” sign toward the left side of the main building. In any case, the Monte Vista is no longer, replaced by –https://goo.gl/maps/HhuYj4mofJm.

Trying to find a specific address for the motels, I went online.  What I found was a 1930’s menu belonging to a Duarte restaurant called Indian Village Cafe & Zanzibar.  Motel Zanzibar was built after WWII.  But it is kind of interesting to look at the 1930s restaurant prices.

 

This Indian Village Cafe and Zanzibar restaurant was located on the north side of Huntington Drive at 1457 Huntington Drive.  Here is the street view of its location: currently a vacant lot.

What used to be nearby that is of any note to me was John’s Auto, where my dad used to take his 1962 Volkswagen Beetle in for repair. 

In this same complex [at the northwest corner of Huntington and Oak] were automotive shops.  One, in particular, was John’s Auto, a German man, John Janek, with a terrific sense of humor.  A friend of mine’s dad knew and worked with John a few times.  He always helped with repairs on my dad’s ’62 Volkswagen.  Dad went to him repeatedly.  John was always fixing something on my dad bug.  I remember when I was visiting John on my own with my cars, my 1980 Volkswagen, that John was had gotten to be a lot nicer or patient.  I had my Volkswagen from 1975 to 1978 when I purchased my first new car, a truck, actually, a 1978 Toyota long-bed truck.  I remember that Pat Moore pointed out to me that one of the plastic frames that captured the brake light and reverse light was off-color.  It was grey when it should have been black.

Alpha Beta & Cornet, 1964

I wonder how many remember this beautiful scene in Duarte.  Will never forget that tree in front of the Bank of America.  Recessed in the Bank of America parking lot was an old brick building that used to house an afterschool classroom or library.  I do not know what is there now.  

But who can forget the Cornet with its two levels and that terrific stairwell that led down to the basement as soon as you walked in, all in green paint no less?  That was in the days of the S&H Green stamps and the Cornet’s color used to remind me of all kinds of redemption.  

In this same shopping center were Snyder’s Meats, Sunset Produce, Steamboat Fried Chicken, the Kaufman Pharmacy where Al Madrigal worked as a medical courier in their Volkswagen bug, and others.

Duarte Shopping Center at the southeast side of Huntington and Buena Vista.  This photo is dated April 10, 1964.  The source of this photo is the LAPL.  Mom loved the five-and-dime store, Cornet, with its two levels in military green, where you could get so much for a dime.  I don’t want to get started on the old days, but one feature of them was that our money went a lot further.  I used to buy the tiny translucent waxed bottles with fruit juice in them; those, and the candied cigarettes that puffed out powdered sugar as smoke; and then there were those terrific wax mustaches with wonderful clove flavor that you could chew ’til your jaw got worn out.  My mom loved the Cornet, and therefore, we did too.

The great Roy Parker used to work at this Alpha Beta as a teenager from 1977-1979.  The guy was Mr. Alpha Beta, given how he organized the produce section.  No one could touch his organizational skills.   

The source for the above photograph claims that the year is 1960.  Maybe.  I’d like to see some verification.  Some have claimed it’s earlier than ’64, maybe ’60, but there’s no way of verifying that yet as far as I can tell.   The cars look older than in 1960.  Notice how empty the sidewalk is here compared to the current one today that is lined with trees.

Some of the great stores used to be in Duarte.  There the Cornet, the Pantry, and Alpha Beta, the store for which Dad claimed that he drew the character Alphie with the lasso.  Go to pages 9, 14, and 20 to find ads from these stores.  The Pantry advertised Blue Chip Stamps. 

Immaculate Conception, Monrovia

Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Monrovia.  I never knew that the property upon which the church sits was donated by Bradbury.

The property of our church was donated by the Bradbury family in memory of their mother, Simona Martinez Bradbury.

Yes, she is of THAT Bradbury fame.  My cousin, Chuck Pullman, would have been delighted to learn of all of the jockeys and trainers associated with Santa Anita Race Track who have lived in Bradbury.

I spent a lot of time here.  I started school here.  After being baptized at the Mission in San Gabriel, I went through the early sacraments here at Immaculate Conception–receiving holy communion or the Eurcharist, my Confirmation, and Reconciliation or confession.  The Sacrament of Reconciliation is only absolution from the sins one commits against God, not against my father and mother, siblings, friends, neighbors, or the larger community.  Those sins are settled in court or if I am lucky in the chambers of one’s heart.

This is helpful and interesting. 

The crucifix is a prominent religious symbol in Christianity and is seen in religious art, architecture, jewelry and clothing. The symbol represents the suffering of Jesus Christ and his subsequent resurrection. The layout of the typical Catholic Church stems from the shape of the crucifix and is laid out in what is known as the cruciform plan. The plan is present in Catholic churches throughout the world and serves as a sense of continuity within the Catholic faith.

 

A few more terms to help you understand what goes on inside the Catholic Church.  

I remember being instructed to kneel here on the step of this grotto and pray to the Virgin Mary.  

This is the north transept.  Wikipedia explains

A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the edifice.^[1] In churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform (“cross-shaped”) building within the Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architectural traditions. Each half of a transept is known as a semitransept.^[1]

And this

Upon its four piers, the crossing may support a spire (e.g., Salisbury Cathedral), a central tower (e.g., Gloucester Cathedral) or a crossing dome(e.g., St Paul’s Cathedral). Since the altar is usually located at the east end of a church, a transept extends to the north and south. The north and south end walls often hold decorated windows of stained glass, such as rose windows, in stone tracery.

 

I love this following photo for it reminds me of the time I was in the first grade and I had forgotten my school book at home.  The nun, I can’t remember her name, lifted me out of my desk by my ear and had me stand in the closet in shame and out of view from the rest of the class.  The humiliation didn’t end there.  Instead of eating during lunch, I was put on trash duty, where I walked around the 1st and 2nd grade playground area [pictured above] with a trash can picking up trash and wrappers that the other kids had tossed on the ground.  It didn’t bother me then; it doesn’t bother me now.  In fact, I knew what it meant and accepted the lesson and guess what?  I never forgot my book again.  And my attention for almost everything else in school went through the roof.  

I took this shot for a picture of what is missing, and what is missing are the summer evening volleyball nets for teenagers from around the neighborhood to come and play.  The church grounds were for everyone.  That is the Catholic way.  Not only the volleyball nets were raised but there was always the summer festival where booths lined the perimeter of the courtyard.  It was the first time that I met Norma Parker outside of her home.  She was volunteering at a booth that prepared sausages, bell peppers and onions on a roll.  It was incredible.  She is an excellent cook.  

Will never forget this water fountain.  It was there when I went to school here and it was there when I went to watch Antoinnette and Susan Bradley and a third friend of theirs sing and dance the song from the Go-Go’s, featuring Belinda Carlisle, “We Got the Beat.”

The pic below is of the Youth Fellowship Hut.  It’s where the basketball and referee equipment was stored.  Alphonso Madrigal used to coach an 8th grade La Salle intermural team and he would practice here at the courts just south of the Youth Fellowship Hut.  Al asked me to referee a few times and I did.  It was fun.  

I did love the serenity of this garden alcove with the statue of the Virgin Mary.  

What’s interesting about this grotto is that it used to be surrounded by a row of medium-sized trees.  I remember because my brothers and I used to weave in and out of the trees as my mother finshed her conversation with other parishioners after completing the stations of the cross.

The same grotto as above but denuded.  There used to be a row of evergreen spears behind the grotto.

 

 

 

 

 

I took this shot because I remember exiting school here reflecting on Booker T. Washington’s Up From Slavery  or an excerpt we’d read in class before my mind went to thinking about visiting my 2nd grade friend, George, a thought that overlapped my appreciation for how wide Colorado Boulevard, shown in this picture, was compared to so many other streets in the area.  In fact, I grew to love these wide streets, like Las Tunas in Temple City and San Gabriel between Rosemead and San Gabriel Blvd. and this section here of Colorado Blvd.  They reminded me not just of old country roads but of key arteries of commerce between towns.  That’s what I thought about as I stood there as a 7-year-old looking west.  

 

This is my Holy Communion photo taken in 1964.  You can find me in the 2nd row of the boys left of center hiding a giggle with my prayer book.  Recognize anyone that you know?  Let me know, and I will put their names in the caption.  BTW, this photo was a real find.  I had the original copy while living in Duarte, but things get lost.  I found this one online.

This is a statue of Rachel mourning.  

 

On this pic, I simply liked the angles and the sign to the right of the door “Library Downstairs.”

Sparr’s Liquor

Is gone. At least when I was in high school, that liquor store was considered the premier liquor store in Duarte. Though The Pantry was still considered tops in Duarte, Sparr’s was the hangout if you were down at the west end of town by the Big Slide, trampolines, miniature golf, bumper cars, or Chuck Wagon.

Sparr Liquor in happier days.  1303 East Huntington Drive.

Pasadena, 1945

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Well, City Hall is certainly prominent.  That is Colorado Blvd. there in the left foreground.  That building with the turret is the old Broadway Department Store on Colorado and Los Robles.  My mom and dad used to shop there before the Santa Anita Mall opened in ’74.  Click on the photo to enlarge it, and you will find a Firestone Tire store there directly behind the FitzGerrald, located at 249 East Colorado.  It was called “Street” back then and not “Boulevard.”  So there’s that.  What a treasure this is–an extensive list of businesses and retailers in California.  Simply find your city and explore the days of your parents. 

 

Ah, the Good Ol’ Days. Duarte, ca. 1895

from the California State Library.

For folks living today, this photo might almost be meaningless, for there is nothing in it that really marks Duarte proper except for Beatty Canyon in the distance.  There are no homes, no parks, no buildings to even orient oneself to.  But if you were a mountain man, one who was familiar with every inch of the San Gabriels up behind Duarte, then that would be a different story.  To folks like myself, I would find this setting just perfect.

Alright, the scene above looks like it was taken from the incline and bend on Mt. Olive Drive just south of Woodlyn Lane.

This scene is harder to tell.  I can’t even guarantee that is a photograph of any sector of Duarte.  There are no distinct Duarte landmarks and the terrain is not flat the way that section east of Mt. Olive, for example, is going up into Fish Canyon.  Hard for me to identify.  But knowing the little that I do know about how Duarte was all orange groves long, long ago I would venture a guess that this was somewhere near Mountain Avenue in Monrovia looking east toward Duarte.  

Irrigation ditch, 1924.  Man is standing at the sluice.  But that looks like Van Tassel Canyon behind him over his right shoulder.  Directly behind him might be where the old San Gabriel Valley Gun Club was where two of my brothers worked, Chuck and Joe.   

San Gabriel Hydroelectric Plant, 1915

I thought this was interesting.  I find pics almost randomly sometimes and just happened upon this one.  That Beatty Canyon is unmistakable to anyone who spent time in Azusa Canyon, so when I saw the San Gabriel Power House, I thought that sure looks familiar.  

The following picture, titled “Powerhouse in San Gabriel, 1915,” sits at the foot of Beatty Canyon.  Now this was 1915, long before anyone I knew who might know of the hydro electric plant.  Wikicommons describes it . . . 

Hydroelectric plant on the [San Gabriel] river, located just to the north of Azusa, 1915.

Power house in San Gabriel, ca. 1915

Photograph of the exterior of a San Gabriel Power House in the San Gabriel Mountains, which supplies electricity to Los Angeles and water for orchards of Pomona Valley, ca. 1915.  

Here a mountain stream is diverted and brought through steel pipes to the power houses.  Two other buildings are visible at right.  

A water conduit running down the mountain side is visible behind the power house.  The banks of concrete swale in the foreground are lined with river stones and landscaped with small plants. 

That ridge above the power house can also be seen here in this photo of the Foothill Dairy in Azusa.

I am sure that no structural foundations of these buildings remain today.  If any did, they would be up on Ridge View Drive, a north and soundbound lane that used to run behind the Foothill Dairy. 

Wikipedia elaborates on it

There is one hydroelectric plant on the river, located just to the north of Azusa. The original Azusa Hydroelectric Plant was built in 1898 by the San Gabriel Electric Company (which in 1917 was incorporated into Southern California Edison). Power generation began on June 30, with an initial capacity of 2,000 kilowatts (KW). During the early 1900s it was mainly used to power the Pacific Electric (Red Car) and Los Angeles Railway (Yellow Car) systems in the greater Los Angeles area. The plant was purchased by the City of Pasadena in 1930, due to structural modifications needed to accommodate the city’s proposed Morris Dam. A new 3,000 KW plant was built adjacent to the old plant in the 1940s.^[114]

The power station is supplied with water via the 5.5-mile (8.9 km) long Azusa Conduit, which draws water from the river below San Gabriel Dam, and runs along the east wall of the San Gabriel Canyon to a point just north of Azusa adjacent to the San Gabriel Canyon spreading grounds, where a 38-inch (970 mm) diameter penstock falls 390 feet (120 m) down the mountainside to the powerhouse.^[114][115] Between 1996 and 2014 the plant generated an annual average of 4 million kilowatt hours.^[116] The usage of river water for electricity production has been controversial, as diverting water can dry up the channel, reducing fish habitat.^[117]

Here is the interior.

El Encanto Inn

Here is one story, but be sure to read the one below.

Here’s the skinny on El Encanto

“The History of the El Encanto Restaurant

El Encanto, meaning ‘the Enchanted,’ has been here for about 70 years. Henrietta and Miller Newman built El Encanto in the’ 1920s for their home and as ‘Camp One’ for the U.S. Forest Service, as Mill was a Forest Ranger for the San Gabriel Canyon.

Henrietta was born in Azusa in 1881 to Susan Melendrez and Henry Roberts, while Miller Newman’s family was in and about the lnland Valley. His uncle, Frank Miller; was the founder of the Mission Inn in Riverside.

In the 193Os, Henrietta started catering private parties in her home and soon became famous for her fried chicken, corn fritters and salad dressing. Their living room, with its stone fireplace, became the dining room and their dining room became the bar. Soon afterwards, the restaurant was born, the first liquor license was obtained in March 1939, and by the early 1940s, El Encanto was established as one of the finest restaurants in Southern California and enjoyed many years of success. Then sadly, Miller Newman died in 1952 leaving Henrietta, along with the help of their daughter, Nora, and son- in-law, George Peterson, to continue the operation of El Encanto for a few more years. Now much older and ready for retirement; Henrietta sold the restaurant.

Bill and Donna Hinkley became the new owners in 1964. For 27 years they kept the reputation of fine dining alive, building a business based on great food and service.

But not all was without problems, Bill & Donna Hinkley had a major setback in the early years starting in the summer of 1968. In August, a fire called ‘The Canyon Inn Fire’ burned all the ground coverage and vegetation on the hillsides around and behind the restaurant. Then the winter rains came and on January 19, 1969 at 2:30am, the mudslide of the charred hills behind the El Encanto came down and through the restaurant and out the front windows. Meantime, the river running fast and overflowing, took the whole parking lot with it right up to the front doors. The Hinkley’s were caught upstairs and had to be helicopter lifted out the next morning; The house remained but all inside was lost to the mud. It took 21 months to dig out, clean up and rebuild the El Encanto Restaurant. It reopened on October 1, 1970.

Mrs. Henrietta Newman died in 1970, leaving happy memories for her family and friends to remember: It is rumored that her spiritual presence is still felt throughout El Encanto.

An Asian Corporation bought El Encanto in 1991 and continued operations until February of 1998.

Cal and Andi Risen became the new proprietors of El Encanto in March of 1998. It was like coming home for the couple. Cal had managed the bar for the Hinkleys for about 21 years. With his expertise and flair for mixing the cocktails and gab, he was the entertainment behind the bar. In 1985 he met Andi in the lounge, where she had come with friends to enjoy the piano bar. Love blossomed and they were married later that same year.

In 1986 Cal and Andi, she leaving her R.N. position at Methodist Hospital and he leaving El Encanto, together successfully owned and operated Callahans, a small steak house and bar on Irwindale Avenue in Azusa unti11997.

Upon learning that El Encanto was available, Cal decided he would like to “come home” and revive the business. He kept all the great traditions that the restaurant was known for such as the corn fritter: It was important to him to return to the traditions started by the Newmans and maintain the quality the Hinkleys had established in the years before.

Adding his own personality and expertise, he hopes to keep the El Encanto Restaurant an enchanting and memorable experience in dining. “

Canyon Inn, Highway 39

I never set foot inside this inn.  

I do remember that lounge chair.

By the time I was of age it was closed for business and only used thereafter as a movie set.  It was captured in the ending scene of Bruce Willis’ 2005 picture, Hostage.  

I had, however, been to the El Encanto Inn, the restaurant farther back into the canyon around the corner.  For their story, see this post.  

1968
Some interesting history about Azusa Canyon that I’d either forgotten or not heard of.  One is the 1968 Canyon Fire that killed 7 teenage fire recruits plus a fire specialist.  Part of that story is covered here

On 8/23/68 the “Canyon Inn Fire” started above Glendora, CA. On 8/24 members of Los Angeles County Fire Department Crew 4-4 were burned over. Seven juvenile crewmen and a Fireman Specialist lost their lives. Before the fire was over it burned 19,100 acres. As a result of the loss of juvenile firefighter lives in this fire and the Hacienda Heights Fire, the practice of using juvenile probationers to fight fire was re-evaluated and stopped. The Downhill Indirect Checklist was another result of this fire.

from The Patch.Enlarge it here.

The boys and man who died in that fire are listed here.  

George Thomas, age 36, Fireman Specialist of Crew 4-4
Duane Battle, age 17, Crewman Crew 4-4
Earl Walzer, Crewman Crew 4-4
William Rodriguez, Crewman Crew 4-4
Arthur Mendible, Crewman Crew 4-4
Robert Rivera, Crewman Crew 4-4
Gregory Banks, Crewman Crew 4-4
Larry Carlin, Crewman Crew 4-4

So that’s one part of its history.  

2003
Walter B. Rowe passed away on December 21, 2003. He was a longtime resident of Azusa, passed away December 21, 2003, at the age of 90. An engraver by trade, he established and operated the Canyon Inn and Canyon City Liquor in Azusa for many years.

2004
The Inn was sold in 2004.  Marriane Love has the story. 

Byline: Marianne Love

Mar. 26–AZUSA, Calif. — The abandoned Canyon Inn, recently a set for a Hollywood movie, has sold for $2.5 million.

The 33.6-acre property, where the former steakhouse and biker bar sat vacant for a decade at the base of the Angeles National Forest, was bought by El Monte-based International Theological Seminary. Seminary President Joseph Tong could not be reached for comment Thursday about the 2280 N. San Gabriel Canyon Road site.

Proposed plans are to build a seminary or retreat, said Brion Costa, managing broker of Monrovia-based Costa Land, which represented the sellers, a Nevada-based corporation. It’s unclear at this time if the Canyon Inn is coming down. …

But this doesn’t tell me the years of operation.  

Azusa and inter-city agency, Army Corps of Engineers, and the Forest Service are looking to recreate a new kind of entertainment at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains . . . again.  

Their plan called 2012 Canyon Inn Wilderness Plan wants to redevelop the River Wilderness Park.  But given that we’ve got only a few months until 2018 it looks like it has either paused, stalled, or been canceled. 

A souvenir ashtray from the inn.

The inn appeared in the 2005 Bruce Willis movie, Hostage.  Here, you can see the different Southern California locations for different scenes in the movie.