The photos from earlier editions of the Signal Tribune show Vons grocery store in the Bixby Knolls Shopping center in what appears to be the late ’40s and early ’50s. I know from an aerial photo taken May 31, 1947, that this shopping center was a vacant lot then, but that by the early ’50s it was bustling. The original store was demolished when the Osh complex was built.
The local Vons is now located in what was originally a Fed Mart, then a Home Depot, one block north of the old store.
Vons proudly displays a sign above the checkout counter that it has been serving Long Beach since 1960, as seen the recent photo. Their credit does not include the time Vons served at the old location.
I have tried to point this out to a succession of managers at the local Vons and even contacted the main office of Safeway in Northern California to try to get this corrected, but to no avail. I suspect that the source of the error is that Safeway operated a competing store where the Post Office is now located from around 1960. That store was renamed Vons when Safeway acquired Vons, and both stores were open for a period, at least until the present store opened.
It is even possible, perhaps likely, that Safeway operated stores in Long Beach prior to opening the one in 1960. I think that the building on the North West corner of Orange and Wardlow was a grocery back in the 30’s and 40’s, but I don’t know if it was a Safeway.
One would think that Safeway/Vons would want to take accurate and full credit for their service to Long Beach, and correct their sign.
Ken Slater
Bixby Knolls
Long Beach
My mom worked from 1957 to 1970 in the Security Pacific bank in this same shopping center. My grandma who lived in the apartments on the other side of San Antonio Blvd babysat me while mom was at work. I remember there was also a Brownies toy store in this complex.
Brownies toy stores were owned by the Brown family whose family home was in Naples. Their son Bruce was the renown documentary maker of Endless Summer and other legendary films.
Born in Long Beach and also a third generation resident of Long Beach, I also recall Bixby Knolls shopping center. My Mom and a few other neighbor ladies attended the ‘Grand Opening’ of Vons in the original location. Horace Green and Son’s Hardware, Brownies Toys, Grants and Anthony’s were our normal shopping locations. The sign in Vons at it’s present location regarding opening in 1960 is WRONG! I can still recall the smell of French fries and hamburgers cooking from the lunch counter as you entered the back door of the old Vons, the Dutch Bakery inside with fresh bread and the groceries were boxed in BOXES, not plastic or paper bags. The cashier took the items straight from the shopping cart, no conveyer belts. Times were “neato” back then. Now, look what you started.