Victoria, an OCThen reader, wants to ask others if they know anything about Murray Manor Shopping Center, which I believe was in Garden Grove...
Hello again,
My dad, Harold Murray Jr. owned Murray Manor Shopping Center back in the 60's (1965-1969), it was located at 911 N. Brookhurst. We lived in a house located on the parking lot behind the furniture store. The furniture store there was a very large spanish style house. I have information that it was also an orphanage at one time as well as a Governers mansion. The house that we used as a furniture store was once called the Stanton House, after Phillip Ackely Stanton. I am looking for anyone who shopped there, new my family or knows any more info on the house itself. I am gathering all the info to pass to my children.
Thanks, Victoria shopvc@yahoo.com
I did find a couple of anonymous comments that mention Murray Manor...
Great site! I have had a ball looking at Knott's, D-land, Deer Farm, etc., and just saw "Murray Manor" mentioned two posts ago, where I remember being a bored kid dragged around by my parents.
Murray Manor mentioned here twice - wow, that's a real trip. Twas really boring for the kids, but what a grand place it was. I don't remember if we ever bought anything from there, but we did visit 3 or 4 times.If anyone has some information about this building, please click on "Post a Comment" below and share it with us.
I'm a blogger and internet marketer, motorcycle rider, and craft beer lover.
I remember the toy store, the Ladies Apparel, there was a hardware store and when I got a bit older, my brother and I would explore the old house, which had been abandoned by then. It was a grand house and I was impressed by it even then. It was a good time to grow up in Anaheim.
ReplyDeleteI remember going there as a kid. it was right next to Brookhurst Junior High, almost tucked under the overpass where Brookhurst street crossed I-5. I seem to remember there being a strip mall adjacent to the manor with a carpet store and a few other sad little businesses.
ReplyDeleteI remember Murray Manor as a kid going there with my parents. I'm not sure if it was a hardware store or a furniture store...both seem right, for some reason.
ReplyDeleteAfter the strip mall was added and it fell into disrepair, my wife commented that it would be a great place for weddings.
The ceremonies could be performed in the house with the bride descending the grand staircase. There would be plenty of rooms for the bridesmaids, groomsmen etc.
The stripmall could house the photographer, tux shop and all the rest.
Now that our daughter is getting married, we really wish there was such a place.
20/20 hindsight.
Yes, I remember Murray Manor in the 60s and the adjacent strip mall. When it became abandoned, my brother and I explored the ruin too. Years later, my son went to the Fairmont school in the very same building. I neglected to tell the principal that I had trespassed there many years ago.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, the wonderful times we as kids had playing hide and seek (so many rooms and furniture) as our parents shopped for furniture. They knew Mr. Murray at that time. Our living room and dining room furniture came from there as well as our first Magnavox console TV, I think. I remember a fountain in the atrium courtyard as well. We shopped at the strip mall adjacent to Murry Manner too. I'm not sure but I think there was a take out food place at the end of the strip mall, I seem to draw a picture of going there many times for some reason. I grew up in Fullerton and have so many memories of all the places listed throughout this website. I worked at The Original Pancake House in Anaheim, Skypower gas station on Harbor and Ball in Anaheim, and Howard Johnson's restaurant in Buena Park while in high school. My favorite thing while working at the gas station (Harbor and Ball Rds.) was giving out-of-towners directions to Disneyland, hee, hee. Stan Mozer
ReplyDeleteI surely remember shopping at Murray Manor on Brookhurst with my parents and grandparents in the 1960s. I remember my grandparents buying a sofa (very early american) and a Maple dining room set. Fun to reminisce.
ReplyDeleteWe lived across the street from Servite High School, which was just a few miles from Murray Manor. We shopped at the strip mall frequently, and I remember there being a sporting goods store, a large toy store, and a store that sold LP (long play)record albums. Years later, after the strip mall was closed, one of the abandoned stores was used to create a haunted house during Halloween. Does anyone else remember that?
ReplyDeleteWe lived across the street from Servite High School, which was just a few miles from Murray Manor. We shopped at the strip mall frequently, and I remember there being a sporting goods store, a large toy store, and a store that sold LP (long play)record albums. Years later, after the strip mall was closed, one of the abandoned stores was used to create a haunted house during Halloween. Does anyone else remember that?
ReplyDeleteI am 49 now and remember my parents taking me there. I remember that bathrooms connected rooms to each other and big stair cases. I remember black and white tile and fireplaces. I would love to see pictures because these pictures in my head feel like long ago dreams.
ReplyDeleteMy brother and I bought my mother a ring and necklace at the jewelry store in Murray Manor Shopping Center. It seemed like a fortune at the time.
ReplyDeleteI first went to Murray Manor in 1952 with my dad to the sporting goods on the second floor of the old building, there were a couple of stores in small rooms up there.
ReplyDeletelong before the strip mall was built.
as a teenager i worked in the sporting goods store there, i only lived right behind 3 blocks away from there, i can tell you the whole history of the Manor from 1952 thur 1970
if you are interested my e-mail is wilste9@aol.com
Well, as a child and a teenager I recall going to the big mansion house to look at furniture with my mother. I would escape and just travel through the home marveling at the size of the place and wondering what it would have been like to live in such a home. Yes the bathrooms connected bedrooms. How many bedrooms were there? Actually the place is still there but has been converted to office spaces, I think. The strip mall is gone but that's where I bought auto parts and tires back in the early 1960's, at the Murry Manor auto parts store. I remember the man who operated that store. Once when in Palm Springs back in the 1980's I did see him around the pool at the motel we were staying at. I have heard that that Tops Auto Parts on Lincoln Ave. is actually the same store (moved and renamed).
ReplyDeleteMy mom took me to Murray Manor in the early 1960's to see Chucko The Clown. The parking lot was filled to capacity and it was almost a mob scene with people jockeying to get closer so they could get handouts for their kids. I well recall that my mom, finally, in exasperation, marched herself right through the crowd to get HER little darling (me) whatever it was they were handing out! We lived nearby on Devonshire Road and attended Mel Gauer before moving to east Anaheim in 1963.
ReplyDeleteMy Grandma lived behind Murray Manor in the 60's. I used to play with their Granddaughter once in a while. I remember gold fixtures in the bathroom and gold tiles in the pool. Later, while attending Savanna High School, I took Animal Care in ROP. The classes were conducted at the old Murray Manor, where we had animals in the stable there.
ReplyDeleteYep, my name is Reggie Palmer i grew up in that neighborhood and so remember Murray Manor, and the sporting good store The general store, the Hobby store, so many memories i often have dreams of every place, ive had many dreams of Murray Manor being a haunted house and flying threw there, it was such a cool place going with my parents, and wandering around that place in ah, thinking how cool to live in that house wow, i lived right up from Freeway Park Market, aka " the little store " lol i grew up in that neighborhood from kindergarten through high school. And i also played with buddies in Murry Manor when it go abandoned smoking our sigs and thinking we were big men at age 12 lol, the cops actually caught us in one of the buildings and told us not to come back, guess we tripped a silent alarm they said, all the wile, my mind was wondering, back as a young kid, how alive that entire place was at one time, well, im not sure why i looked this up on my computer but if you have any questions, i use to run wild in that neighborhood e-mail me, at chaffeezoo@yahoo.com would love to talk to anyone about living there!
ReplyDeleteYep i remember everything about them days, i lived in that neighborhood all my life! my name is Reggie Palmer and most will remember me too growing up, i ran the streets like a crazy kid in them days, i remember the Hobby store, the sporting good store, the pharmacy we use to go up there and buy candy all the time, and on Halloween they would give us candy, same as the Freeway Park Market, aka " the little store"
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to get a job with Fairmont Private School that took over the complex from ROP a number of years ago. And all these memories came flooding back.
ReplyDeleteI have very fond memories of Murray Manor. When my folks came to Anaheim 1956, that was the only furniture company around. Most of the area was still orange groves... the 91 fwy was not built out completely yet, Brookhurst & La Palma had a rope strung from pole to pole with a single signal light... two lanes up and over the just finished 5 fwy... gas station on all four corners...
I have memories of shopping at Murray Manor... I remember the "house" being big and having many floors to explore for furniture. It saddened me when it fell into disrepair and then the ROP program took over must of it, but the main house was left to rot... I was elated when the Fairmont Private Schools took over the entire complex and completely refurbished it.. the whole place looks fantastic and I can't wait to get a look at the interior.
If I get a look at the inside, I'll take pictures and post them here if I can.
I grew up in the older part of Buena Park and can remember my mother going to Murray Manors
ReplyDeleteIf you started at the top of the Brookhurst bridge you could ride the path cut into the dirt almost straight down the hill, pick up some real speed and practically crash Murray Manor on your bike. A sharp left and you could squeeze through the chain link fence to get to the track and basketball courts at Brookhurst Jr. High.
ReplyDelete