Wednesday, January 20, 2010

The Lost Community of Bryant

Anonymous writes about living in an old community called "Bryant", near Garden Grove, during the 1950s...

My folks bought a home in the old Highland Subdivision (basically the homes between Chapman and Orangewood and Magnolia and HWY 39) in 1953. We lived on Dale Street a few houses down from Orangewood.

I was the first kindergarten class to attend Bryant Elementary School which opened in 1956. The school was named for the old farming community Bryant that use to be there in the 1940's. I attended elementary school there and later went to Marie L Hare Intermediate. Dale Street was the boundary between Garden Grove and the County that still had an Anaheim address. Our neighbors across the street were in Anaheim and we were in Garden Grove.

I also attended Rancho Alamitos and remember it being built. To the west of Rancho use to be a dairy farm and when playing out on the fields you could smell the cows.

I am posting because I read a comment about Atlantis Land. I remember it very well although I didn't not play there because it was too far away. It was tucked within the park where Bolsa Grande High School is. I remember the grand opening because the Garden Grove Theater played the 1961 Geopge Pal movie Atlantis the Lost Continent.

One of my earliest memories is standing in a huge line filled with kids wanting to see the matinee showing of the 1958 7th Voyage of Sinbad at the Garden Grove Theater. There was a vacant lot next to the theater and a line of kids encircled the entire lot. In fact the first matinee was sold out and we had to wait for the 2nd showing but that's what you did. Mom gave me 50 cents and I bought admissions and popcorn with that.

Lots of good memories at the old Garden Grove Theater at the old Garden Grove Plaza.

2 comments:

  1. I too attended Bryant Elementary. Went to Alamitos Jr. High, and Rancho. The neighborhood you are referring to still exists. West of Dale, south of Orangewood and North of chapman, and East of Hwy 39 (Beach Blvd.) is now known as "Anaheim Island." It still has an Anaheim zip code. I went through there a couple of years ago after a fund raiser at Rancho. The neighborhood is really run down.

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  2. I worked at hare school repulled all the wiring for phones intercom clocks etc..first they had to remove all the asbestos from the school.

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