Mark White submits his memories of working at his father's Army Navy Surplus store at 9651 Garden Grove Blvd (between Gilbert and Brookhurst) during the 1950s...
I grew up in Garden Grove and grew up in my Dad’s Army Navy Surplus Store at 9651 Garden Grove Blvd, today it is a Korean Restaurant. I worked there from the middle of elementary school, the 1950’s, first sweeping and straightening up sections. On a Saturday I might sweep the store, using oiled sawdust and then be in charge of straightening all of the electrical section or camping gear or to stock the tools. I loved it.
Outside the door was a red Coca Cola Vending machine Dad had purchased, yes as surplus, and then purchased the 12 oz coke and stocked it himself. He would make his kids, me, buy a coke after being paid for working. With that you should have decent insight into my Dad. Every Saturday until I was on “payroll” he would buy me lunch from Zestos across the street. I can smell Zestos now. In my humble opinion, Zestos and In-n-Out ran neck and neck.
One anniversary for he and Mom, he bought a gorgeous ship's barometer and temperature set. Done in wood and brass it was beautiful on my mothers den wall. He came rushing home months later and took both telling my mother he could pay the mortgage with the money he was going to make on the set. That was Dad.
The store had camping gear, canvas, clothing, work shoes and much much more. Today Kids love Dickies. We sold the real thing, grey and tan work pants. Men from all over would come at regular intervals to buy their “gear”. When a customer my Dad recongnized as a Dickies customer would walk in the door, Dad might rush to the clothes section grab the size 40 waist 32 in seam the man would need and have the pants set for display. “Walk around the store and see what else you need and get these in a box in a moment”.
When we got Levis and army gear was popular in the sixties... I was in heaven. “What size in men’s pants do you think I need”, would ask a lovely Rancho Alamitos Senior Cheerleader. “Oh, well, turn around and let me guess”. My Dad said, “always guess two sizes smaller and hand them the proper size and one size bigger, when the young customer says these are too big for me it makes them feel good”. What a great job... What a great job, sorry lost it for a sec with some awesome memories.
Everyone from babes to boys scouts came in that store. I included a picture, I am thinking the year is 1959. My Grandfathers black Cadillac is on the side, my Dad’s truck is in front of the store. The coke machine is visible just to the right of the door in front of the store. Sorry no pictures of the soon to be hippie kids buying jeans but it sure is a hoard of wonderful memories for this Orange County Kid.
Orange County Memories is about the history of Orange County, CA as told from the people who lived and worked here.
Great story with wonderful memories. Makes me homesick for Orange County.
ReplyDeleteHi Mark: I knew your brother Mike. My sister dated him. I grew up in Garden Grove and went into your dad's store all of the time. I remember Zestos also. We grew up near Lampson Ave. and Harbor Blvd. in Garden Grove and also lived near Chapman and Brookhurst St. for a few years. We were in Garden Grove from 1952 until 1975.
DeleteTake me back to great memories of Garden Grove.
DeleteDoes Mark White remember the "Seahorse Swim Club" on Garden Grove Blvd. in the mid 5o's?
ReplyDeleteGreat memories Mark, My story is so similar because my family owned Grant's War Surplus in Costa Mesa, which continues on today as The Grant Boys now in it's 63rd year of business! We had the same merchandise, Dickies work clothes, Levi's and all kinds of Army surplus stuff. They were fun days. Customers come in now and say, "I used to steal you blind when I was a kid"! lol. Good thing they left some for us to sell. There was a small number of Surplus stores around the county. Things were so spread out, we never competed with each other. Fun to look back. Mike Grant
ReplyDeleteMike, know your store very well. We would stop in and talk, I am guessing to your Dad, on our way to the beach. We always thought your store was fabulous. And because you adjusted to the changing times. As I look back, my Father wanted out of the business as early as the sixties and offered us the chance to take over. Me, I never had the long term vision for such an adventure. We would have needed to move to a more potential location such as North Huntington Beach. Long Beach Surplus had slid over to HWY 39 around 68 or 69 so a move south would have been good.
ReplyDeleteLong beach surplus was closer ro my home so that's where I got my backpack and other gear for boy scouts...seems I recall they had a bottle pull coke machine in front of that place too...I'd always pull on them all because once I got a free one and always checked them after that. Lol
DeleteI loved the place, didn't you guys have black lights and posters? I got an army jacket there along with some 501's and thought i was coolest dude @ hair. Many thanks.
ReplyDeleteBoy that picture of the surplus store sure brought back some good memories. I lived in Santa Ana and would drive over there to get levi's. I also bought 7x50 binoculars which I still have today. It was a fun place to spend a couple of hours looking at all the wares. Thank you. Dick Taylor
ReplyDeleteMark, the whole family still pines for Zesto's!
ReplyDeleteBruce :)
What a great story. My great uncle owned two Army/Navy Surplus stores in Modesto, CA and I remember visiting them as a very young boy.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
Hi Mark, What a great story, I remember it well as I was your next door neighbor back in the 50's on Lucky Way. Thanks for sharing! Bonnie
ReplyDeleteBonnie M. I can spell the last name, I do remember you so very well. The beauty who lived next door! Would love to hear about you and your family. I am so pleased you took a moment to write. Drop an email mwhite62314@cfl.rr.com
ReplyDeleteI remember when I was a little girl we bought foam rubber for the beds in our travel trailer at the store.My father used to take us to Zestos for ice cream.I used to wait in line for hours at the Grove theatre.Loved Chris and pitt's.Pricillas Cake box had the best Cakes.We shopped at the all American Market on Dads payday. In later years I met your brother Mike and he was the best man at my wedding.
ReplyDeleteLeslie....responded back...We lost Mike in 2007. I did write about that at the blog, I miss him.
ReplyDeleteAs a youngster one of the really fun jobs at the store was to be able to cut the foam rubber. At one time we had six inch foam to sell. There was this very big electric saw which worked just like a meat cutter with two blades moving up and down. It whizzed and burred through that foam. When one is twelve....it was a thrill
Wow, I remember shopping here with my parents to buy camping supplies! Thanks for the walk down memory lane.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes,
Laura
All the stories about the Army/Navy and War Surplus stores remind me of the one I used to go to all the time. It was on Main Street in Santa Ana, just across the street from Lathrope Jr. High. (Then; Lathrope was on the corner of Main and McFadden, where the playing fields are now.) I would just look around a lot until I started earning a small allowance, and then bought a large Bowie knife. The place was loaded with old electronic equipment, and I always wondered what the various things did. The address was 1109 S. Main, and there seems to be a granite countertop business there now. In those days, McFadden did not go through, and one had to jog right onto Main Street a bit and then left again to continue on McFadden.
ReplyDeleteI remember the surplus store on south Main, because we bought the inventory when it closed. Our store in Costa Mesa, now called The Grant Boys. The one S Main was owned by the one on 4th street. My dad and the owner were best friends. It was really a big job cleaning it all out. It was called West Coast Surplus. Mike Grant
ReplyDeleteMemory Lane! :) I grew up in Garden Grove and my brother, Mark Bartholio worked at the store in the 70's. My sister Denise, brother Mark and myself all graduated from Rancho Alamitos High School. Classes 75, 77, and 79! My parents shopped there quite often before, during and after my brothers employment there. Loved the store and could be there for hours just looking at all the cool stuff. I miss my army camo pants and looked you up to see if you were still there so I could go and buy some more! Memory Lane! :))
ReplyDeleteI will never forget the SMELL of that place - it was sorta 'musty-oily' and I loved digging around for surplus radio parts, clothes, etc. It was near a coffee shop named 'Vinces' if I am not mistaken, and across the street from the incredible Chris and Pitts.
ReplyDeleteI lived on Brookhurst Way between Acacia and Stanford. Great memories of old Garden Grove.
You must have lived by the Hannas ??
DeleteDid you know the Hanna's ??
DeleteYou are quite correct about that coffee shop. Yet, it never could compete with the aroma Zesto's across the street.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned the smell of the Garden Grove Army Navy Surplus Store as musty oily. That came from the oil sawdust sweeping solution that was used on the cemete floors every morning prior to opening. In the back of the store by the foam rubber were very large trash size cardboard containers that had a spring top to close. Inside was filled with oil sawdust that I took and spread with a large dustpan up and down the aisles of the store. At the age of eight I proved my mettle with my Father by showing him how well I could sweep the store. I took great pride in being sure all of the dirt was swept and none of the sawdust left. I will never forget the smell of it....every once and awhile I have caught that aroma, once in a cabinet shop in Washington State.
Mike Grant...thanks for posting and bringing me back a memory or two. I bought my first Hang ten shirt from your store in 1968 I believe. I remember mowing yards to raise the money and paid $6.50 for it. My grandmother couldn't believe i would pay that much for a t shirt that she could buy for $2.00 at JC Penny's. I told he "But it doesn't have the little feet on it". I became a regular and bought a baby blue Hang ten swim suit from you. There was a barber shop across from you that my dad would take me to. There was also the park behind there that had the Fish Fry & parade. There was a big air force type plane the kids would play on. There was a Boy's Club with a pool across from that where i spent many summer days. Thanks for the memory and great products. I never stole anything from your store!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
Great memories Mark, My story is so similar because my family owned Grant's War Surplus in Costa Mesa, which continues on today as The Grant Boys now in it's 63rd year of business! We had the same merchandise, Dickies work clothes, Levi's and all kinds of Army surplus stuff. They were fun days. Customers come in now and say, "I used to steal you blind when I was a kid"! lol. Good thing they left some for us to sell. There was a small number of Surplus stores around the county. Things were so spread out, we never competed with each other. Fun to look back. Mike Grant
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI, too, remember going to all of these surplus stores as a kid. I grew up off 1th St & 55 in Tustin and we would always con one of the neighborhood dads into driving us to one of the Army Navy stores to get goodies. I moved to El Toro in 1982 and continued going to these stores until they either closed or ran out of original vintage surplus. I've been to a lot of surplus stores all over the country since then and actually sell surplus Military Vehicle parts.
I wrote & posted my own memories and photos of the old surplus stores along with other peoples memories at:
http://wwiijeepparts.com/WWIIArmySurplusStores.html
or http://tinyurl.com/7l5c236
If anyone has old photos of the surplus stores (inside or outside) please contact me via my website. I would like to archive them.
I've posted a link back to this page on my surplus store memories page.
best regards,
Brian
I will never forget the SMELL of that place - it was sorta 'musty-oily' and I loved digging around for surplus radio parts, clothes, etc. It was near a coffee shop named 'Vinces' if I am not mistaken, and across the street from the incredible Chris and Pitts.
ReplyDeleteAt the Grant Boys we used to sweep the asphalt floors with that red oily sawdust too. Before we opened everybody working that day had a broom and was sweeping. Wonder what happened to that stuff? Mike Grant
ReplyDeleteGosh, all these comments really did bring up memories, and I just noticed I'm sitting here grinning, thinking about my first Hang Ten shirt, the dark blue, striped one! Goodness, I'm 60 yrs old now...the things that stick in our memories!
ReplyDeleteI assume I was about the same age as you when I used to bike up to the shop to buy glorious "dry cells." They might have been fifty cents. Or, on a good day, gas masks. Or, perhaps, very cheap shirts. I loved the place and could spend hours in it. I would take the dry cells home and light small flashlight bulbs with them, and have dreams of becoming an electrician.
ReplyDeleteI think when I was about 10 years old, my little brother and I swiped a galena crystal radio from your dad's store. We had it hooked up to the chain link fence behind the boys' club when your dad came up behind us, and busted us big time! Never so scared in my life, and never did it again. Please accept our apologies!
ReplyDeleteHad not visited for awhile....seems like some FB or other social media has taken a chunk from the OC Then activity list. Mr. Swimming Pool....you may mean "Vance's" it originally had been one of the very early Denny's. Denny's had been a doughnut company out of Lakewood, Doughnut Dan's and they changed the name to Denny's as the coffee shop to avoid confusion. This one did not last long but stayed on as Vances and other asundry raggedy coffee shops. It was next to the car wash.....famous for a location to get what you migh want in High School. Garden Grove Blvd was awash with interesting places and people.
ReplyDeleteHad not visited for awhile....seems like some FB or other social media has taken a chunk from the OC Then activity list. Mr. Swimming Pool....you may mean "Vance's" it originally had been one of the very early Denny's. Denny's had been a doughnut company out of Lakewood, Doughnut Dan's and they changed the name to Denny's as the coffee shop to avoid confusion. This one did not last long but stayed on as Vances and other asundry raggedy coffee shops. It was next to the car wash.....famous for a location to get what you migh want in High School. Garden Grove Blvd was awash with interesting places and people.
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