Garden Grove & Westminster in the 1950's and 1960's
by Steve
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Carol Kennedy submits her memories of growing up in Garden Grove, and going to school in Westminster. She also talks about the stores and restaurants she remembers...
What memories this site brings back! We moved to Garden Grove in 1954, and my parents bought a brand-new tract house the next year, on Florence Lane. There were still orange groves around us. Because we were the end house on a cul-de-sac, we had 1/3 acre. My dad fenced in a huge backyard, but that still left a triangular-shaped piece in back that stayed "wild." We used to build tumbleweed forts out there. We caught lizards and "horny toads" (horned lizards), and jackrabbits would leap across the lot.
My brother and I went to Blessed Sacrament grade school in Westminster, but all our neighbors went to public school: Marie L. Hare, which was a grade school at the time. Later we went to Mater Dei, and the neighbors went to Rancho.
I remember, just for starters: the A&W and the Pink Spot on Chapman; a truck farm where a number of Japanese-American families lived at Magnolia and Garden Grove Blvd.; the Gem Theater (in downtown); the Hiway 39 drive-in; a trampoline place where you could pay to jump by the half-hour or hour, on Chapman east of Gilbert; the polo grounds on Garden Grove Blvd. east of Magnolia.
I remember when the Sav-on was built on the southwest corner of Chapman and Brookhurst--ice cream cones there were 5 cents for a scoop, with a choice of about ten flavors, and candy bars were three for 10 cents; when the plaza on the northwest corner of that intersection was built, and my folks shopped at the Thriftimart; when St. Columban's school was built, and later St. Polycarp's; when the Grove Theater was built, and we started going there instead of the old Gem.
So many memories came flooding back as I read comments here! I wish your site had a "search" feature, but it's great as it is. Thanks!
If anyone thinks they remember me, they can email me at bigred_56@hotmail.com.
Carol Kennedy
Labels: Garden-Grove, Westminster
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Ed Tunk's Country Store
by Steve
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Does anyone remember Ed Tunk's Country Store?
I believe it was located on the corner of Westminster and Magnolia in the City of Westminster.
It was a store that sold locally grown produce, and it had sawdust on the floor. Radio station KEZY would often set up a remote broadcast from Ed Tunk's.
The store has since gone, and there isn't much else on the Internet about it.
Below are a few comments we collected from the old days of OCThen.com.
By: Jerry Parker, 12 July 2001
In the mid-60's I recall Ed Tunks Country Store in Westminster or Seal Beach. I remember the location as bieng Golden West and Westminster. I could be wrong. On weekends, KEZY from Anaheim would broadcast from the store. As I was interested in radio then, I would hang around and watch the DJ play records and do his radio thing. Bythe way, KEZY was the Anaheim radio station "With studios and offices in the Disneyland hotel." Their studio was on the ground floor of the Disneyland Hotel, in the old building where the monorail station is, across from the drug/camera/card store where I worked in 1968.
By: Shirley Azvedo, 6 Aug 2001
I came to Orange County in 1963 and there was an Ed Tunk's Country Store on the corner of Westminster and Magnolia. There is a strip mall there now.
By: Eileen, 7 Dec 2001
I remember Ed Tunks also - I recall sawdust on the floor and real low prices on food. Sad to hear it is no longer there.
By: J. Russell, 4 Mar 2002
Oh my gosh! I haven't thought about Ed Tunks Country Store in so many years. I remember when I was little, my mother would take us there to buy fruit. They had the best cherries!! And my sister and I loved to run in the sawdust. Thanks for the memory.
If you remember Ed Tunk's Country Store, please click on "Post a Comment" below and tell us what you remember.
Labels: Ed-Tunk's-Country-Store, Westminster
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