Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Monterey Park, Cal.

Atlantic Times Square nearing completion.
(Click on images to zoom in)
614 N. Atlantic Boulevard in this San Gabriel Valley city is no longer a valid address. At the east side of the boulevard, near Hellman Avenue, and just south of the San Bernardino Freeway, Hallman Trailer Court, along with its neighboring structures, went away in very recent times, and the multi-storied, mix-use Atlantic Times Square will take on an imposing presence.
This must have been the trailer court section of Monterey Park:  in 1925, just south of here at 512 to 520 Atlantic Blvd. there stood another trailer court double the size of this one. Hallman Trailer Court was listed in the 1950 travel guide, a decent resting spot for vacationers hitching a trailer to stop off in Southern California.  (The Hallman Trailer photos were taken in 2002.)
Sanborn Fire Insurance Atlas Map, 1925-1949
Atlantic Times Square view from the north.
In 1958 with a view of hillside homes.  Monterey Park has at least four mountain peaks, two of which are separated by Monterey Pass Road from the other two peaks.  The mountains were known as Coyote Hills.  Another mountainous area close to Potrero Grande Drive is the Garvey Hills.
Were neighborhoods were taken away for this development?  The only literature I have found that might discuss this is Guadalupe Compean's 1983 UCLA Masters thesis The Los Angeles Corporate Center, Its Probable Impact on North East Los Angeles : a Client Project but I have not gotten hold of a copy, yet.

Update 7.9.2022

A reader wrote today and generously provided this:  Next to the old Hallman trailer park was Barry Frey Pontiac-GMC Truck-Subaru, which was also taken out as part of the Atlantic Times Square project. Atlantic also had some huge ugly looking SoCal Edison 66KV transmission lines that were removed during the ATS project as well. Across the street, the Great Wall Supemarket opened as a Raisin Market in 1947 as the Alhambra Midwick neighborhood off Emerson was being converted from Country Club to tract homes, then Alpha Beta bought out Raisin and lasted until the mid 1990's when Shun Fat/Great Wall Supermarket took over as part of the new wave of Chinese businesses taking over much of Atlantic Blvd. Ralphs was built as a Hughes Market, which merged into Ralphs in 1996 by way of its corporate parent (QFC bought Hughes, then Fred Meyer bought QFC and Ralphs, then Fred Meyer decided to merge Hughes into Ralphs because Hughes was only in SoCal but at first, Ralphs didn't want Hughes but later agreed to take over). As for the 99 Ranch Market, it first opened as a Vons sometime in the 1970's until it closed, then it became T&T Supermarket, a Canadian Asian chain with its first USA location in Monterey Park, that partnered with 99 Ranch until the partnership dissolved and the store converted to 99 Ranch. The adjacent Chinese herbs & gift retailer Wing Hop Fung was Thrifty Drug that later became Rite Aid.

3 comments:

  1. I'd almost forgotten what Atlantic Blvd looked like before they began building the monstrosity. Any thoughts as to what the traffic situation is going to be like once it is up and running? My guess is a total zoo.. the traffic control that is being put in place looks totally inadequate and I can imagine cars being backed up not only on Atlantic but on the San Bernardino Freeway as well.

    Aren't those two motels still there?

    Thanks for posting those pictures - fascinating!

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    Replies
    1. Next to the old Hallman trailer park was Barry Frey Pontiac-GMC Truck-Subaru, which was also taken out as part of the Atlantic Times Square project. Atlantic also had some huge ugly looking SoCal Edison 66KV transmission lines that were removed during the ATS project as well. Across the street, the Great Wall Supemarket opened as a Raisin Market in 1947 as the Alhambra Midwick neighborhood off Emerson was being converted from Country Club to tract homes, then Alpha Beta bought out Raisin and lasted until the mid 1990's when Shun Fat/Great Wall Supermarket took over as part of the new wave of Chinese businesses taking over much of Atlantic Blvd. Ralphs was built as a Hughes Market, which merged into Ralphs in 1996 by way of its corporate parent (QFC bought Hughes, then Fred Meyer bought QFC and Ralphs, then Fred Meyer decided to merge Hughes into Ralphs because Hughes was only in SoCal but at first, Ralphs didn't want Hughes but later agreed to take over). As for the 99 Ranch Market, it first opened as a Vons sometime in the 1970's until it closed, then it became T&T Supermarket, a Canadian Asian chain with its first USA location in Monterey Park, that partnered with 99 Ranch until the partnership dissolved and the store converted to 99 Ranch. The adjacent Chinese herbs & gift retailer Wing Hop Fung was Thrifty Drug that later became Rite Aid.

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    2. Thank you Red Cross Volunteer SGVPV! That is a wealth of information. I am going to add it to the body of the post so it is more accessible!

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