San Gabriel Valley Small Business Spotlight

Two San Gabriel Valley businesses which this blogger patronized as a customer - one has flourished (Howard's TV & Appliance) and the other has vanished (Yama Japanese Restaurant).

Howard's TV & Appliance

Founder Howard Roach began his business as a radio repair shop in 1946 at 303 E. Valley Boulevard in the city of San Gabriel - you can read some company history at their website; the San Gabriel Tribune's Lauren Gold wrote a piece on Mr. Roach in 2012.  Today Howard's has numerous locations throughout southern California.

In 2011 it was announced that the company would relocate from their oldest store at 300 E. Valley and head further west onto Main Street in Alhambra.  The new store finally opened sometime last year.  Here are some pictures of the former store in 2012:

The former store at 300 E. Valley Boulevard is now Hawaii Home Center.
 

In the 1980s, Howard established his business as a 100% employee-owned store according to the website.  1981 was also the year that their second block-long superstore opened in the city of La Habra.  Here are some ads of years past:



Ad from March, 1957, listing another of Roach's early stores at 213 E. Valley Blvd.



Ad from October 1958

Ad from July 1959

Ad from August 1959

 



Ad from September 1959



Ad from November 1960, informing of the store move from 303 to 300 E. Valley Blvd.

Ad from March 1973

Yama Japanese Restaurant

One of the oldest remaining "old school" Japanese eateries in San Gabriel Valley (established in the 1960s) is pictured below taken about September, 2012.  Shortly after these photos were taken, the business must have changed hands - the dining room was remodeled, the old 1960s era booths were gone.  About a year later, the restaurant was gone, too. 

Bowling and Roller Skating in San Gabriel, Cal.

The New San Gabriel Lanes closed up around the summer of 2008. The building pictured is still for sale.

No date found on when the bowling alley was built,
but "San Gabriel Bowling Lanes" was listed in the L.A. Times in September, 1961.

Up one block and across the street at 136 So. San Gabriel Boulevard is a building once home to Shamrock Roller Rink.

The current business is an Airsoft store and warehouse covering 30,000 square feet.  Merchandise, guns and plastic bb's are sold here to support the recreational sport similar to war games using paintball.

Shamrock Roller Rink started up here in 1949.  It was brand new building.  "Shamrock" was an often-used name:  there were other Shamrock rinks, and there was a Shamrock roller hockey team out of Pasadena.  Music went along with the sport:  roller skating discs were cut at Hollywood's Capitol Records with music set for a tango, march or waltz beat as well as the hokey pokey.  In the 1960s, live bands performed there.  In 1968 the name of the rink was changed to Fiesta Roller Rink.

A Look at Some San Gabriel Valley Businesses

Some noticeable changes to a couple of long-time businesses prompted me to document their existence in case they close up and their signs are taken down.  Their longevity in the area deserves recognition.  They represent the ways we used to shop in an earlier time when shopkeepers were independent.

Rosemead Pharmacy

Rosemead Pharmacy faces a Rite-Aid store directly across the street on Valley Boulevard.
(Click on images to zoom in)

Bob Peterson owned Bob's Rosemead Pharmacy at an earlier location one block east at the corner of Rosemead and Valley, at 9001 Valley Boulevard, where the Citibank is currently located.  As early as 1953, Rosemead Pharmacy advertised in the paper, along with dozens and dozens of independent pharmacies.

Only animal figurines living in this drug store.

Above is an ad from the year 1957 for an Alhambra pharmacy.

Jenkins Products, Inc.

Jenkin's Carpets, at 1841 So. San Gabriel Boulevard was a store that was easy to overlook.

Until recently this San Gabriel store, long having been at this location, was still open for business.

This store was easy to bypass.  There were plenty of store windows, but the store exterior lacked appeal.  I shopped here in the early 1980s for beige mini-blinds.  In those years neither Home Depot nor 3-Day Blinds existed.  Maybe the store is just getting a face-lift.


Bob's Wondries Motors in Alhambra

A familiar car dealer from a 1957 ad.
(Click on image to zoom in)

From Studebakers to Toyotas, this business has survived.

San Gabriel, Cal.

I often drove past Valley and San Gabriel Boulevards. A building on the southwest corner was being renovated, eventually stripped down to its handsome brickyard. Uncovered was a sign from a former business, "Gilmore's Pharmacy." I snapped this photo while waiting for the light in the summer of 2002.

Historic brick buildings are in vogue and greatly admired today,
however this 21st century, blasé cover-up is ghastly.