McDaniel's Markets in Socal

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runchadrun
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McDaniel's Markets in Socal

Post by runchadrun »

In looking into the history of Valley Plaza for this thread I discovered the existence of a chain called McDaniel's Markets. Their mascot was a sterotypical Scot with a kilt and tam (think Groundskeeper Willy). The chain was founded by Dan W. McDaniel who committed suicide at age 32 in 1936. In 1957 they bought Walker's Supermarkets which had stores in Upland, Fontana, Inglewood, and Temple City and two in West Covina. At their peak they had 24 stores. In April 1961 9 stores were sold to Food Giant however it appears that they didn't sell all of their stores to Food Giant (or Hughes; see below), though I found some of the other locations in auction ads so they must have liquidated them. For several months Food Giant ran ads with both names.

Sometime between 1961 and 1964 Hughes acquired the 3 stores listed below which are still operating today as Ralphs stores. They are similar prototypes with parking in front and back of the store, something we talked about in this thread
1100 San Fernando Rd, Burbank
10400 N Sepulveda, Dennis Park, now known as Mission Hills
6657 N Laurel Canyon, North Hollywood

In addition to the three above, the following stores were operating as of October 1960. As far as I could tell none of them are currently operating as modern supermarkets except the Oxnard and Baldwin Park stores. Many have been torn down. The stores marked with * became Food Giants.
*5119 East Pomona, East Los Angeles
126 S Glendora Blvd, West Covina
1825 W Badillo, West Covina
*6135 Atlantic Blvd, Maywood
*325 N Canon Dr, Beverly Hills
2800 Saviers Rd, Oxnard (now Valu Plus Food Warehouse)
*14103 W Ramona Blvd, Baldwin Park (now Valu Plus Food Warehouse)
*2235 E Garvey Blvd, West Covina
*13942 E Imperial Hwy, La Mirada (now Big Lots)
440 W Arrow Hwy, West Covina
243 E 1st St, Rialto
2190 N Garey Ave, Pomona
*700 Lower Azusa Rd, El Monte
*1383 Foothill Blvd, Upland (closed by Food Giant within a few months)
*17375 Foothill Blvd, Fontana
50 Ashwood, Ventura
1117 W Manchester, Inglewood
415 W Huntington Dr, Monrovia
2337 Sierra Way, San Bernardino
Highland and Sterling, San Bernardino

These stores closed between April and October 1960:
4700 Los Coyotes Diagonal, Long Beach
2208 W Century Blvd, Inglewood (replaced by store on Manchester)

These are former locations (all former Walker's) that also closed at some point before 1960:
Chaffey & Grove, Upland
8443 Nuevo, Fontana
4819 Temple City Blvd, Temple City

(Edit: corrected current status of Oxnard and Baldwin Park stores.)
Last edited by runchadrun on 22 Feb 2007 14:59, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Groceteria »

Postcard view of a McDaniel's market in Oxnard that I snagged from an eBay listing a couple of years ago:

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Post by javelin »

Wow finally some info on this! I had asked around a while ago about the location on Atlantic in Maywood, CA and got zero feedback. From what I was told by family, that location was closed due to a fire that broke out in the early 60's. By the time I remember the store, it had been rebuilt long before and was a Smith's Food King, then a store called "Alpha" (not Alpha Beta). Also next to a Thrifty's and a Rasco variety store, both of which closed in the early 80's (the Thrifty's roof partially collapsed during a storm in 1983 and was relocated to a new shopping center at the site of the former Maywood Hospital). The major difference between this and the Oxnard pic is that the parking was at the rear.

Looking at Microsoft Live Local, the building is still there, but I can't tell what it is.

2190 N Garey Ave, Pomona
Now a U-haul moving center

2337 Sierra Way, San Bernardino
Can't recall what it is, but the building at that site loks like a former grocery store.
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Re: McDaniel's Markets in Socal

Post by Jeff »

I was Live-localing these and this is what I beleive. It may not be true.

*5119 East Pomona, East Los Angeles - became a Builers Emporium at some point. I remember this BE was smaller than the Montebello location down the street and reminded me of an old market. This was torn down many years ago after Builders went out of business.

126 S Glendora Blvd, West Covina - torn down. when, unknown. Most likely when they tore out all the downtown area in the 80's.

1825 W Badillo, West Covina - Badillo and Orange Ave. I think its that old market there when searching. I dont know what it is today.

*2235 E Garvey Blvd, West Covina - torn down several years ago. I think back in the 80s.
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Post by luckysaver »

I did a Google search and found that some locations still exist as supermarkets today.

Maywood is now Liborio Market (hispanic)
Sierra Way in San Bernardino is now Rio Rancho Market #8
Temple City is now Temple City Ranch Market

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Post by Dean »

luckysaver wrote:I did a Google search and found that some locations still exist as supermarkets today.

Maywood is now Liborio Market (hispanic)
Sierra Way in San Bernardino is now Rio Rancho Market #8
Temple City is now Temple City Ranch Market
Drove by the 2337 Sierra Way site today. It had been GROCERY OUTLET. It is now vacant.

The Highland & Sterling location is probably what is now a Hispanic market. Prior to this...it had been VONS.

Across the street was Albertsons-->Grocery Warehouse/Max Foods, and now a "mall" of sorts (independent dealers).

The other corner is a Gemco turned Target...

So, again, I assume the Highland & Sterling was the above mentioned.
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Post by Dean »

I noticed yesterday, that the Highland & Sterling site is currently RIO RANCH MARKET.
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Post by runchadrun »

Here is a artist's rendering of the Oxnard store:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics49/00044367.jpg
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Post by Dave »

runchadrun wrote:Here is a artist's rendering of the Oxnard store:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics49/00044367.jpg
I see that they ended up painting the pylon beige rather than the plaid shown in the rendering. Probably had problems finding plaid paint. :)
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Post by Dean »

Noticed today that the 2337 Sierra Way, San Bernardino site has been converted to an independent...FARMERS MARKET.

Very impressed with what they have done to the site. It truly needed assistance!

The place was packed. Truly fills a need in the community.

On the opposite corner, 2150 Sierra Way, is a former Safeway. It is now Inland Empire Outpatient Surgery Center.
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Re: McDaniel's Markets in Socal

Post by runchadrun »

I found this on Flickr. It's the McDaniel's logo in the terrazzo floor of the Pomona store which is now a U-Haul storage center.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dusty_de_mure/392479867/

Image
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Re: McDaniel's Markets in Socal

Post by Jeff »

I wonder if that logo is still there.
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Re: McDaniel's Markets in Socal

Post by Gunter Caddington »

Folks: A few memories of the McDaniel's Market in Valley Plaza at 6657 Laurel Canyon Blvd in North Hollywood. This will also touch on the Hughes acquisition and the impact on the building, which still exists today as a Ralphs.

The Valley Plaza McDaniel's resembled the Oxnard store which has been illustrated in this topic. But the Pylon was on the right end of the front of the building. Although not painted out in a full blown plaid, it was painted in a checkered pattern, with the neon Scotsman on the pylon. I'm trying to remember if it was a motion sign, with the Scotsman winking, or doing a little jig or something.

There were two entrances, the front on Laurel Canyon and the back entrance. Both sides of the building had a corrugated canopy, the underside rather poorly lit with what seemed to be randomly placed single tube flourescents in some of the corrugations. As was typical of the times, the front canopy had a cut-out where a pair of palm trees grew through to the sky. And most astonishingly, the front and rear doors were MANUAL--no magic doors for McDaniel's!

Inside the front entrance to the right was a small grill/snack bar with about half a dozen stools. They made a pretty decent hamburger if I recall. To the left was a "Ma Gordon's" Deli. We never bought anything from Ma Gordon's because someone knew someone who knew someone who knew someone who saw a Ma Gordon's employee once spit on the floor.

Near the rear entrance was a Van De Kamps bakery that also sold cookies from Bulk Cookie bins.

McDaniel's actually had a radio jingle (in waltz time!), of which I remember a bit. "Where do we go when the food's running low?/We always go to McDaniel's". There was also a line about S&H Green Stamps.

Hughes first made its presence known in the early 1960's by papering over the McDaniel's sign with a "This Market is now owned and operated by Hughes Market". After the takeover, the management made suggestion cards available--and of course the overwhelming wish was for "Magic Doors".

The plyon was covered over by corrugated metal sheets, and a new Hughes sign appeared at the top. On the front canopy, the red neon "McDaniel's Market" signs were replaced by white back-lit plastic "Hughes Market" signs. But on the rear canopy, only the "McDaniel's" was replaced---the white "Hughes" clashing with the red "Market" left over from the old owners. The under canopy lighting was improved with flourescent strip lights running the entire length of the canopy, both in the front and the rear. Some (but not all) of the freezer cases were replaced. The Scotsman logo remained in the terrazzo floor at the entrances for several years, just missing being covered over by the rubber mats for the new automatic doors. At some point I recall the Scotsman being gone--but could never figure out how he could have been removed from a terrazzo floor--maybe bleached out? S&H Green Stamps were replaced by the now more popular Blue Chip Stamps.

After a couple of years, the snack bar was replaced by a "fish market" (actually an extension to the meat counter). Ma Gordon's was replaced by an expanded liquor department and moved out into one of the arcade shops just a bit to the south and closed shortly after (must have been that spitting rumor!). Van De Kamps eventually left, too; the produce department expanded into the vacated area.

Hughes finally did a much needed remodel of the exterior in the late 1960's or early 1970's. The canopies (and palm trees) were removed. As they modernized the plylon, the old McDaniel's checkerboard and the scar from the removed neon Scotsman reappeared briefly before the plyon was changed into the form that still exists today for the Ralphs sign.

A fire gutted the interior in the mid 1970's, leaving only the four exterior walls, the restrooms and the stairway to the upstairs offices. The store was rebuilt largely along the same lines--and since has been remodeled again (probably more than once). But I moved to Northern California in the late 1970's so I'm kind of fuzzy on the history after that time. But the front and rear entrances, both still active, are still in the same place as they were back in the McDaniel's days and still look very much as they did after the 1970's exterior remodel.
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Re: McDaniel's Markets in Socal

Post by TJguy »

Jeff wrote:I was Live-localing these and this is what I beleive. It may not be true.
*2235 E Garvey Blvd, West Covina - torn down several years ago. I think back in the 80s.
This store was at Hollenbeck & Garvey Boulevard on the north side of I-10. When I-10 was built (at the time it was Highway 99) there were on and off ramps for Hollenbeck, but no under crossing, so they were never able to capitalize on large area south of the freeway. Hiram's/Lucky in Eastland (1/2 mile east at Citrus) pulled from both sides of the freeway. The only time the store did well was during grocery strikes as McDaniel's had a sweetheart agreement with the union and stayed open when all the other chains were on strike.

The store had a front and rear entrance and some concession service areas. There was a Simmon's Bakery and a snack bar of some sort. There was a small strip center to the west of the store that included a Stop-n-Go convenience store.

McDaniels closed in about 1961 and became an ice skating rink shortly thereafter. The large Scotsman on the pylon sign facing the freeway became a Scotsman wearing ice skates. In the 80's when I-10 was widened an underpass was added for Hollenbeck Avenue requiring a realignment of Garvey Avenue. By that time the ice skating rink had closed and the shopping center was torn down. It was rebuilt with retail, but today is more office than retail.

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Re: McDaniel's Markets in Socal

Post by symmes4 »

I confirm this history for the McDaniel's Market on Hollenbeck. I was about 8 years old at the time and my dad was the assistant manager at the time in 1960. Growing up it was always so cool for my dad to take me to work with him. I was so proud of him, especially when he unlocked the front door with his key. What I really enjoyed was sitting in the cold food storage area and he would pull down a container of cottage cheese for us to share together. I remember being sad when McDaniel's shut the chain down. I always thought it was the best job he ever had. He worked in grocery stores the rest of his, finally retiring in 1984. I also confirm the skating rink story followed by the building teardown for the freeway off ramp redesign. Me...I'm 68 years old and love to hear the old stories of SoCal markets, especially McDaniel's and Mayfair Stores.
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