Some vintage photos sure know how to pop, don’t they? In this one, we’re looking at the Valley Plaza shopping mall on Laurel Canyon Blvd in North Hollywood. Opening in 1951, it was one of the first in the San Fernando Valley. According to one report I read, it was the largest shopping center on the West Coast and the third-largest in the US. This view is looking across Victory Blvd from the Mobilgas station on the southwest corner. This photo is circa late-1950s, when gas was around 30 cents a gallon (currently here in LA in December 2024, it’s around $4.40 per gallon) and the rest rooms are so clean, Mobil advertised them!
Gary H. said: “Mobil acquired Gilmore gas after WWII.”
Gary H. said: “Receipts were still called ‘register tapes’ when I worked retail in the 80s and even 90s. The receipt paper was two rolls. One for the customer that got ripped off, and one that stayed inside the register for accounting.”
This is roughly how that view looked in August 2022, when the anchor store at Valley Plaza is Target.
Sears was such an American staple for so many years. I really miss it.
I am glad the mall is still there but I am sure inside looks nothing like it did in the 50s.
I’m in New Orleans now and gas here is $2.65
OMG, really? I haven’t seen prices like that in LA for 10 years.
Well, you haven’t seen torn up, janky streets until you’ve been to New Orleans. Gas taxes pay for street maintenance. Consider yourself fortunate that California maintains it’s infrastructure
Beautiful! I grew up in this store and most of what my parents bought came from this Sears store from refrigerators, our first color tv to lawn mowers and furniture. I was born in 1953 and lived in Burbank just 3 streets from North Hollywood off Victory Blvd. This was a beautiful store and area in the 60’s. I have great memories of the inside of this store and the surrounding area. Back then the area was nice, clean and safe as well. Today not so much. It is like being in another country with street vendors, homeless, crime and just a dirty unkempt area. The Bank of America on Laurel Canyon across the street was the scene of the famous North Hollywood Shoot out in 1997. I have great childhood memories of this area growing up. It makes me very sad to see what this area looks like today. The price of gas stayed that low up until 1974 when the United States experienced a gas shortage due to the 1973-1974 oil embargo, also known as the Oil Shock. Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) imposed an embargo on oil exports to the United States in response to the U.S. supporting Israel during the Yom Kippur War. The price of oil nearly quadrupled, from $2.90 per barrel to $11.65 per barrel in January 1974. The embargo was lifted in March 1974, but the higher oil prices remained. That was the end of low gas prices and also the end of service station attendants pumping your gas and washing your windows. I started my first job in a service station in 1973 and saw it all happen. It was the end of service stations and the start of self serve gas stations and mini marts.
Wow! When I first moved over to the Valley from the Westside, I used to shop here a lot, at the Sears store, primarily. Those of us with Kenmore appliances relied on them for parts and service. But it really went downhill for some reason. Haven’t been there for years. At least It looks like the parking lot’s full, so hopefully it’s come back. I didn’t even realize they’d changed the sign.
And the Mobilgas station is out of my childhood. I loved the flying red horse. I don’t recall that when I shopped there in the seventies.
Thank you, Martin. That’s my neighborhood. Many fond memories of shopping at Sears and riding the escalator. In fact, Target, which now occupies the old Sears building, still uses an escalator to get to the pharmacy upstairs. The earthquake in 1994 nearly destroyed the building, and they re-built a stunning complex, which stands to this day. About a block away, near the famous Wells Fargo tower is what used to be one of the VERY FIRST shopping centers in southern California. Historical. Not much left today. Always a safe place to stop and shop. Its REALLY amazing, when you cross from congested Van Nuys into North Hollywood how the traffic flow changes! Wider streets, less cars, less confusion on Laurel Canyon Blvd. Then take Victory and head into very quiet, peaceful Burbank, my other home away from home. Thanks again, Martin.
One thing to note. The 30 cents a gallon price for gas in the late 50s, would equal about $3.21 a gallon today. Give or take. So gas still cost a lot in the 50s, especially with those big V-8 cars. No Mustangs, Ford Falcons or Camaros then. So one dollar would get you three plus gallons. That was a lot of money at the time. No matter what era, you never get away cheap.
The Baldwin Hills district of Los Angeles developed the Broadway-Crenshaw Center in November, 1947. This center is considered the oldest regional shopping center in operation in the United States.