Here is a link to a photo of an Alpha Beta in Duarte, CA, on April 10, 1964 from the Los Angeles Public Library:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics49/00044382.jpg
This is the full library record:
http://catalog1.lapl.org:80/cgi-bin/cw_ ... +48759+1+0 with the following description:
"The Duarte Shopping Center, with its Alpha Beta Food Market, on April 10, 1964. This is in the main business district of the foothill city at East Huntington Drive and Buena Vista Street. Retail expansion was receiving high priority on the promotional program of local government and the chamber of commerce."
I haven't been to that intersection in many years, but according to the Ralphs store locator there is a Ralphs at that intersection.
There are a couple of interesting things to look at in this picture. First, below and to the left of the first A in Alpha is a Van de Kamp's windmill sign. This indicated that the store sold Van de Kamp's bakery items (virtually every store in Socal did). The other thing is that below and to the right of the A in Beta is a sign that says "Duarte." Alpha Beta put signs on each of their stores telling you the name of that location.
Alpha Beta store in Duarte, CA, in 1964
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runchadrun
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wayne winterland jr.
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Various Alpha Beta Stamp programs
Alpha Beta Supermarkets was one of the eight founders of Blue Chip Stamps but it resigned from the company long before stamps were issued.
On September 1, 1959 Alpha Beta introduced "Frontier Stamps" which was a Texas based company in which Alpha Beta Supermarkets bought a large percentage of the company, making sure that no other supermarket chain in Southern California would offer Frontier Stamps.
Frontier Stamps were given by Alpha Beta until negotiations for merger with American Stores were underway.
On November 30, 1960 Alpha Beta joined the S & H Green Stamp program and an arrangement was made so that Frontier Stamps could be used in S & H books and vice versa for awhile making the transition from Frontier Stamps to S & H Stamps as smooth as possible.
On January 1, 1968 a public announcement was made that Alpha Beta Supermarkets would discount prices on all merchandise and all stamps and gimmicks were eliminated.
On September 1, 1959 Alpha Beta introduced "Frontier Stamps" which was a Texas based company in which Alpha Beta Supermarkets bought a large percentage of the company, making sure that no other supermarket chain in Southern California would offer Frontier Stamps.
Frontier Stamps were given by Alpha Beta until negotiations for merger with American Stores were underway.
On November 30, 1960 Alpha Beta joined the S & H Green Stamp program and an arrangement was made so that Frontier Stamps could be used in S & H books and vice versa for awhile making the transition from Frontier Stamps to S & H Stamps as smooth as possible.
On January 1, 1968 a public announcement was made that Alpha Beta Supermarkets would discount prices on all merchandise and all stamps and gimmicks were eliminated.
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wayne winterland jr.
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Alpha Beta Location on the outside of their stores
Alpha Beta did at some point in time start putting the locations or names of the area where the store was located however they dndn't have those names on every store. I grew up in the Alpha Beta Organization and my dad was a Store Manager at what used to be the old Alpha Beta Market #10 in Downtown Orange, California and at no time while that store was operated was there a sign on the building saying Orange, California nor was there one at the first Alpha Beta Market that I worked at which was Alpha Beta Store #75 which was in the east part of Orange, California, which was also in a location that was a small spanish area known as El Modena and when I worked at the Alpha Beta Market #15 in South Santa Ana, California there was also no location signage on the building or on their sign. I also remember in the 1950's and maybe even into part of the 1960's when you answered the phone you would say this is Alpha Beta #10 or whatever number store it was and also in the phone books in those days the Alpha Beta Markets were listed under the Alpha Beta Name and then by the store number and not always by the location of the store.
Wow!
Totally cool picture! I live a few miles east of this location. The photo was apparently taken from approximately where the Carl's Jr. on the SE corner of Huntington and Buena Vista is today. This market still exists-- it's called Mike's Food now. I don't know if I'd have been able to tell for sure where it was but for the Bank of America in the distance, which is also still there. (By the way, I don't think the parking lot has been paved or re-striped since this picture was taken!)
I didn't move to this area until 1987 by which time there were no longer any major chain supermarkets in Duarte, unless you count the Pantry, which closed a few years later. (Of course in neighboring Monrovia we had the very first prototype Pavilions.)
The Ralphs that was mentioned is in a shopping center on the NW corner of this intersection. It was built in the mid-90s. And on the NE corner is a Big Lots that used to be a Vons.
I didn't move to this area until 1987 by which time there were no longer any major chain supermarkets in Duarte, unless you count the Pantry, which closed a few years later. (Of course in neighboring Monrovia we had the very first prototype Pavilions.)
The Ralphs that was mentioned is in a shopping center on the NW corner of this intersection. It was built in the mid-90s. And on the NE corner is a Big Lots that used to be a Vons.
Here is that location today. I took it from http://local.live.com/
The Alpha Beta would be on the very right, the Drug store I guess is that the Rite Aid there. It looks like at one point these were not connected and the Alpha Beta expanded the store to meet the drug store (unless the drug store was there all the time before moving next door. The Bank of America is still there, all the way on the left of the picture across the street. It hasnt changed much.
The Alpha Beta would be on the very right, the Drug store I guess is that the Rite Aid there. It looks like at one point these were not connected and the Alpha Beta expanded the store to meet the drug store (unless the drug store was there all the time before moving next door. The Bank of America is still there, all the way on the left of the picture across the street. It hasnt changed much.
Rite-Aid
The Rite-Aid in Duarte (formerly Thrifty) is across the street to the north, in the shopping center with the Big Lots (former Vons.) I don't think there's a drugstore in the Mike's Food shopping center--certainly not a chain anyway.
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Dan Nichols
Alpha Beta in Orange
I remember the Alpha Beta stores in Orange at Tustin/Collins. My brother worked there as a box boy in the 1960's. I also remember the store on South Glassell. Going back further, there was an Alpha Beta on East Chapman which is now occupied by Watson's Drug Store.
Visit the Orange Public Library website and you will find a wonderful and searchable photo database. There are photos showing the Alpha Beta on Chapman in 1941 and on Glassell in 1951 and 1952.
One of the oldest markets in Orange was the Ehlen & Grote Market. My father worked there as a boy in the 1920's. The store was on South Glassell. You can still see their sign painted on the side of the building mid-block in an alley.
Visit the Orange Public Library website and you will find a wonderful and searchable photo database. There are photos showing the Alpha Beta on Chapman in 1941 and on Glassell in 1951 and 1952.
One of the oldest markets in Orange was the Ehlen & Grote Market. My father worked there as a boy in the 1920's. The store was on South Glassell. You can still see their sign painted on the side of the building mid-block in an alley.
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runchadrun
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Re: Alpha Beta in Orange
Thanks for the tip! Here are some of the photos:Dan Nichols wrote:Visit the Orange Public Library website and you will find a wonderful and searchable photo database. There are photos showing the Alpha Beta on Chapman in 1941 and on Glassell in 1951 and 1952.
This is the one on Glassell.
http://localhistory.cityoforange.org/ph ... 511853.jpg
http://localhistory.cityoforange.org/ph ... 511476.jpg
http://localhistory.cityoforange.org/ph ... 512201.jpg
And this is on "E. Whiting Ave" in Fullerton
http://localhistory.cityoforange.org/ph ... 643444.jpg
http://localhistory.cityoforange.org/ph ... 643424.jpg
If you look at Live Local, it looks like the building at the corner of West Whiting Ave and North Harbor (I beleive it was called State Street before if my memory serves me right). If this is it, then that building is used today as a bank and something else. You can see that both the Alpha Beta and the bank have the same curved woofs.
it also looks like the Orange, CA store is still standing. I dont know what its used for today, but definitely there. Its on the corner of South Glassel St and W Almond Ave, in the Orange Circle area.
it also looks like the Orange, CA store is still standing. I dont know what its used for today, but definitely there. Its on the corner of South Glassel St and W Almond Ave, in the Orange Circle area.
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Dan Nichols
The Alpha Beta at Glassell and Almond is still standing. It has been an antique store for several years. A new building has recently been built in the old parking lot in the left forground of the photo. I don't know what business is in the building, but the design keeps with the old downtown flavor.
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wayne winterland jr.
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alpha beta stores in orange, calif.
Yes Dan the Alpha Beta Market indeed was where Watson's drug store is located and do you remember the Van De Kamps Bakery store that used to be on the corner next to Watson's Drugstore? Do you also remember the Orange Savings & Loan on the other side of Watson's Drugstore next to the Plaza in downtown Orange? I remember that Watson's Drug Store had a pretty good sit down lunch counter and for many years it was run by a nice little man named Scotty.
I lived in Orange, Calif. until 1979 and I know and remember the Alpha Beta Market at 178 South Glassell St. I should know that store because my father opened that store and became the Store Manager there. This same store was called Alpha Beta Store #10. I spent time there helping my dad and it was a difficult store to run. For one thing this particular Alpha Beta Store didn't have any refrigerated cases for the produce department and each morning the produce department head had to wheel out all of the product to be put out every day and at night they had to pull all of the wet leaf produce and other produce items and put them into wooden crates and wheel the produce to the produce back room and put into the small produce cooler. The only way that they could even try to keep the produce fresh was to keep it wet by using a big watering can. They had an over the counter meat counter and the meat in those days was usually pretty good. there a very few small refrigerated coffin style refrigerated cases for deli items and next to that was a small dairy cooler and next to that were a few very small sections of frozen food cases then next to that was where the soda pop section along the east side of the windows and during the summer time when the sun shined onto the window behind the soda pop there would sometimes be quart bottles of
par-t-pak pop and off and on there would be so much pressure built up from the heat of the sun through the windows that the bottle caps would explode and pop would go fizzing down the shelves. This Alpha Beta Marlet was only 10,000 sq. ft. and all of the shelving was made out of wood and the shelves couldn't be raised or changed or moved around as you could do with metal shelving. The store had only 5 checkstands and only about 15 or so shopping carts. On Sundays the only people who worked that day were the Meat Dept. Head, the Produce Dept. Head and either the Store Manager or the Grocery Dept. Head and I remember in 1963 the stores weekly sales were only $23,000 to $25,000 and with that small a store and everything that went with it there was a bare bones store work schedule hours. But I have years of wonderful memories of being able to be at that same downtown Alpha Beta Store #!0 with my day. Just before the downtown Alpha Beta Market's lease was up Alpha Beta tried to buy the entire block just across the street from the store and everybody on that entire block agreed to sell their property except for a couple who owned a beauty shop and also the house behind it and that property sat right in the middle of the block and they held out for more money and Alpha Beta Markets said no and then cancelled their plans for a new Alpha Beta Store in downtown Orange. After Alpha Beta closed this downtown store awhile later somebody reopened the store and called it Satellite Market and I don't know how long it was until the current stores moved into the same location.
Now to get on to the Alpha Beta Store on Tustin and Collins in Orange. That Alpha Beta Store was #39 and I believe the time during which your brother worked there the Store Manager was named Marty Newig who I also knew because at one time he was also the Store Manager of the downtown Orange Alpha Beta Store.
I started working in May of 1963 at the Alpha Beta Store #75 on East Chapman Ave in the area called El Modena which was a small spanish area around where the store was located. The last I had heard several years ago the Alpha Beta Store in El Modena had been turned into an Albertsons. When Alpha Beta built that store in 1963 all of the new building was going towards the east side of Orange, Calif. and when Alpha Beta built and opened the store the building stopped going towards the east part of Orange and instead went towards the north part of Orange which is also where Alpha Beta build another store on North Tustin Ave. and the first Store Manager there was named Virgil Fast who at one time had also been a Manager of the downtown Orange store.
I lived in Orange, Calif. until 1979 and I know and remember the Alpha Beta Market at 178 South Glassell St. I should know that store because my father opened that store and became the Store Manager there. This same store was called Alpha Beta Store #10. I spent time there helping my dad and it was a difficult store to run. For one thing this particular Alpha Beta Store didn't have any refrigerated cases for the produce department and each morning the produce department head had to wheel out all of the product to be put out every day and at night they had to pull all of the wet leaf produce and other produce items and put them into wooden crates and wheel the produce to the produce back room and put into the small produce cooler. The only way that they could even try to keep the produce fresh was to keep it wet by using a big watering can. They had an over the counter meat counter and the meat in those days was usually pretty good. there a very few small refrigerated coffin style refrigerated cases for deli items and next to that was a small dairy cooler and next to that were a few very small sections of frozen food cases then next to that was where the soda pop section along the east side of the windows and during the summer time when the sun shined onto the window behind the soda pop there would sometimes be quart bottles of
par-t-pak pop and off and on there would be so much pressure built up from the heat of the sun through the windows that the bottle caps would explode and pop would go fizzing down the shelves. This Alpha Beta Marlet was only 10,000 sq. ft. and all of the shelving was made out of wood and the shelves couldn't be raised or changed or moved around as you could do with metal shelving. The store had only 5 checkstands and only about 15 or so shopping carts. On Sundays the only people who worked that day were the Meat Dept. Head, the Produce Dept. Head and either the Store Manager or the Grocery Dept. Head and I remember in 1963 the stores weekly sales were only $23,000 to $25,000 and with that small a store and everything that went with it there was a bare bones store work schedule hours. But I have years of wonderful memories of being able to be at that same downtown Alpha Beta Store #!0 with my day. Just before the downtown Alpha Beta Market's lease was up Alpha Beta tried to buy the entire block just across the street from the store and everybody on that entire block agreed to sell their property except for a couple who owned a beauty shop and also the house behind it and that property sat right in the middle of the block and they held out for more money and Alpha Beta Markets said no and then cancelled their plans for a new Alpha Beta Store in downtown Orange. After Alpha Beta closed this downtown store awhile later somebody reopened the store and called it Satellite Market and I don't know how long it was until the current stores moved into the same location.
Now to get on to the Alpha Beta Store on Tustin and Collins in Orange. That Alpha Beta Store was #39 and I believe the time during which your brother worked there the Store Manager was named Marty Newig who I also knew because at one time he was also the Store Manager of the downtown Orange Alpha Beta Store.
I started working in May of 1963 at the Alpha Beta Store #75 on East Chapman Ave in the area called El Modena which was a small spanish area around where the store was located. The last I had heard several years ago the Alpha Beta Store in El Modena had been turned into an Albertsons. When Alpha Beta built that store in 1963 all of the new building was going towards the east side of Orange, Calif. and when Alpha Beta built and opened the store the building stopped going towards the east part of Orange and instead went towards the north part of Orange which is also where Alpha Beta build another store on North Tustin Ave. and the first Store Manager there was named Virgil Fast who at one time had also been a Manager of the downtown Orange store.
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Dan Nichols
Wow! Marty Newig, a name from the past. I remember the name and that he was very good to my brother. Mr. Newig would always say Hello to us when we shopped at the store.
I remember the Orange Savings and loan. My mother worked there for awhile. My father had a dental practice in a little brick building at Orange/Almond. The building still stands and is now an architect's office.
I remember the bakery as my Dad would walk me from his office to Watson's for a coke. We talked to Scotty. Ironically, my Dad had a heart attack and died right there at the counter in 1966.
Do you remember Owing's Men's Store? It was next to the Army-Navy store. I worked part-time there for George Petska, another nice guy. My grandmother lived in the apartments in the Ehlen and Grote building so I prowled every inch of that downtown area in the 50's and 60's. It was a great place to be a kid.
I remember the Orange Savings and loan. My mother worked there for awhile. My father had a dental practice in a little brick building at Orange/Almond. The building still stands and is now an architect's office.
I remember the bakery as my Dad would walk me from his office to Watson's for a coke. We talked to Scotty. Ironically, my Dad had a heart attack and died right there at the counter in 1966.
Do you remember Owing's Men's Store? It was next to the Army-Navy store. I worked part-time there for George Petska, another nice guy. My grandmother lived in the apartments in the Ehlen and Grote building so I prowled every inch of that downtown area in the 50's and 60's. It was a great place to be a kid.
Alpha Beta Downtown Fullerton CA
For a few years I lived just half a block behind the site of this vintage Alpha Beta.
It is now the site of a Farmers and Merchants Bank.
The tower visible in the background is part of the Villa Del Sol Shopping/Office Complex at Wilshire and Harbor (formerly Spadra Rd.)
I would guess this location closed in the late 50s or early 60s - an Alpha Beta on the East side of Fullerton (on North Raymond - no more than a mile away) dates from that period. I remember it had the cursive "Fullerton" (or perhaps "East Fullerton") on the exterior logo. Thanks for reminding me of that feature of ABs!
It is now the site of a Farmers and Merchants Bank.
The tower visible in the background is part of the Villa Del Sol Shopping/Office Complex at Wilshire and Harbor (formerly Spadra Rd.)
I would guess this location closed in the late 50s or early 60s - an Alpha Beta on the East side of Fullerton (on North Raymond - no more than a mile away) dates from that period. I remember it had the cursive "Fullerton" (or perhaps "East Fullerton") on the exterior logo. Thanks for reminding me of that feature of ABs!
Re: Alpha Beta Location on the outside of their stores
A former San Bernardino CA ALPHA BETA is now SMART & FINAL. I believe it still has the ALPHA BETA "naming" on the right side of the store. The site is on BASELINE...so in script-type writing...it says BASELINE.wayne winterland jr. wrote:Alpha Beta did at some point in time start putting the locations or names of the area where the store was located however they dndn't have those names on every store. I grew up in the Alpha Beta Organization and my dad was a Store Manager at what used to be the old Alpha Beta Market #10 in Downtown Orange, California and at no time while that store was operated was there a sign on the building saying Orange, California nor was there one at the first Alpha Beta Market that I worked at which was Alpha Beta Store #75 which was in the east part of Orange, California, which was also in a location that was a small spanish area known as El Modena and when I worked at the Alpha Beta Market #15 in South Santa Ana, California there was also no location signage on the building or on their sign. I also remember in the 1950's and maybe even into part of the 1960's when you answered the phone you would say this is Alpha Beta #10 or whatever number store it was and also in the phone books in those days the Alpha Beta Markets were listed under the Alpha Beta Name and then by the store number and not always by the location of the store.
The City of Industry CA site was @ Gale Avenue & Turnbull Canyon Road. It simply said TURNBULL. When the site converted to RALPHS...I believe TURNBULL was removed. This site has become two (2) independents since.