LA PUENTE DAYS

THOSE LA PUENTE DAYS, they were our Wonder Years, our Sandlot years in a place we called home. Great child hood memories, stories, people and pop culture from a place called Kidsville, USA - La Puente

Photographs are added to this site all the time, as you scroll down to the end, there are several photo montage / video's that are posted of La Puente as well as a few pop culture pieces on the Donut Hole and the Vineland. The photo links on the right will take you to other sites that include vintage maps of the La Puente area from the 1940's, a rare marketing brochure from 1921/22, as well as Spear Pharmacy, Old Town Puente, and our own country doctors from the 1950's and 1960's. Check back frequently, since this site is updated almost daily. If you have any photo's you would like to share and we post them, you will get full photo credit with the post. Write us at La Puente Days

La Puente Days, carnival posters. These posters were usually

pre-printed with the carnival art in the center and then customized for specific dates and carnival location. In this case the carnival was at Sunkist Shopping Center on Amar Rd., near Puente Avenue. Food Giant, Thrifty's and Grants were the major retailers / stores. Below are other local versions:

E-MAIL US AT LA PUENTE DAYS

A posterized effect on photographs of young kids playing on
P Hill or also known as Cardboard Hill as they race their

Go-Cars down the hill in 1969.

Parade Photo courtesy - Susan Redemske -

WHEN TIME WAS ON MY SIDE

SHORT TV CLIP OF "LEAVE IT TO BEAVER"

LEAVE IT TO BEAVER EPISODE, 1960

HWY 39

La Puente, Hacienda Blvd, Over the Hills, Beach Blvd...

Jack in the Box, K-EARTH, The Beach!

Taco Strips!

L.A. County Sheriff, Hacienda & Valley Blvd, 1958

MY OLD NEIGHBORHOOD

TACO STRIPS - Beach Blvd - Summer in 1960's & 70's

Remember going down Hacienda Blvd, up over the hills to Beach Blvd, then onto the Beach. Who can forget those Taco Strips?

Sunkist Gardens Homes - Marketing Sheet

MY LA PUENTE NEIGHBORHOOD and THOSE OTHER GHOST'S

The water tower in Avocado Heights, near Bassett in 1955.

LOST IN SPACE? OR LOST IN LA PUENTE?

Nancy Holmes Avalos shared her story about her experience as a kid in La Puente -- she writes....

Just a memory:
I remember it was maybe 1969-1971 sometime and my brother and I were riding bikes at FOOD GIANT on Amar and Willow. When I was going around the palm tree planter in the front entry of Food Giant, I cut in between the grocery store and Thriftys following my brother, when I almost ran into a man who caught my bike by the handlebars and stopped me dead in my tracks..... scared me to death. I looked up at him and it was Jonathan Harris (Lost in Space)...I gasped for breath, and my brother who was ahead of me had to come back for me, he looked at the man, with his mouth wide open, I hollared, "you're on Lost in Space!!!" As loud as ever. Johnathan Harris put his index finger to his mouth and said, "Sshhhh"... and he patted me on the head and walked past. Wow!!! That was amazing! We forgot all about our ride and we just stood there and everyone that walked by us we told them, "the guy from Lost in Space was just here!" We got some smiles and a few nods of the head.... that was so exciting. We rode home and told our mom.

Remembering the Star -- short video

1964 LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES -

TOP ROW (LEFT TO RIGHT)

Charlie Capps, Coach Bo Wafford, Steve Hanley, Billy Jensen, Jack Parvin, Bobby Platt, Sam Montalbano, Carl Baker, Mgr. Frank Weems, Randy Walls (in arm cast)

BOTTOM ROW (LEFT TO RIGHT)

Mike Deluna, Danny Ross, Danny Dominguez, Jim Hubbard, David Weeks, Danny Harris

La Puente Lanes, 1960's worn photograph and
Coffee Shop menu cover

CHUY from LA PUENTE

Donut Hole 1968

THE DONUT HOLE WEBSITE --With My Video

Van Wig Pre-School

The old 1940's farm-house converted into a pre-school faces Puente Avenue just south of Francisquito, but to actually access it, you need to go in through the backside on Dillerdale Street... I went here in 1961 - 1962. They used to have a built-in pool and an old car parked in the front yard, facing Puente Avenue - but are no longer there.

Gigies Burgers truck

LA PUENTE, CA - February 1963 This photo was provided by John Driggers, it's a photograph he had of his father's panel van. His father was the owner of GIGIE'S BURGERS on Amar Rd. (now Chris's). His dad used to drive this van to the L.A. Produce Market to buy fresh produce for Gigie 's Burgers. Check out the van and the Gigie's Burger's logo on the side - Gawd I'd love to have this panel van! I never knew Gigie's was spelled this way - I always spelled it GiGi's.

The Story of a Barn

THE BLUE ROOM

The Blue Room
128 S 1st Street
La Puente

-Eddie Drake leads the house band at the Blue Room in 1963.

-Blue Room advert from 1964, Wynn Stewart was recently returned from a lengthy stint Las Vegas.

1957 house band: Dick Miller Band
1963 Owners: Walt & Scottie
1963 House band: Eddie Drake & His Country Gentlemen, which for a time includes Bob Tuttle on steel.
1964 Owner: Morrie Shapiro
1964 House band: Chuck Allen and the Mix-Up's, band includes Carl Walden on steel guitar, fresh from a stint at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas. Chuck was later killed on the road touring with Waylon Jennings in 1969.
1964-1965 House Band: Buddy Cagle, Vern Stovall, Dale Noe (lead guitar), Roy Staggs (steel), Bobby George (bass), Pat Price (drums) and for a time Wynn Stewart.
1966 Owner: Morrie Shapiro left California for Manitou Springs Colorado to open the Sundown Lounge in Manitou.
1967 house band: Known informally the Blue Room Western Band – Dick Miller, Curly Owens, Dick Green, and ‘Andre’ (drums).
1969 house bands: Johnny Paycheck & The Cashiers, Carl Walden & The Lonely Road, Werly Fairburn & The Whirly Birds. With Bill Lendrum, Bobby George and Bobbi and Joe Garlin.

LA PUENTE, CA - 1960 Neighborhood mom's on Lassalette Street in La Puente

LIFE Magazine - A LA PUENTE WWII WAR HERO - ROBERT WEST was rescued the following day after one of the Oklahoma’s Chief Petty Officers entombed in the ship’s belly succeeded in swimming down through the sunken ship, coming out on the harbor bottom and miraculously making his way over the various obstacles to the surface of the harbor (he barely made it, the trip taking five and a half minutes underwater). After he was revived he told everyone about the sailors trapped deep inside the battleship’s hull in an air bubble. Boiler technicians and ship fitters went to work trying to penetrate the double hull of the battleship’s upturned bottom. By the afternoon of the following day (Dec 8th) they succeeded in penetrating the hull, only to lose the first two survivors as the air bubble vented before they men could be extracted. They changed tactics and managed to rescues 32 sailors, of which Robert West was one.

After being sent back to Philadelphia for additional training, Robert West met his future wife, and they were eventually blessed with seven daughters, settling in La Puente, where West owned his own interior décor business in West Covina (West Interiors). His daughters attended Catholic schools and MSAC. Full story and photographs on link below -

LIFE magazine decided to profile West for a feature article on the 25th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, in December 1966. (Provided by David Rogers)
The following link is a hi-res file - it takes about a minute to pull up - but worth the wait!

LIFE MAGAZINE ARTICLE OF WEST FAMILY

SPEAR PHARMACY PHOTO'S

SPEAR PHARMACY PHOTO LINK - SITE

PUENTE, April 11, 1952 – On the P hill, overlooking La Puente Valley, people will gather before dawn tomorrow for Easter sunrise services and watch the sun light up the newly erected cross which will remain as a fitting symbol of Resurrection day.

The cross was raised this week by representatives of several of the churches to participate in the 6 a.m. rites. The La Puente Valley Ministerial Association is organizing the service.

Among the denominations represented are the Assembly of God, Baptist, Nazarene, Methodist, Four Square and Evangelical United groups.

The Methodist Community Choir and Owen White will present musical numbers and the Rev. S. E. Boyle will lead congregation singing. The Rev. Joseph E. Olson, pastor of the Bassettdale Community Church, will speak on “Calvary’s Crucible.”

This photo was later published in the October 1952 Times-Mirror employee publication “Among Ourselves.” Photographers were asked to submit their favorite image. The caption reported that Ritchie submitted this image “because of its beauty and how it conveys co-operative spirit which went into community project.”