West Covina CA

Uh...California.

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luckysaver
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Posts: 295
Joined: 22 Feb 2007 17:10

Re: West Covina CA

Post by luckysaver »

Jan,

The church you mentioned on San Bernardino Road was a McDaniel's from the 1940's. They also had a Garvey Ave location, which was likely between Azusa and Hollenbeck. West of Azusa, San Bernardino Road has many old buildings/businesses (such as Covina Bowl behind the brand new Home Depot).

Sunset Avenue changes its name to Irwindale Avenue at Badillo Street, which divides West Covina, Covina, and an the unincorporated section of Kincaid. I'm not sure about the Safeway being there at Puente, as my entire dealt with buildings that I know still exist today (with the exception of the former Alpha Beta on Sunset). Note that at the south end of Sunset (at Francisquito) is the ex-Thriftimart/Albertsons Max Foods (now Northgate Gonzales) and it is a border location since a block away is the border with unincorporated West La Puente.

Alpha Beta in its history had 5 or 6 locations within Covina. The one that closed last year was the latest. The other Covina stores were on Grand and Badillo (Fresh and Easy or Blake Paper) and Grand/Arrow (razed to build the business park) and the 99Cents (ex-Ralphs) on Vincent/San Bernardino. Their first location in the 1930's was on College Street behind Covina City Hall. I think its unrelated because Alpha Beta (the one that just closed) opened in 1976 and all I remember is Chick's moving to Eastland in the '90's (at that time, they operated both these stores together, then decided on closing the Shoppers Lane store).

luckysaver
Jan
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Posts: 10
Joined: 11 Feb 2009 22:56
Location: southern California

Re: West Covina CA

Post by Jan »

luckysaver wrote:The church you mentioned on San Bernardino Road was a McDaniel's from the 1940's.
Thanks! I wouldn't have come up with that in a million years.
luckysaver wrote:I'm not sure about the Safeway being there at Puente, as my entire dealt with buildings that I know still exist today (with the exception of the former Alpha Beta on Sunset).
The Safeway building is still there (being used as a church), as is the strip of stores - I think one might have been a TG&Y - that used to be next to it, although I think those are vacant now.

That Alpha Beta on Sunset was my favorite Alpha Beta, by the way.
luckysaver wrote:Note that at the south end of Sunset (at Francisquito) is the ex-Thriftimart/Albertsons Max Foods (now Northgate Gonzales) and it is a border location since a block away is the border with unincorporated West La Puente.
I haven't been by there in eons. Does Northgate Gonzales occupy the old Ole's building?
luckysaver wrote:I think its unrelated because Alpha Beta (the one that just closed) opened in 1976 and all I remember is Chick's moving to Eastland in the '90's (at that time, they operated both these stores together, then decided on closing the Shoppers Lane store).
And I don't remember when Chick's moved in to the old Alpha Beta at Shopper's Lane so can't narrow down at all when AB left it, but my sense is that it was considerably before 1976. I have absolutely no luck in trying to Google for this type of information.
Jeff
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Joined: 21 Nov 2005 21:44

Re: West Covina CA

Post by Jeff »

Chicks used the Citrus location as an outlet when the new store opened in Eastland.

They later moved this outlet to Upland.
luckysaver
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Posts: 295
Joined: 22 Feb 2007 17:10

Re: West Covina CA

Post by luckysaver »

I heard a commercial on 980 KFWB this morning - Chick's is closing at the end of the month and will reopen in May as Dick's Sporting Goods. They are currently having a massive liquidation sale.

I never heard of Dick's until they started sponsoring some of the college sporting events aired on the ESPN family of networks.

luckysaver
Jeff
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Posts: 940
Joined: 21 Nov 2005 21:44

Re: West Covina CA

Post by Jeff »

Dick's is a massively large chain on the east coast. Their stores are HUGE, larger than Chick's locations. I mean, they usually take old Department Stores and convert them. 80k feet range.

They carry not only sporting goods but a large shoe and clothing selection.
TJguy
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Posts: 5
Joined: 19 Jun 2011 21:31

Re: West Covina CA

Post by TJguy »

luckysaver wrote:Jan,

Alpha Beta in its history had 5 or 6 locations within Covina. The one that closed last year was the latest. The other Covina stores were on Grand and Badillo (Fresh and Easy or Blake Paper) and Grand/Arrow (razed to build the business park) and the 99Cents (ex-Ralphs) on Vincent/San Bernardino. Their first location in the 1930's was on College Street behind Covina City Hall. I think its unrelated because Alpha Beta (the one that just closed) opened in 1976 and all I remember is Chick's moving to Eastland in the '90's (at that time, they operated both these stores together, then decided on closing the Shoppers Lane store).

luckysaver
The original Alpa Beta in Covina on College closed when Alpha Beta moved to Shoppers Lane circa 1953. The Shoppers Lane store also had an Alphy's Nursery. In about 1964 the College Street store became a Pronto Market (the forerunner of Trader Joe's). In the mid '70s they sold it to Hi-Ho Markets, which it operates as today.

The original Covina Safeway in downtown is still there but not recognizable. It moved to South Citrus across from Alpha Beta in the early '60s and closed in the '70s. When it closed Safeway opened the store at Badillo and Azusa, (now Smart & Final?), then in the '80s moved to the north end of the same center, but closed a few years later. The south Citrus store is now an Enterprise Car Rental lot.
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