While looking into the mystery location of the Washington Mutual ad, I discovered the existence of Alexander's Markets (which was spelled with and without the apostrophe). Their first location was in Burbank as of at least 1949 and by 1967 they had 16 locations. By 1970 they were down to 11 locations and their display ads had disappeared from the LA Times database by December 1971. The last reference I could find was to the La Canada store becoming a Vons in 1977.
These stores were on the list of stores from January, 1970:
1601 N. Vermont (at Hollywood Blvd), Los Angeles--became Super A Foods in 1972 and is now a Jons. This shopping center was talked about in a book I read (I think it was "The Drive-In, the Supermarket, and the Transformation of Commercial Space in Los Angeles, 1914-1941") as one of the first shopping centers with parking in front instead of the back.
8840 Glenoaks Blvd, Sun Valley--This store operated until at least November 1975. Now Sunland Produce.
273 E Gladstone Ave, Azusa--Auction ad dated May 1971. Became a Lucky, now a Price Rite. I know it's been mentioned here before but I couldn't find the thread.
6555 Foothill Blvd, Tujunga--Auction ad dated August 1976 (I don't know if it was an Alexanders at the time it was auctioned), became The Akron, was recently a Smart & Final but has been torn down.
260 E Magnolia Blvd, Burbank--Original location from 1949, Auction ad November 1972. There was a Pic-n-Save here in 1983. Now a huge senior housing complex.
5822 Sepulveda, Van Nuys--became Broadway Home Clearance Center. Now part of a strip mall with BevMo and Kinkos.
6355 Bellingham, North Hollywood--This is in Valley Plaza. It was a Pic-n-Save as of March 1973, became UA movie theater by 1979 and was most recently called the Regency Valley Plaza Cinemas though it has closed and reopened a couple times in the last few years. I think it's closed now. Some info on its life as a theater at http://cinematreasures.org/theater/8349/
635 W Foothill Blvd, La Canada- Now a Vons, which had its grand opening in Jan 1977. The ad specifically says that it's a former Alexander's and has a cartoon of a crane taking down the Alexander's sign and replacing it with a Vons sign. You can see the image above. As of 1967 the address for this store was 421 W. Foothill which today appears to be underneath the 210 Freeway.
328 W. Huntington Drive, Monrovia--Market Basket as of July 1972. Now an independent called King Ranch.
17955 Ventura Blvd, Tarzana (ad says Encino)-Fazio's as of 1975, C&R clothiers as of december 1979, now 99 Cent Only Store.
18426 Roscoe Blvd, Northridge--This store operated until at least November 1975. The site is now occupied by Northridge Medical Center buildings.
These stores were on a list from 1967 but didn't appear in the 1970 list:
15727 Downey Ave, Paramount--Smith's Food King as of 1980, now Treasure Hunt.
9460 Central Ave, Montclair--Apparently this was connected to Kmart. By 1969 it was Kmart Foods and then became Baza'r Foods on Feb 3, 1971. By 1974 it was an apparel chain called Lou Miller. The site is now a Costco.
3029 South Vermont, Los Angeles-Not sure
1640 E Puente Ave, Baldwin Park--Dollar Dream
550 E First St, Tustin--Vons. Though it's on a different store in the center, I've never seen anyone paint their ticker symbol on their roof before. That was the symbol of the REIT that owned the shopping center. (The REIT has been bought out, so don't bother looking up the ticker.)
http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2& ... ne=6871561
