Groceteria.com

I found this by accident. Maybe somebody previously pointed this out, which I apologize if they did. I was driving through Venice, CA and saw this building that looked like either a Safeway or Alpha Beta. It is now a USPS office. I looked at the Los Angeles building department records and it looks like it is a Safeway built in 1958-59 which is interesting in that it would be pre-Marina but post 50's. If Safeway would have kept this it would be worth a mint, instead of the junkyard the UPS has it now.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/gfoD2EMJfYRUWpnB7

I feel like I drove past this once when I was in Venice maybe 10 years ago. I have seen some pre-1959 stores that had the “gable“ look. I’m not sure if it was there originally or may be added later. From Google Maps, this sort of looks like it might have had a new front appended to it in the 60s.

I don't think it was added later. I think the stone exterior is classic Safeway 60's, I don't think the store was open for more than a decade from what I can find in the city's records. A bigger Safeway Food & Drugs was built in Venice later in the 60's on Lincoln & Rose. It closed some time in the late 70's and is now a very busy Whole Foods.

Being a retired USPS employee (32 years as a City Carrier) I have to echo the "junkyard" comment about the place. Why did they choose to use the front parking lot to park their vehicles? It does make the place look very trashy. The Post Office has never gotten aesthetics right unfortunately. Could've easily kept that lot available for customer parking and instead of adding a side entrance used the original entrances it had when it was a Safeway. Could've used the former front end as lobby space and would have the entire rest of the length of the building for work space. The postal vehicles could've easily been parked on the side of the building where the customer entrance is now and they could've even built dock space there for loading and unloading. So glad I worked in a building that was built to serve as a Post Office and is now over 80 years old. Gotta say though that what's left of the exterior in the front of the building is quite nice. Must've been a beautiful store back in the day.

Former Alpha Beta/Ralphs/99CentOnly in Covina (Vincent Ave at San Bernardino Rd) was briefly a USPS Carrier Annex for the Covina Main Post Office for about 2 years (during COVID) - USPS leased the building right after 99CentsOnly closed and quickly remodeled the space for their needs. The building first opened in the early 1960's as Alpha Beta (one of 3 Covina locations!) and in 1967 was selected as one of the stores to test the new warehouse concept F-A-D (Food at Discount), then a few years switched back to Alpha Beta until it merged into Ralphs (one of 2 Covina locations!) until Ralphs closed the bulk majority of their smaller sized ex-Alpha Beta stores and 99CentsOnly took over (one of 2 Covina locations!). USPS left the location around 2023 and the building is still vacant as of today.

A Carrier Annex is a facility that only processes or packs mail for various letter carrier routes (last mile service). Most of the locations are not open to the public because they don't have retail counters/bulk mail collection station/lobby PO Boxes/drop off box in the parking lot like the larger PDC facilities. The entire parking lot is usually fenced in and reserved strictly for USPS employees and USPS fleet vehicles.

In the LA's San Fernando Valley, a current USPS Carrier Annex on Sepulveda and Brand in Mission Hills was also a former supermarket. Might have been a Dale's?

luckysaver