North Hollywood Sears at the Valley Plaza, 1950-Something

The photo is lifted from this page at Clovis Images. I originally thought that this was Eastland Shopping Center in Covina right off of the 10 Freeway. The only information I found attached to this picture was Los Angeles and 1950s era.  That's it.  No street names, no name of specific cities in the greater Los Angeles area.  Nothing.

And because I had originally thought that it was the Eastland Shopping Center in Covina, I just assumed, for a short time, that the foothills seen through the smog in the background were the San Gabriel Mountain Range. If that were the case, then I could not place the street or lane in the foreground.  And the sign Valley Plaza made me think that it was an El Monte store because Valley Boulevard runs through El Monte.  And true to that assumption there actually was a Sears store in El Monte.  See below.  Alas, it's not El Monte either. As my third choice I thought that it was the West Covina Plaza.  That went nowhere once I realized that the West Covina Plaza wasn't built until 1975, and those cars in the parking are not 1975 models. So after realizing that it wasn't Eastland, it wasn't West Covina Plaza, nor El Monte Shopping Center I was at a loss.  I was not familiar with that Valley Plaza, so there was no way I could recognize it.

According to this writer, that Sears Valley Plaza was located in North Hollywood at Victory Blvd. and Laurel Canyon.


Thinking initially that the above North Hollywood Sears was either Eastland, West Covina Plaza, or El Monte, I plucked this black and white picture below from WestCovinaLaPuenteBaldwinPark's website to compare the differences. This picture came with a more specific caption.  It reads "Sears came to El Monte in or around 1958.  It was located on Peck Road between Stewart and Sitka Street." Okay, I never entered that store.  Comparing its structure and design to the N. Hollywood store above and observing the noticeable differences, it put to rest any of my original suspcions that the above store was an El Monte Sears.  This El Monte Sears appears quite modern by comparison.

A friend writes

Yup.  Went there once as a kid.  My dad bought a lawnmower at Pasadena, but they had none in stock, except the floor model so they sent him there.  I remember them giving him some kind of a discount for having to make the trip.  I remember it being something akind to a long journey to a different world.  I could harldy believe people lived anywhere else than Pasadena, and that they would also have a Sears.  A trip to Orange County was almost world travel to me.

And in case you haven't had enough San Fernando nostalia, then check this site out.  And if you get really, really bored, these pictures of an era long ago of the expansive San Fernando Valley can surprise you.