Museum - Valley Relics Museum in Van Nuys

Support Valley Relics Museum on Giving Tuesday, December 1, 2020. All donations will be matched by Facebook and are tax deductible. Please help us reach our goal. Thank you! #givingtuesday

Show us your holiday lights! Here’s Candy Cane Lane on Lubao Avenue in Woodland Hills, 1953.

Invitation to the San Fernando Valley Campus of the Los Angeles State College ground breaking ceremony, January 4, 1956.

The first theatre in Van Nuys was called the Van Nuys Theatre, opened in 1917 using an address of Sherman Way near E Street (Erwin Street). This part of Sherman Way was renamed Van Nuys Boulevard in 1926.

Open air Museum this Halloween! Costumes are encouraged. Music, food and beer garden. All CDC guidelines followed. Tickets are limited . https://www.eventbrite.com/e/halloween-open-air-museum-expe

Van Nuys Boulevard decorated for the holidays, December 4, 1948.

Looking north on Reseda Avenue, now Boulevard, from the south side of Kittridge Street in 1926.

Congratulations to the Dodgers on the 2020 World Series win!

Tower Records and La Reina Theatre on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks, ca. 1980.

Santa greeting Zodys shoppers in the Valley, 1963. Zodys Santas, made of steel and celastic, were 19 feet tall, 11 feet wide, and weighed 1100 pounds each.

A postcard of Van Nuys Boulevard decorated for the Bethlehem Star Parade in the 1960s. Source: Valley Relics Museum Archives

Save the date for our 12th Annual Toy Drive!

Aerial view of Valley State College (now CSUN), 18111 Nordhoff Street, ca. 1960.!The intersection of Nordhoff, bottom, and Lindley Avenue, is at right of picture. Devonshire Downs can be seen at the top right of the photo.

They’ve recreated Rathbuns, the first department store in the Valley, for a movie being filmed in Chatsworth. Rathbuns was located on the west side of Lankershim Boulevard, near Chandler, from 1922 until 1977. Photos courtesy of Martina Turner.

The Administration Building at the McKinley Home for Boys in Sherman Oaks, October 1955. In January 1900, the Industrial Home Society was founded by Reverend and Mrs. Uriah Gregory in Artesia. The Home would later be renamed the McKinley School for Boys out of admiration and respect for President William McKinley. Reverend and Mrs. Gregory cared for orphaned, homeless and abused children at their 33-acre ranch site in Artesia but, following World War I, they needed to improve... and enlarge the Home because the needs for their services had grown considerably. With the help of Mr. Mericos Whittier and the Kiwanis Club of Los Angeles, a new 200-acre site in Van Nuys, now Sherman Oaks, was acquired. The school was built in 1923 and the capacity rose from 100 to 250 boys. For 38 years the McKinley School for Boys was located on Riverside Drive where the Bullocks/Sherman Oaks Fashion Square was built. Progress and community-housing began to encroach on the school and a newly built Ventura 101 freeway now cut through the property, leaving less than 30 acres of the original 200 remaining. In 1961 the school moved to San Dimas where it remains today. In 1994 the school expanded its services to include girls and in 1995 the name was changed to McKinley Children Center. Bullock’s Fashion Square opened at this location on April 30, 1962.

We’re excited about hosting the Makers Market at Valley Relics this Saturday from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm! Tickets can be purchased here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-makers-market-tickets-1222

Go Dodgers! Photo Courtesy of Donna Weiser, 2018.

Sunset Canyon Country Club at Canyon Drive and Olive Avenue in Burbank. ca. 1921. This country club was Burbank’s premier attraction during the Roaring ‘20s. Opened in 1921, the Sunset Canyon Country Club was the only private country club in the San Fernando Valley. It stood on 2,500 acres in the Verdugo Mountains, and had natural springs, waterfalls, tall sycamores and scenic views. Members could enjoy a beautiful clubhouse, large swimming pool, tennis courts, horse and hiki...ng trails, and a 9-hole golf course. The club burned down in a brush fire in 1927 and was rebuilt at 136 N Sunset Canyon, where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is now. The club failed after that 1929 stock market crash and was turned over to the city of Burbank. Burbank opened the club as a public golf course in 1931 but it still made no money. The land around the country club and golf course was subdivided and sold in 1938. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased the club in 1939 but did not purchase the large pool or tennis courts. The swimming pool is now a spillway flood control dam.

Join some of the best local artisans in the Valley this Saturday at the Makers Market! For tickets click on this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-makers-market-tickets-1222

People enjoying the pool at Seminole Hot Springs resort in the Santa Monica Mountains, located between Malibu and Agoura. Photograph dated October 20, 1949. Source: LAPL

Aerial of the Jack Ingram Movie Ranch, 1952. The Jack Ingram Movie Ranch was located at 22255 Mulholland Drive in Woodland Hills and was previously the estate of Charles Chaplin. The 160-acre ranch was purchased by Jack Ingram in 1944 from James Newill and Dave O'Brien, who had purchased the goat ranch in order to avoid the draft during World War II. When they were declared 4F unfit for military service, they sold the ranch to Ingram. Ingram purchased a bulldozer, and with th...e help of his friends including actors Pierce Lyden and Kenne Duncan built a western town of two streets on the site. The ranch included a house that Ingram lived in that could occasionally be seen in the background of some scenes shot at the ranch. In 1947 the Ingram ranch became the first movie ranch open to the public. Ingram sold the ranch to Four Star Productions in 1956 The western town consisted of two streets The main entrance road to the ranch was along the roadway in the middle right of the aerial shot. The Ingram home was on a hill overlooking the town (hidden by trees in this shot).

Join us for this one day only artisan event on October 24th! Tickets available here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-makers-market-tickets-1222

Pictured is Van Nuys' 'Frost on Pumpkin' float which won second prize at the 66th annual Rose Parade in Pasadena. Float carried Jack Frost, and Valley college students down route in front of cheering spectators, January 1, 1955.

Topanga Canyon, 1925.