CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF VAN NUYS WITH THE GREAT ANDY DIVINE

DISCOVERING OUR VALLEY        2011                     100 years of Van Nuys history

Have you ever heard of the Crystal Plunge?  Once the mid-Valley's favorite swimming pool, the Plunge is said to have been the idea of the great old time character actor and Van Nuys resident Andy Divine. This year, The Museum of the San Fernando Valley salutes the 100th birthday of Van Nuys, and will be collecting artifacts from this important part of the Valley, all year.
This year too,  your Museum's blog is noting our 1,700th entry. We'd like to add more images of Andy Divine and add some of the once famous Crystal Plunge.  Think Van Nuys Heritage in 2011 - we are!

 Andy Divine October 7, 1905 to February 13, 1977.

Andy Divine, America's favorite cowboy "side kick" of the 1940s and 50s. Postcard gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Gary Fredburg 2011. (click on image to enlarge)
The artist of this painting was Mildred Wheeler of Kingman, Arizona. It hangs in the Mohave Museum of History and Art in Kingman.

IMAGES OF ENCINO 1977

2010  THE YEAR OF VALLEY ADVENTURES

Sponsored by the Encino Chamber of Commerce, this 50¢ map gives a great overview of what was going on in this Los Angeles suburb in that era. 

 1977 Street Map and Guide of Encino "Home of the Oaks" - gift to the Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Marlene and Mark Davis  - December 2010 (click on images to enlarge)

 Encino bragged that it was the only area in the Valley with its own flag.

The great Velodrome of Encino - Photo c. 1977

JERRY FECHT RECALLS SEMINARY LIFE

2009 The Year of Valley History

Our Lady Queen of Angeles Catholic Seminary 1977 - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Gerald Fecht 2009

Several interesting things happen when one works to bring about a Museum of history and culture. First is a sense of one's sure fired lack of immortality. The second is an honest realization that what is throughly modern today is tomorrow's invitation to an antique store.
I discovered this post card while visiting a paper artifacts / historic postcard show at the Glendale Auditorium this last Saturday.
I spent a full year of my childhood within the confines of this seminary. Since my folks lived in Omaha Nebraska, I was never allowed to leave the grounds, unless I was a guest at another student's Los Angeles area home. I grew to despise the place. Just above my dormitory bed was a very large hall-way type alarm bell, that went off every morning about 5:30. And, girls were on another planet. It had a magnificent Spanish altar now in the Cathedral downtown.
I came to Los Angeles alone shortly after I turned 13, interestingly on a Grayhound Bus filled with Utah Mormons returning from a pilgrimage to Navoo, Illinois. One fellow showed me around the Temple grounds in Salt Lake City. I was impressed, especially wit the seagull monument.
My brother Jimmy and his family greeted me at the downtown Grayhound terminal and drove me to Saint John's Minor Seminary on 3rd and Detroit Streets in Hollywood. Despite 3 or 4 weeks of massive homesickness, I learned to love Hollywood and sneaked away (through an unlocked basement door in the gym) to wander the city. I especially liked the Jewish people I encountered. A buddy Giles Clark, also an out-of-state student, commented that Mary, the Mother of Jesus, would have loved Canters - I know we did.
With the wonderful Red Cars in operation, I went just about everywhere that I could - and still get back to the seminary before morning wakeup.
Then life changed. The seminary moved to the Mission San Fernando. The food was better, but the confinement unbearable. I left the seminary, telling my parents that I would come back to Omaha, Nebraska in the fall. That gave me a whole summer to bum around the city. I love Los Angeles and especially the San Fernando Valley to this day.
Sleeping on beach, staying with friends, what a summer! My parents discovered that I wasn't living at the school and moved immediately to California. The next fall, I was enrolled at Notre Dame High in Sherman Oaks - got a job, bought a suspect Chevy, and discovered that something called Rock and Roll had arrived while I was learning Gregorian Chant.

Our Lady Queen of Angeles Catholic Minor Seminary (message side of the postcard)
Notes 13 October 1977 postmark
c/o Cafeteria Staff, Fleming Jr. High School, 25425 Walnut Street, Lomita, Calif. 90717
return address: OLQA PO Box 1071, San Fernando Valley Calif. 91541
“Hi everyone. Thought I’d write and say hello. This is my school. I really like it a lot. Don’t know when I’ll be able to see you all. I send my love. Don’t work to hard.” Love Sebastian (little smiley face symbol)

Seminary of Our Lady Queen of Angeles located adjacent to the Old Mission San Fernando California. This seminary accommodates the high school division of the twelve year program of studies and training for young men aspiring to the priesthood in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

THE GREAT ANDY DIVINE

Home of actor Andy Divine in Van Nuys,- historic postcard gift from Gary Fredburg 1008 - Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley (click on image to enlarge)

To the hundreds of kids who found relief from the summer heat of the San Fernando Valley in an era with few swimming pools, the Crystal Plunge in Van Nuys was a favorite hangout. It was build by the film and television actor Andy Divine who lived across the street on Kester Avenue.
Andy, who starred in the hit television production of the Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok as Guy Madison's sidekick "Jingles', built the Crystal Plunge so that classmates of his sons on the Van Nuys High School Swim Team would have a place to practice. For elementary school students, Halloween meant the chance to take as many pennies as they could pick up in one hand. If the child was very little, Andy would take one of his enormous hands and help the little one out.
Once a professional football player, Andy Divine got his first big career boost in the 1931 football film The Spirit of Notre Dame. In the next four decades, his raspy voice was one of the most recognizable in America. Andy was a strong supporter of the San Fernando Valley, and was made the honorary mayor of Van Nuys in the early 1970s. He died in 1977.


Andy Divine world famous film and television actor

The San Fernando Valley, in the heart of the Creative Capitol of the world, deserves a great Museum of history and culture.