WHEN TYRONE AVENUE BECAME A RIVER IN 1952

CHERISHING OUR VALLEY    2012

60 years ago, the San Fernando Valley was still drying out and cleaning up after a terrific rain storm. To make life more exciting, streets such as Tyrone Avenue had little in the way of flood control. Inevitably, people on one of Richard Hilton's Museum walking tour of historic Van Nuys will tell a Tyrone Avenue rainy day story.  These images are from the old time Valley Times newspaper.

United States Post Office Van Nuys, California  January 1952 - Sylvan Street just west of Van Nuys Boulevard - photograph taken at dawn.  (Click on images to enlarge them.)

Raging waters pour along Tyrone Avenue at Magnolia Boulevard in historic Van Nuys, January 1952. When Tyrone Avenue was flooded, students had the "perfect" excuse for a day off. Enlarge this image to see the steam coming out of one vehicle.

Sand bags hopefully protected the merchants on Van Nuys Boulevard. January 17, 1952 at the corner of Gilmore Street.

 Automobile trapped in a flash flood at Victory Boulevard in Van Nuys, January 1952.

 Bill Mulvihill at left and Bill Mathews right wade in flood waters on Van Nuys Boulevard - 21 January 1952 - Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS FROM THE GREAT AFTER THANKSGIVING MUSEUM "WALK IT OFF" TOUR

2010  THE YEAR OF VALLEY ADVENTURES

The young man was alarmed at the crowd of people, he assumed were somehow after his car. Assertively he asked what The Museum walking tour was doing in front of the house in which he was living. Before he left, he said to me, "... historical importance?  Guess rent will be going up here in the 'hood." (Humm, I thought, he just may be right. Appreciating historical value adds to an all-important 'sense of place'. And, that can add to property value.)

 Museum "in-tourist" photographs a bail bondsman's limo. Check out the license plate.

 Throughout the San Fernando Valley, Christian churches feature windows and other elements of symbolic art that demonstrate the religion's origins in Judaism. Here in the Van Nuys Methodist Church, a stained glass window shows Jesus at his bar mitzvah.
If you are interested in a future Museum of the San Fernando Valley tour of Valley religious structures and locations - add your name to our contact list - call 1 (818) 347-9665.

 Hidden in the shrubbery at the far left corner of the Old Van Nuys Post Office is this historic cornerstone. I wasn't in the situation on The Museum's historic walking tour to push the plants around, but this picture gives an idea of the information it contains. (click on the image to enlarge it.)
Henry Morgenthau Jr. was the Secretary of the United States Treasury under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. James A. Farley, dear friend and confidant of FDR was Post Master General.  Hundreds of post offices and other federal building were constructed during Roosevelt's administration in an effort to pull the United States out of the Great Depression.

The Museum's tour group was able to see the renovated Van Nuys Public Library Building. I hadn't been inside the structure for 53 years, since I once did research for my term papers at Notre Dame High School.  (click on this image to enlarge)

THE MUSEUM OF THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY MEETS ON JULY 22nd.

2009 - The Year of Valley Histry
First Day Postal Cover - Dedication of the Van Nuys Post Office - August 29th, 1936 - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Gary Fredburg 2009 (click on imge to enlarge)

The next meeting of the combined Boards of Directors and Advisors of The Museum will be on July 22, 2009.
6 to 8 pm. Parties interested in being part of The Museum's agenda should telephone: 1 (818) 347-9665