There’s something about Greenspan’s

PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES
No one mistakes South Gate for the epicenter of the fashion world, but an exception is Greenspan’s—“Serving the Lowrider Community Since 1928.” The historic clothing store’s clientèle includes James Brown, most of N.W.A, John Lee Hooker, Cypress Hill, House of Pain and Rancid (as well as the wardrobe departments [...]

The City of Downey has purchased The Avenue, Downey’s smallest, most vacant movie house–a single-screen theater on Downey Avenue in the heart of the downtown.
That’s according to Samantha Gonzaga in this morning’s Press-Telegram–part of which was once prepared in a small office next door.
The city’s cost: $1.2 million for the 850-seat theater which is housed [...]

Couple of interesting yarns in the Press-Telegram lately.
On Election Day, if you missed it, Samantha Gonzaga wrote about how Johnie’s Broiler–the sad ’50s drive-in in Downey that was (mostly) illegally demolished a year ago– is supposed to rise again as a Bob’s Big Boy restaurant.
This sounds like good news–Johnie’s had a fat boy sign/Bob’s has [...]

The remains of Johnie’s Broiler–one of Southern California’s last large-scale drive-in restaurants, where custom cars were king and even the food was fast–needs your help.
It’s been nearly a year since a man driving a bulldozer managed to flatten most of the 1958 Downey landmark. What’s left of the Googie-style restaurant–replete with flagstone, exuberant script and [...]