Seeley's Furniture Store (Closed)
Glendale, CA Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
At Brand Boulevard and San Fernando Road, Seeley’s Furniture Store gives passing motorists a familiar name to look for above the intersection. Built in 1925, the property became George Seeley’s furniture store in 1931. By this photograph, the business had closed and redevelopment plans were circulating. 11-05
Architect Alfred Priest originally designed the building in the Spanish Baroque style. A 1940s makeover supplied its familiar Art Deco and Moderne appearance. The vacant showroom later found movie work, housing the newsroom set for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Apparently there was still room for a few desks.
UPDATE: The restored building reopened as Seeley Studios in 2012, adapting the former furniture landmark for creative businesses. Fortunately, this corner’s next chapter involved rehabilitation rather than a demolition photograph. 10-26
Nabisco Factory close up (Demolished)
Buena Park, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
For decades, the Nabisco Factory beside Interstate 5 in Buena Park was a familiar marker for motorists heading through northern Orange County. Opened in 1965 under the National Biscuit Company name, the plant became part of the everyday freeway scenery. Production stopped in December 2004, and by 2006 the landmark was coming down to make way for redevelopment. 07-07
The tall factory and large corporate lettering made the property easy to recognize from a passing car. It wasn’t a tourist attraction, but for regular travelers it served much the same purpose as a favorite roadside sign. Spot Nabisco and you knew where you were, even without checking the next freeway exit.
Nabisco Factory (Demolished)
Buena Park, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Unlike the restaurants and motels competing for passing customers, the factory didn’t need motorists to pull over. Its work took place behind the walls, where baking lines and crews turned out familiar packaged snacks. The building advertised the name while the finished products traveled considerably farther than Buena Park.
Nearly forty years of production made the plant part of the city’s working history. For employees, it was a workplace. For countless commuters and families on the road, it was the big Nabisco building beside the freeway. Its closure removed both a source of local jobs and a dependable landmark from the drive.
Nabisco Factory (Demolished)
Buena Park, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Early redevelopment plans called for retail uses on the roughly twenty-four-acre property. Automobile dealerships also entered the plans, trading an industrial address for businesses with a more direct interest in the traffic passing outside. As often happens with a large cleared site, the proposals moved faster than the construction.
UPDATE: The Nabisco plant was demolished in 2006. Retail and dealership plans followed, though redevelopment did not happen as quickly as initially proposed. The factory that once marked this stretch of Interstate 5 is now another familiar sight to revisit through photographs. No more watching for the Nabisco name on the next drive through. 10-26
El Cañonazo Market (Gone)
Atwater Village, CA Photo courtesy Rod Holcomb
Here's an old neighborhood grocery called El Cañonazo Market. The colorful storefront sign and hand-painted lettering gave the place the look of a market that had been serving local customers for quite a few years. 12-10
The original RoadsidePeek entry placed the market in Atwater, California, the small Highway 99 town near Merced. It turns out the store was actually located in Atwater Village, a Los Angeles neighborhood along Glendale Boulevard. Somewhere along the way, “Village” went missing and the market took an accidental trip to the Central Valley.
El Cañonazo was a family-owned neighborhood market that operated for about 40 years. The name was also misspelled in the original caption as “El Canonazom,” adding another little twist to tracking down the correct location.
UPDATE: El Cañonazo Market closed in April 2018, and the old storefront sign was removed. The commercial building remains standing at 3168 Glendale Boulevard in Los Angeles and has since been used for other purposes. 09-26
Seeley's Furniture Store (Closed)
Nabisco Factory close up (Demolished)
Nabisco Factory (Demolished)
Nabisco Factory (Demolished)
El Cañonazo Market (Gone)
