Recently, I was lying awake in the middle of the night trying to remember the name of the record store in downtown Menlo Park I went to with my younger sister Shell to buy Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (the 1978 movie version featuring The BeeGees and Peter Frampton). I could remember the day like it was yesterday, down to the name of the guy (Johnny Ransahoff) who sold me the record (yes, record) and how much I paid for it, but I could not for the life of me remember the name of the store.
The next morning I sent an email to my siblings and several of our lifelong friends who also grew up in either Menlo or Atherton to ask if anyone could remember the store’s name. With over 500 years of memories between us, we were able to come up with it — Joe Prein’s Music Store. [Joe Prein is right in photo circa 60s; anyone know who the other man and woman are?]
My one question was the beginning of a chain of emails filled with long forgotten Menlo Park trivia. Our 50-year-old memories began to wake up. We all remembered certain things: That life was simpler then. That we rode our bikes everywhere in search of the best candy, toy, beloved pet, music and fun.
We remembered getting pixie sticks, red ropes, gum balls and chewable wax teeth, lips and mustaches from the Little Store, dipping into the pickle jar at Duca and Hanley, buying cinnamon sticks at Toy and Party, and sitting on Santa’s lap in this little holiday house in front of Menlo Camera. We all seemed to remember certain stores: Mary’s Stork to Teen, Stevens Fabrics, Derry’s Feed and Fuel.
Charline reminded us of the over abundance of Palm Readers in Menlo Park. We counted at least three. We recalled charge accounts at Draeger’s and Preuss. We could even remember several of the shop owners and employees who fitted us for school shoes and restrung our tennis rackets.
Almost all of us remember Edy’s Ice Cream [on Encinal, now the Carriage Stop portion of Roger Reynolds Nursery.]. LeeLee said that she can still hear the little bell ring as the screen door opened, the smell of the refrigerating ice cream, and having to climb on a step on tip toes to see over the counter. Lisa loved the Swedish Raspberry and Bayomints. Pat remembers puking there when Rooney and Seamus took Mark’s and Pat’s Little League team there post-game.
Some of the fun was trumping others as the emails crossed paths. Lisa came up with Gindell’s Pet Shop, a name that escaped the rest of us, although we all could remember exactly where the pet store was located on Santa Cruz, and that Mrs. Gindell had a blonde beehive hairdo. Lauren remembered getting her hamster there, while Rooney remembered buying his box turtle and riding home with it on his handle bars.
We also remembered that there were two bike shops but we only went to one, Menlo Bike and Key… that the Pink Pastry was a particular favorite and that Oxford’s Delicatessen had the best roast beef sandwiches. And, of course, George and Bob [who owned a Chevron station] actually filled your car’s tank with gas at a fraction of what it costs to self serve today!
All in all, we came up with a close to a hundred businesses but even more wonderful memories! What started as a forgotten store name on my part turned into lots of laughs.
Do you have memories and photos from some time “back in the day” whether that’s the 50s, 60s, 70s or 80s in Menlo Park? Let us know: tips[at]inmenlo.com
Photo courtesy of Menlo Park Historical Association
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{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
The Little Store was a weekly stop for a candy treat after school! Good memories. I also remember Alec shopping center (where Safeway stands now), The Children’s Bootery, Ann’s Coffee shop (still there!), The Velvet Turtle in Sharon Park, Shaw’s Ice Cream (where the tanning salon is now on the corner of El Camino and Menlo Ave.), The Menlo Theater on Santa Cruz Ave., and who can forget Round Table Pizza, Mc and Bud’s Ice Cream on the Alameda de las Pulgas? Can anyone recall the name of the pharmacy on the Alameda, Mc…something, I think.
McQuarries. Used to go there for candy after school when I was going to La Entrada.
I found this: http://www.almanacnews.com/morgue/1999/1999_09_08.golden.html
It was McQuarries Pharmacy.
And let’s not forget the two previous locations of Kepler’s.
[Note to moderator, please combine with previously submitted comment]
I believe the name of the Pharmacy on the Alameda was McQuarrie’s.
I lived in Menlo Park, on Oak Avenue across from Oak Knoll School from 1957 to 1966, First grade through Freshman year at Menlo Atherton.
I remember Purity Foods at Stanford Shopping Center, Norney’s Toys also at Stanford.
I remember Kepler’s Books in their original location as one of the first places to buy paperback books. I did not quite understand what Beats were (Herb Caen coined the term Beat-nik, a takeoff on Sputnik) but they were at Kepler’s for poetry readings
I remember the listening booths at Prein’s where you could take a test listen to a new 33rpm single record.
I grew up in Menlo in the ’50′s and have fond memories of a very simple downtown. Need flowers? Menlo Florist. Uniform brown shoes for St. Joesph’s? Anderson’s Shoe Store. Needed a religious gift? The Angelus. Pencils, pens, etc.? Sprouse-Reitz Five and Dime. Along with Kepler’s, there was the Guild Book Shop and nearby Menlo Toy and Party Shop. And how can one forget Menlo Park Hardware which carried everything in between.
Take a trip down memory lane and visit the Menlo Park Historical Association office located in the Menlo Library. One can spend hours looking through old fotos, clippings, books, etc. And while there, talk to Frank. He knows everything about Menlo.
Don’s Hobby shop
Guitars Unlimited
Discount Records
Children’s Bootery
Mini bus
The Recorder (Wednesday weekly paper)
Johnny’s Smoke Shop
Jeff’s Jeans
Shepperd Cadillac
Eddie’s Arco
Village Host
H. Salt Fish and Chips
Fox and Carskadon
Jiffy Burgers (19 cent hamburgers) located where Barones is. Also the old big yellow Cement Factory on El Camino across from Cook’s Sea Food. And, my favorite, next to Cook’s was the Bib and Tucker that had great roast beef sandwiches. oh yes, and The Hippo restaurant (now Mattress Discounters) that had hundreds of different types of hamburgers.
I still remeber those Jiffy Burgers with the thousand island type sauce and served in a yellow wrapper
I worked at Jiffy Burgers when they were $0.34 each. The burgers wrapped in yellow were cheese burgers.
I grew up in Menlo park from 1964 – 1985, wish now I had taken pictures of the town before I left. It has changed so much in 27 yrs. There was a store for everything (no walmart) the old Draegers, Toy n Party, Pruess and Cliffords pharmacies, Menlo Camera in the old pink house, Stork to Teen, Menlo Hardware, Stevens fabric, Congdon and Crome (sp?). Fremont elem. school – now Jack Lyle park (went to school with Donna, but I didn’t know about her dad) How could I get old pictures of the downtown area and Fremont school.
oh! and who could forget the old Keplers, I loved that place it was like a labyrinth of book shelves.
Cathy, you can find old pictures of the downtown at the Menlo Park Historical Association located on the lower level of the Library.
Thank you for sharing your memories. I remember riding our bikes to Derry’s Feed and Fuel at Easter time to pick up free baby chicks. We must have made five or six trips because we ended up with about 30 chicks. Dad built a chicken coop to house the new comers. Thanks Dad.
Does anyone remember the name of the restaurant which was next to Marche and Flegels on Santa Cruz Ave? It closed sometime in the ’90s or 2000?
It has changed hands a few times. A friend and I were at dinner going down memory lane and can’t remember it.
Lot’s of good memories here – a few more for ya . . .
From the 50s:
Howabout the best burgers and shakes on the mid-peninsula (along with carhops and juke box machines at each table): Marquad’s on the SW corner of El Camino and Cambridge. Got our St. Joseph’s uniforms at Van de Sande, also Dudley’s Delicatessen, Duca and Hanley Market, Franes, Hoot-n-Toot Cleaners – all on Santa Cruz Ave. Bank of America (now BBC), SE corner of El Camino and Santa Cruz Ave. Rappy’s Richfield on east side of El Camino between Oak Grove and Valpariso. Shreve and Price Sport Shop on Oak Grove. Janes Swim School and Golden State/Foremost Dairy on Willow Road. And, yes, Prein’s (along with Melody Lane in Palo Alto) was the place to go for the latest 78 or 45 rpm record. Joe’s daughter, Janice, was in my class at St. Joseph’s and graduated in 1960. Don’t recall the name of the lady standing next to Joe, but I remember her well. She rang up all the record sales and made sure you weren’t over-spending your time in the listening booths! And does anyone remember the daily 12:00noon horn that used to blare out from the old city yard next to the old Burgess Park (just to the south of the library)? It could be heard all throughout MP when tree foilage was much less in the early 50s.
Living in Menlo Park..how about Shaws Icecream where ‘Just Add Water’ is or use to be..and good ole Swensons Icecream on El Camino!! What about POP’s Baseball card shop!!!
I recall many of the ones mentioned. Those were the simpler days..its too high end now. Thank you Draegers, Su Hong and the infamouse Dutch Goose for at least still being there.
There were two “Ann” businesses along Santa Cruz Avenue. The aforementioned “Ann’s Coffee Shop”, but there was also a retailer selling women’s undergarments also named “Anne’s” back in the 1960′s.
There was also a laundermat along Santa Cruz Avenue, and next door a Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream place.
There was also a movie theater on Santa Cruz Avenue. Can’t remember the name, but I do remember the “tag line” for the theater ” . . . A Walter Reade Theater”.
What replaced that movie theater was a Chinese restaurant, named “Yuen Yueng(?)” The food was good and was great for carry-out up to the early 1990′s when it closed.
Competing with the Menlo Camera shop in downtown Menlo Park was “Gompert’s Camera” (or was it “Gompart’s?”). For some reason my parents preferred Gompert’s over Menlo Camera.
I believe the man on the left is one of the great jazz pianists Meade Lux Lewis who wrote the song for his close friend and supporter Joe Prein titled “Joe Prein’s Boogie”. Joe passed away in the mid eighties but his wife at 92 can remember the times as if it were yesterday. I will have to ask her who the girl in the middle of the picture is….
The Pharmacy was McQuarrie’s, the owner was blonde but now his name escapes me. My Dad worked at The Alameda Food Center and was the meat cutter there for many years. Then he opened his own shop across the street. Louie’s Hardware was in that block and Lynham Jone and I used to roller skate on the cement slab when they started building it.
The girl in the photo looks like one from our Menlo Atherton High School year book, could have been Betsy Prein. I bought all my fabric at Steven’s and made my own clothes from babysitting money. Joel’s Hamburgers on El Camino made the best hamburgers! Rose Ann had a dance studio and I took ballet lessons there. Saw many a money at the Guild
Theatre after I started dating. Given time I remember a lot more!
Anyone remember sneaking into the huge Sharon Estate? We did it often, no homes only one grand old mansion. The gatekeeper was Jenkins and we would let us wander around but never took us in the house. Now the whole Sharon Estate is built out. What a fantastic playground that was! I used to sneak in with Diane Johansen and Marlene Brown. It was right up behind my house on Ashton just off the Alameda. The 50′s were so different. We lived in South Palo Alto and moved to Menlo in 1951. I was there until graduating from Menlo Atherton from 1957. Loved school then, all the home ec classes and sewing with Lorraine Bradley teaching. Older sister of Phyllis Butler. When we had our nursing portion of the Home ec series, we were instructed on bathing a patient in bed. We were to wash up as far as possible, then down as far as possible and finally was possible! Who can forget Don McClean and his speeches? He loved talking about the “lunatic fringe”! Used to crack us all up.
More memories to come…
grew up in Menlo Park. First job at Roy’s Bike & Toy on the Alameda. I was 10 yrs old earning a whopping 10 cents an hr. Painted old bikes to sell. Next job at Duncan McQuarries Pharmacy. I was 16. This was in the 50′s. Anyone remember Don’s Fine Meats and Art Gallery? That was my pops shop. Working at Menlo Toy ans Party, remember I was at the register when the announcement came over the radio that JFK had been shot! Many memories of that beautiful little town and the simpler life. My backyard was the Stanford Golf Course and Stanford stables. I was a lucky kid indeed!
Anyone hang out at the “jewel Box” ice cream parlor on the Alameda in the 50′s? They put in a ping pong table and juke box. A “Rock n Rollers” dream come true!
I had just sent this to a granddaughter, when it occurred to me to Google Joe Prein’s Music Center…astonished to find you.
“…article speaks of Arthur Fiedler, who was conductor of the Boston Pops
for fifty years, THE pops conductor of all time, probably. I was at Joe Prein’s Music Center, a record shop in Menlo Park, California one time when Fiedler (who was conducting the San Francisco Pops that summer… must have been 1953) was being interviewed there on the radio. It was a promotion both for the pops season and for the store …anyway…Fiedler was a very cranky, testy man, quite rude to the interviewer.
Friend Bill Agee, an announcer for a couple of classical music stations
in the Bay Area…KSMO and KSFR…had a dismissive attitude toward
Fiedler. I remember his saying ‘Yep, Art shakes his stick, and the boys play.’”
Who’d have thought?