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    Early Burbank
    Early Burbank
    Early Burbank
    Ebook175 pages54 minutes

    Early Burbank

    By Erin K. Schonauer and Jamie C. Schonauer

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    About this ebook

    Burbank is an innovator, a world traveler a city with artistic flair and creativity. From the entertainment industry taking up residence in the early 20th century to the Lockheed Aircraft Company opening shop in 1928, Burbank s masterpieces have transcended the coasts. Films shot on Burbank back lots and streets have entertained audiences worldwide. Lockheed planes built on Burbank soil flew across the world with the likes of Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh. Once a robust farming community, Burbank, founded on May 1, 1887, and later incorporated as a city on July 8, 1911, dons its name from Dr. David Burbank, a New Hampshire born dentist who, in 1867, bought over 9,000 acres of land amid the sun-kissed foothills of the Verdugo Mountains land that was awaiting creative cultivation.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateApr 14, 2014
    ISBN9781439642887
    Early Burbank
    Author

    Erin K. Schonauer

    Erin K. Schonauer and Jamie C. Schonauer are an identical-twin writing team whose work has appeared in award-winning publications. They both have master�s degrees in radio and television from San Francisco State University. They have gathered visually stunning and unique photographs to create a pictorial journey of Burbank�s intriguing past using images from the Burbank Aviation Museum, Burbankia, Burbank Tournament of Roses Association, Burbank Historical Society, and rare personal collections.

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      Book preview

      Early Burbank - Erin K. Schonauer

      (EJS).

      INTRODUCTION

      Burbank is a very historical town, said Johnny Carson in his 1983 Tonight Show monologue. A lot of people think it was named after Luther Burbank. It was named after, I think, a fellow by the name of David Burbank, who was a dentist. And he came out and said this is a great place to have a toothache.

      Carson’s Burbank jokes became part of his late night repertoire, and this one has a twinkle of truth. Dr. Burbank, in fact, is the pioneering dentist for whom the city is named. In the early 1850s, Dr. Burbank, a New Hampshire native, traveled across the country by horseback and covered wagon. A new landscape awaited him across the vast plains and rugged mountains. Following trails marked by gold seekers, Dr. Burbank finally reached his destination—the California coast. Upon arriving in San Francisco in the mid-1850s, he set up his dentistry practice. He left San Francisco shortly after the Civil War and arrived in Los Angeles in 1867. That same year, Dr. Burbank purchased over 9,000 acres of land in the San Fernando Valley, which included Rancho San Rafael and Rancho Providencia. The two ranchos became one, and today, this land is Burbank.

      In the 18th century, before Dr. David Burbank, the land on which the city sits belonged to Spanish dons. In 1798, José Maria Verdugo acquired Rancho San Rafael through a Spanish land grant that included a considerable area of present-day Burbank. Rancho Providencia was located to the west of Rancho San Rafael. Rancho Providencia, created after Mexico declared its independence from Spain in the early 1820s, was granted to Comandante J. Castro, Luis Arenas, and Vincente de la Ossa.

      In the 1850s, Americans began to settle in the ranchos. The first Americans to own land in Burbank were David W. Alexander and Alexander Bell, who purchased approximately 4,600 acres of Rancho Providencia from Vincente de la Ossa in 1851. In 1857, Missouri native Jonathan R. Scott acquired 4,603 acres of Rancho San Rafael from Julio and Catalina Verdugo, who inherited the land from their father, José Maria Verdugo. Dr. Burbank purchased Rancho San Rafael from Scott and Rancho Providencia from Alexander and Bell in 1867. After owning and cultivating the two ranchos for nearly 20 years, Dr. Burbank sold his acreage to the Providencia Land, Water and Development Company in 1886.

      The land, beautifully located among the Verdugo Mountains, occupied the eastern section of the San Fernando Valley. The Providencia Land, Water and Development Company put the fertile farmland up for sale on May 1, 1887, the same day Burbank was founded.

      On July 8, 1911, Burbank officially became a city—the first in the San Fernando Valley. The city began to quickly develop: houses were numbered, streets were named, electricity powered street lights and homes, and the city marshal’s office became responsible for law enforcement. In 1913, the city opened its first library, fire department, and public service department (Burbank Water and Power). Three years later, the city constructed its first city hall.

      As the community grew, so did Burbank’s businesses. By 1917, manufacturing began to thrive as farming faded. Prolific companies set up shop, including the Moreland Motor Truck Company; Empire China Company; Libby, McNeill and Libby; Andrew Jergens Company; Mission Glass Company; and Paramount Dairy.

      Movie houses also beckoned those wanting to spend time out on the town. In 1919, the Loma Theatre opened at 319 East San Fernando Boulevard and proudly advertised films from stars like John Barrymore, Mary Pickford, and Gloria Swanson. Admission was 10¢, and moviegoers could purchase candies from the theater’s sweet shop for 5¢. On August 2, 1919, the Victory Theatre opened at 205 East San Fernando Boulevard. Mr. Myers, who managed the theater in the late 1920s, said his playhouse would provide Burbank with only the best in pictures for the entire family at popular prices.

      Besides catching a film, locals could listen to music, literature, and dramas on Burbank’s first radio station, KELW. Owner Earl L. White, who founded the station in 1927, made a commitment to serve the city and an effort to connect with the locals. You and your friends are invited to come to the studio any time, was the motto spread by White and his station in the 1928 booklet Your Burbank Home.

      In 1926, the city welcomed its first big film studio when First National Pictures broke ground on Olive Avenue near Dark Canyon Road. Warner Bros. purchased First National Pictures in 1928, gaining access to the large studio, its backlot, and stars such as Colleen Moore, Loretta Young, and Douglas Fairbanks.

      With Hollywood stars filming in town, aviation stars soon took to Burbank skies. In 1928, the Lockheed Aircraft Company moved its facilities from a small Hollywood garage to a 20,000-square-foot Burbank factory at San Fernando Boulevard and Empire Avenue. Aviation royalty such as Amelia Earhart, Wiley Post, Laura Ingalls, Charles Lindbergh, Bobbi Trout, and Frank Hawks all entered the record books while flying Lockheed planes.

      Meanwhile, Burbank’s ample acreage and proximity to Hollywood was attracting more entertainment industries. Columbia Pictures, looking for space to build exterior sets, bought 40 acres of land at Hollywood Way and Oak Street in 1934. The site, called Columbia Ranch, occupied the former Burbank Motion Picture Stables.

      The expansive 51-acre plot at Buena Vista Street and Riverside Drive lured the Walt Disney Studios to Burbank in 1939. Besides producing animated hits such as Pinocchio and Fantasia in the new Burbank studios, Disney also lent a hand in the war

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