Verdugo Views: National Charity League’s car shows were a sight to behold
For many years, the car shows hosted by the National Charity League, or NCL, were an opportunity to dress up, socialize and admire the new model cars on display at a local shopping mall.
NCL launched its first show in October 1967 on the mall of the new Glendale Fashion Center, which had opened just a year before at Glendale Boulevard and Wilson Avenue.
The four-level parking structure provided spaces for 1,100 cars, more than enough room for guests to park, according to the second edition of “Glendale Area History,” published in 1981.
Maryann McCaffery, then an NCL member, along with her daughters Robin and Kelly, said in an email conversation that the event was a three-way partnership between the local car dealers’ association, the Glendale News-Press and the National Charity League.
“NCL was in charge of selling tickets, providing refreshments and decor. The News-Press published a separate section on the new models coming out that fall,” according to McCaffery’s email.
“In the early days, everyone was excited to have the new Robinson’s, the Robin Hood restaurant and the rest of the shopping center that came to Glendale,” added McCaffery, who now lives in Santa Fe, N.M.
After a few years at the Fashion Center, NCL members set their sights on another shopping mall, an even bigger one. The Glendale Galleria, which was not quite finished at the time.
Members of NCL were “keeping close watch on the progress of construction at the Galleria,” according to the Glendale Star, Oct. 14, 1976. “They have staked first claim on the Galleria mall as a setting” for their annual auto show.
The date was set for Sunday, Oct. 24 and the theme was “Glendale Galleria Grand Prix,” featuring a display of “special vehicles” chosen by the editors of Hot Rod magazine, in addition to the new car models provided by the Glendale Motor Car Dealers Assn., as noted in the article.
The brand-new Galleria was a large venue, with four major department stores — Buffums and the Broadway had already opened in August; Ohrbach’s would open in October and JCPenney in November. Plus, there were about 100 specialty shops in an enclosed, air-conditioned mall and parking for 4,500 cars, according to Wikipedia.
Pat Tily chaired the 1976 event. McCaffery, who was also involved, said Tily worked “nearly full time on the decorations and so forth to make it a glamorous evening. All who came were dressed in their finest outfits.”
The car shows continued at the Galleria for many years. In October 1981, the “Wheels of Fortune”-themed event was promoted through a multipage advertising supplement in the News-Press. The cover page included a dozen photos of NCL members posing with 1982 model cars provided by the dealers.
In keeping with newspaper styles of the time, the women were listed by their husband’s names: Mesdames Dennis Benedetti, George Benz, Dan Christy, Frank Eyraud, Robert Hansen, John Hedlund, James Lawlor, Richard McGeagh, Michael Myers, Sebastiano Sterpa, Kolbjorn Trydal and also Susan Frye.
The Glendale Motor Car Dealers Assn. included Allen Gwynn Chevrolet, Allred Brothers, Colonial Buick-Honda, Division AMC Jeep, Division Imports, Glendale Datsun, Guy Schmidt Oldsmobile-Mazda-GMC, Jack Ellis of Glendale, Johnny Lail, Los Feliz Ford, Modern Motors Co., Prestige Porsche-Audi and Star Lincoln-Mercury.
The 1981 event featured palm readers, fortunetellers, a buffet supper at $9 per person and an array of 1982 model cars, plus music provided by the Home Savings Band.
The recipient of all this effort was Twelve Oaks Lodge, a retirement home in La Crescenta. At the time, NCL members donated their proceeds to the building and maintenance fund and also provided extras not ordinarily in the budget, such as air-conditioning units, hearing aids and eyeglasses.
Readers Write:
Jim Nasella emailed regarding the April 21 Verdugo Views column about Myrtle Andersen and the fight for a new library.
Nasella moved to Los Angeles in 1973 and said he remembers visiting the Central Library just after it opened and sitting in its luxury for hours.
“For much of my life, I have found quiet and the atmosphere to concentrate in libraries. I have enjoyed your articles very much over the years,” he wrote.
He’d like to know where the old Carnegie Library was located.
Jim, the Carnegie Library was built at the corner of Kenwood and Fifth streets. Fifth Street was later renamed Harvard Street.
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Kimber Gutierrez, administrative assistant at the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse, emailed her appreciation for the March 24 Verdugo Views column about the historic “Mission Play.”
“I have forwarded it around to the employees at the theater, and we could not be more thrilled with the article. I didn’t know that John McGroarty was involved with Glendale as well. I have been working at the Mission Playhouse for almost 18 years, and still discover new things about it that add to its expansive history,” she wrote.
KATHERINE YAMADA can be reached at katherineyamada@gmail.com. or by mail at Verdugo Views, c/o Glendale News-Press, 202 W. First St., Second Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Please include your name, address and phone number.
