Up and Down the Boulevard

The ups and downs of Brea Boulevard roll through the city’s history like the hills that this roadway bisects.

The boulevard once teemed with traffic--from Model Ts in the ‘20s to muscle cars in the ‘60s--before Brea Mall and Imperial Highway siphoned much of its life away.

But now redevelopment has brought bustle back to downtown Brea, where shiny new shops and restaurants cozy up to a pair of movie megaplexes just north of Imperial.

Even when downtown seemed dormant, though, Brea Boulevard never really slept. Head south from Imperial Highway and you’ll discover an area as eager to try something new as it is to maintain links to the past.

The Shoe Must Go On

The wide-shoe business seems a few giant steps removed from Hollywood and the entertainment industry--except in the mind and in the store of Jack McCulloch.

The connection strikes you the moment you pull up to McCulloch’s Wide Shoes (685 S. Brea Blvd., [714] 529-7872) and park in a space reserved for Charlie Chaplin, Judy Garland or Marlon Brando. Then you enter under a sign that says “Sound Stage 25,” walk across terrazzo floors inlaid with stars, like Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, and sit in a plush theater seat that looks as if it had been rescued from a movie palace of old.

All this to try on a pair of wide-width Hush Puppies?

“We have a specialty product,” McCulloch said, “so we didn’t want a normal mom-and-pop store.

“We want to be the Disneyland of retailing.”

Step inside, wide-footed friends, and let the size-triple-E-ticket ride begin.

McCulloch was born into footwear retailing but left Orange County for Hollywood as a young man. After 12 years of steady acting work in movies and TV in the ‘70s and ‘80s (“I did a lot of ‘Waltons’ ”), his career lagged, and he took over for his father at the family’s store on Imperial Highway.

The store soon outgrew its 3,000-square-foot space, and in 1996 McCulloch’s moved to its current home in a 7,000-square-foot former bank building. That’s when Jack McCulloch began the store’s motion picture tie-in.

He displayed some of his movie memorabilia, including a hand grenade Lee Marvin gave him after the two shared a snowy foxhole during the filming of “The Big Red One.” And he created cable TV commercials using Hollywood look-alikes.

But there was still the question of what to do with the former bank’s old vault.

A friend suggested that McCulloch create a museum to himself, but the ex-actor settled on a different plan. He turned the vault into a mini-cinema, complete with World War II-era projectors from Navy troop carriers, 14 red velvet seats from a Warner Bros. executive screening room and a facade that re-creates the decor of Mann’s Chinese Theater.

There are even handprints in concrete--most of them made by the shoe manufacturer’s reps who stopped by to sell him their wares.

The theater comes in handy during McCulloch’s big twice-yearly sales, in May and November, when spouses can sit out their mate’s shopping by watching a film or a televised ballgame.

McCulloch’s also rents out the theater for $150 an hour (the popcorn’s provided, but ushers are extra).

The store’s sales attract shoppers from throughout Southern California, McCulloch said. One group even drives from Nevada. Customers like those are why McCulloch says, “There’s no business like the shoe business.”

Best Intentions

After a morning of wide-shoe shopping, you can break in your new pumps or sneakers with a short walk across Fir Street to Brea’s Best Burgers (707 S. Brea Blvd., [714] 990-2615).

The place looks like your basic burger joint, but why the lineup out the door at lunch time? For the answer, sample the savory Brea’s Best quarter-pound cheeseburger ($2.35), the piled-high pastrami sandwich ($3.90) or the equally sinful avocado BLT ($3.65).

Tom Gatsios and his brother, Bill, opened Brea’s Best 19 years ago in a place that Carl’s Jr. abandoned when it moved to Imperial Highway. Fresh ingredients and attention to detail are the reasons more than 80% of their customers are regulars, said Tom Gatsios.

“We have some customers, when we see them pull into the parking lot, their hamburger or chicken breast is already on the grill,” Gatsios said.

In recent years, the brothers have added items for health-conscious customers, like salads--the Mediterranean ($3.95) is particularly tasty--and a variety of burgers, from turkey ($2.35) to garden ($2.85) and even ostrich ($3.45).

But many customers still prefer the full-fat, full-flavor choices. Some aren’t afraid to go to extremes. “We’ll put together any combination you want,” Gatsios said, ‘so we have people order a double meat, double cheese, avocado, bacon, chili burger. You basically have to take a shower after eating one of those things.”

A Window on History

Somehow it’s nice to know that parking problems are really nothing new to downtown Brea. A 1922 photograph displayed at the Brea Historical Society museum (652 S. Brea Blvd., [714] 256-2283) shows Brea Boulevard (then called Pomona Avenue) lined on both sides with some of Henry Ford’s early models.

The storefront museum also features pieces of Brea’s prehistoric past, including clamshell fossils and a black chunk of brea, the tarry substance that gave the city its name. A wooden model of an oil derrick, like those dotting the nearby hills during much of the 20th century, still works--some 60 years after it was built by an oil worker.

The museum’s latest addition is a scarred cannonball a resident recently found in his yard while digging for a lost wedding ring. “I wish we knew the story behind that one,” said Historical Society President Edna Makins.

Among the other treasures on view: a 1933 photo of the Brea-Olinda High championship typing team and the tiara worn by 1972 homecoming queen Karyn Fox.

The museum is open 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays, or by appointment.

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IF YOU GO

* Getting there

Take the Orange Freeway (57) to Imperial Highway and go west. Turn south on Brea Boulevard.

To reach the the park (officially called Limestone-Whiting Wilderness Park), take Interstate 5 to Bake Parkway. Turn left on Bake toward the mountains. Continue to Portola Parkway. Turn left on Portola to the first signal, Market Place. Turn right (look for the large American flag above the USA gas station). There’s a parking lot directly on the left--20 spaces, $2 for the day (cash only). Of course, there are all those spaces in the shopping center’s parking lot.

* Such a deal

Order the $11 Green Fee & Hamburger Special at Brea’s Best Burgers, and you’ll get a quarter-pounder, fries and a 24-ounce drink, plus a round of golf at Brea Golf Course (501 W. Fir St., [714] 529-3003).

With or without the meal, the course is worth playing. The greens can be a bit wild, but the mature trees and the drain channel that come into play on four holes make it one of the more interesting nine-hole, three-par courses in the county.

* Green scene

A block north of McCulloch’s is City Hall Park, home to the Plunge, one of the oldest public swimming pools in O.C. The park is particularly lively in the summer, when it features free concerts each Wednesday evening. Call (714) 990-7723 for more information.

South Brea

1. McCulloch’s Wide Shoes, 685 S. Brea Blvd., (714) 529-7872

2. Brea Historical Society museum, 625 S. Brea Blvd., (714) 256-2283 in the Brea Heights Shopping Center

3. Brea’s Best Burgers, 707 S. Brea Blvd., (714) 990-2615

4. City Hall Park, At South Brea Boulevard and Elm Street