Residents Battle to Preserve Former Market

Betty Tyndall fondly remembers her afternoon strolls to the local Shopping Bag market in Eagle Rock. With some of her six sons in tow, she’d walk a few blocks along Colorado Boulevard to the store, which even then, in the 1950s, had a small-town feel that was hard to find in Los Angeles.

“That would be our afternoon walk--to the store,” said Tyndall, now a 75-year-old grandmother. “You knew everyone in the store--the checkers, Sam, the store’s manager. I remember Sam because he was from my husband’s hometown--New Castle, Pa.”

Tyndall, who moved to Eagle Rock as a new bride in 1948, said the market’s selection of fresh meat, poultry and produce made it the place to buy groceries in the area.

Like-minded residents and others who share Tyndall’s memories want to save the old store. They say the building, the onetime flagship of 38 markets that flourished under the Shopping Bag banner in the Southland from the mid-1930s to 1961, is worth preserving.

They have collected about 1,800 signatures in a bid to prevent its demise.

Walgreens, the Deerfield, Ill., company that operates more than 3,600 drugstores nationwide, wants to tear down the old building to make way for a new 14,000-square-foot outlet.

Zoning Plan Envisions Small-Town Atmosphere

That has set off a sometimes prickly debate in Eagle Rock.

On one side are leaders of a local residents group, the Eagle Rock Assn., and others who argue that the old store, built in 1951, is an important link to the community’s past.

They say its preservation would help foster the small-town atmosphere of the northeast Los Angeles community--an atmosphere envisioned in the specific zoning plan for the business district and its premier intersection of Colorado and Eagle Rock boulevards.

“It may not be important to anyone else, but it’s important to us,” said Joanne Turner, president of the residents association.

That sentiment isn’t unanimous, however.

Some fear that the residents association may scare off Walgreens with its aggressive campaign for “adaptive reuse” of the Shopping Bag building, which has been vacant since an automotive paint and body shop moved out last year. Since then, the building has fallen into disrepair.

A Walgreens spokesman said the company has rejected the reuse idea as unworkable. And some in Eagle Rock agree.

George Shapiro, a chiropractor and president of the Eagle Rock Chamber of Commerce, said, “We support preservation. But the thing is, the chamber is pro-business. As long as Walgreens conforms to legally conducting a [viable] business, we have to support them.”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s Walgreens, whatever,” said Ray Patel, owner of a Colorado Boulevard motel a few blocks from the proposed Walgreens site. “We just want positive growth in Eagle Rock.”

Sometimes, the debate has gotten nasty. Two locals favoring preservation of the old store were asked to leave a recent chamber-sponsored farmers market because they were seen seeking signatures in support of their position.

The Walgreens project was initially approved by the Los Angeles Planning Department, but the approval later was pulled back when it was pointed out that the project didn’t conform with the area’s specific plan.

In short, the “big box” approach of a drugstore on a large parking lot was out of step with the small-town, pedestrian-friendly features of the specific plan. Also, two smaller storefront buildings included in the project didn’t comply with the plan.

Officials with the project’s developer, FCD Realty & Development of Los Angeles, and city planners have been meeting to iron out the problems.

Meanwhile, an embarrassed Councilman Nick Pacheco has had to face angry constituents who were initially upset that they were unaware of the project and later became more enraged when he decided to support demolition of the old building.

“From my viewpoint, [a new Walgreens] is really the best use for that space for the community,” Pacheco said.

That has added some heat to a growing argument over what is historic and what isn’t.

Members of the Eagle Rock Assn. and area preservationists argue that the building is historic because its 1950s motif harks back to earlier times when storefront businesses were the mainstays of Eagle Rock’s commercial district. The small-town ingredient is an important feature of the area’s specific plan.

Eagle Rock Residents Founded Supermarket

They say it’s important to note that the Shopping Bag chain was established by two Eagle Rock residents, W.R. Hayden and W.D. Rorex.

Also, members of the Eagle Rock Assn. say their organization was established because of the preservation bent espoused by some of its founders. In 1986, activist Kathleen Aberman climbed atop a treasured old building on Colorado Boulevard and tried to prevent the brick storefront from being demolished to make way for a mini-mall.

She was promptly hauled off to jail, but her actions helped spark the formation of the Eagle Rock Assn. and its commitment to preserving what it thinks is significant to the community.

That, however, didn’t impress members of the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Commission, which is empowered to declare buildings, parks and even trees as historic within the city. Last year, the panel rejected an application supported by the Eagle Rock Assn. to extend historic status to the Shopping Bag building.

Commission President Kay Beckham said the panel toured the building, but was not impressed. “There was nothing historic in its history,” she said.

That setback hasn’t deterred preservationists.

Andrew Garsten, a local activist who was a leading proponent of preserving the old Van de Kamp’s bakery in nearby Glassell Park, said the Cultural Affairs Commission isn’t always right.

In the case of the bakery, he said, the commission erred when it supported a proposal to demolish the bakery, with its 16th-century-style Dutch facade. The site was to be cleared for a big-box home improvement store and a Burger King. But since the commission had granted the building historic status years before, it had to be consulted on the proposed demolition. It agreed to let the building be destroyed.

After several hearings in 2000, the Planning Commission rejected the demolition project. Los Angeles Community College District officials, however, later got city approval to preserve the historic facade as part of a plan to build a satellite campus for Los Angeles City College.

In the Van de Kamp dispute, the Cultural Affairs Commission “was oblivious to the community’s sentiments,” Garsten said.

Walgreens Willing to Be Flexible

For its part, Walgreens said it is willing to preserve a historic structure if it can also meet its obligations to its customers.

For example, Walgreens last year agreed to preserve a landmark Firestone store slated for demolition in Miami’s Little Havana district. Walgreens spokesman Michael Polzin said the company agreed to reuse the structure, built in 1929, because it was listed by the Dade Heritage Trust as an endangered place.

Usually, the company agrees to preserve historic buildings if they are listed in the National Register of Historic Places, Polzin said. As is turns out, the Miami building wasn’t listed in the registry, Polzin said.

In Eagle Rock, he said, Walgreens looked at using the old Shopping Bag building but decided against it.

“We determined that it wouldn’t work,” Polzin said, explaining, for example, that the narrow alley next to the old building would make deliveries difficult if not impossible. He also said the store is too close to the street.

“We know what it takes to have a successful business,” Polzin said. “In the last 10 years, we’ve opened 2,700 new locations. Only two [both in California] have closed because of poor sales.”

That doesn’t stop the folks fighting the proposed demolition, such as Tyndall, who said, “I can’t see why they can’t save it.”