Support small shops, before they’re gone We...

Support small shops, before they’re gone

We had our final ice-cream cone at Pegadoe’s Frozen Custard on

Hollywood Way and Verdugo Avenue before owner Mary Talsky closed its

doors Feb. 28.

While on vacation in the Raleigh, N.C., area, we discovered the

pleasure of frozen custard at a family-owned shop, which had lines

around the block each time we visited. How excited our family was

when we saw the sign go up that a frozen custard shop was opening in

Burbank.

We still haven’t gotten over the loss of Barron’s Restaurant and

Don’s Coffee Shop. My husband and I pored over the homes for sale ads

(in the Leader, of course) at Barron’s when we were deciding to move

to Burbank. Its blueberry pancakes were breakfast the day my son was

born. One Thanksgiving, my husband was known as “the one with the

lawn chair” as he waited out front in the wee hours of the morning so

we could travel to our family gathering armed with their fabulous

pumpkin pies and, as it happened, we were there for dinner the night

of the fire.

And now one of our new family favorites is forced to close its

doors after only a year and a half in business. While Pegadoe’s

certainly hasn’t had such a long-standing presence in the community,

it was, nevertheless, the place where our son had his first baby

vanilla ice-cream cone and where we took my daughter for a scoop of

her favorite mango-mango after her tonsillectomy, and where we all

went for pumpkin custard after church on Thanksgiving Eve this year.

While I admit that I am glad not to have to leave the city limits

for my trips to Target, Costco, Aaron Brothers, Michaels and so on, I

imagine family memories such as these won’t be made as readily at

chain venues.

It seems a shame that even in a community such as Burbank, which

has retained some of that lovely small-town feel, we still aren’t

able to keep those precious “mom-and-pop” businesses going, as well

as welcome the larger stores. As we savor our last quart of German

chocolate frozen custard, hopefully it will be a good reminder to our

family to keep making an effort to patronize both big and small

alike, before we don’t have the option of going to Handy Market,

Martino’s Bakery, the Donut Hut, Monte Carlo Deli, Santoro’s,

Giamela’s, and so on, because they too have had to close their doors.

Thank you for your effort, Mary. Your frozen custard was a treat

while it lasted.

KRISTIN BARBERIA

Burbank

Keep voting, former candidate urges

Congratulations to Dave Kemp. He will be a fine addition to the

school board.

Congratulations also to the other winning school board and City

Council candidates. I wish each of them the best in the general

election.

I also want to thank the residents of Burbank for voting on Feb.

25 and for all the candidates who sacrificed their time to run for

public office. It is great to see so many residents passionate about

serving our city.

I would also like to thank all the residents I met either door to

door, on the phone or at events. They were very respectful and

interested in the future of Burbank.

I look forward to my continued involvement as a resident and

working on the issues of affordable housing and child care for

families, strong public safety and responsible economic development.

I encourage all residents to vote April 8 so we can choose the

candidates who will lead our city and our schools.

MICHAEL PORCO

Burbank