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Wondering how many locals remember some of the old Solano Avenue landmarks?
Dinner with the grandparents at The Red Barn Restaurant on today’s Pharamaca site.
Get a hammer and nails and great toys for friends’ birthday parties at Thousand Oaks Hardware and Variety near the Upper Solano Post Office.
Thousand Oaks Pharmacy just across the street from the Oaks Theatre.
Stamps School of Dance just next door to Gordo’s and the five and dime store a block below (was it McClarty’s or was that at Shattuck and Vine?).
The original location of Poppy Fabric where Greetings is today.
A visit to Discounts Unlimited at San Pablo and Solano was a must for outfitting one’s first apartment.
Cherry phosphates or an ice cream cone at Ortman’s on the first and last days of school (today’s Starbuck’s site) and the best malts and butter pecan ice cream at McCallum’s (Peet’s), not to mention their Blue Moon ice cream and monstrous concoction called The Sink, big enough for a family of ten!
The old Foster’s Freeze at Solano and Pomona.
Riding your bike all the way down Monterey from Colusa to Hopkins before there were stop signs to break up the run.
Seeing the big, bright McCallum’s sign beckoning all the way from the top of Colusa and Monterey and hoping Dad would take us there before we screamed all the way through the tunnel and a had a thrilling ride up the big Marin hill in the back of the pickup after dinner.
We certainly were lucky to grow up here!
Jeanne Gray Loughman, Albany
