The Street Seen: A Main Street Cafe
2616 - 2618 Main Street @ Ocean Park Blvd
In 1931, Angelo’s Cafe opens in the new building at 2618 Main St near the southwest corner of Main and Ocean Park Blvd. The building is demolished in the early 1970s, and the site is now the lawn in front of the California Heritage Museum.
In 1926, the Main Street Feed & Fuel buildings on the site1 are demolished to make way for the widening of Main Street.
In 1931, Hal C. Sanborn2 oversees the construction of a new 1-story, brick building with an auto repair shop (2616 Main St)3 and a cafe (2618 Main St) - Filling Station for Man and Car.
This new café is without a doubt one of the outstanding enterprises to be found in Ocean Park. “Super-Station Café Opens Today” - Santa Monica Evening Outlook, June 06, 1931.
Angelo’s Cafe is the opening tenant. In what will be a continuing trend, Angelo’s Cafe doesn’t last very long.4
1931 Angelo’s Cafe. The cafe (Special Dinner 75c - Regular Dinner 50c - Merchants’ Lunch 40c) is run by Greek born Angelos Kotsos (1889 – 1983). In 1927, Kotsos has a cafe on Ocean Front Promenade near the Ocean Park pier, and lives with family at 2720 2nd St. He moves to San Francisco in 1939.
1934 D’Amico’s. Santa Monica municipal band cornetist Gennaro D'Amico (1879 – 1950).
1936 H.J. DuCharme.
1939 Fern Cafe.
1940 E.W. Gauss.
1947 Mrs. V.R. Grant.
1952 Blanche’s.
1953 Trudy’s. Hilario Costella Unciano (1909 – 1974) and his wife Trudie Agnes Slocum (1919 - 1972) run Trudy’s. In 1954, customer Jack McDonald (age 50) dies within 2 hours of drinking insecticide stored in a whiskey bottle on the cafe kitchen shelf. His wife and four daughters file a suit for $138,500 damages plus funeral expenses.
1954 Danny & Happy’s.
1958 Olivia’s Place. Olivia’s Place is the longest lasting and the final cafe.
The building is demolished in the early 1970s. The site is now the lawn between the California Heritage Museum and the Victorian.
The 50-ft x 69-ft 2616 - 2618 Main St property is lots 37 & 38 of Block R of the 1892 Santa Monica Commercial Company Tract.
Harold “Hal” Clark Sanborn (1885 – 1953). Born in Chicago, IL, Sanborn is in NY in 1917 serving in WWI and marrying Mabel J. Shaw. In 1928, he moves to Ocean Park, where he is a construction engineer working from home at 501 Hill St. In 1929, he marries Anna Flintsback Sanborn Gray (1902 - 1976). In 1933 and 1935, Sanborn is elected Santa Monica Commissioner of Public Works.
In 1936, Sanborn loses a Commissioner of Public Works recall election. Now a civil engineer in private practice, he opens an office at 130 Santa Monica Blvd. Sanborn serves, in both WWI and WWII, in the Army Quartermaster Corps (QMC). His highest rank is Lt Colonel. He is promoted to Colonel in 1946 - although he is not active under this commission. In 1946, he moves his residence from Ocean Park to 1254 14th St. In 1948, Sanborn marries former Santa Monica Airport manager Ladya Kalishek (1900 – 1997).
In 1934, Sanborn has the City take over Clover Field and operate it as a municipal airport. Ladya Kalishek, an experienced flight school operator and sister of stunt flier Babe Kalishek, is appointed the airport manager. Following Sanborn’s recall in 1936, management of the airport is moved from Public Works to Public Safety. Kalishek is forcibly removed from office.
The 1931 building opening announcement directs (“while you dine”) automotive customers to Gust Barelos and John Matheson at the adjacent 2612 Main St. The 1931 opening photograph shows 2 cars in the 2616 Main space.
The earliest record of automotive use in the 2616 Main St space is Sam’s Auto Service, opened by Samuel "Samma" Bloom (1903 - 1982) in 1947. Born in Iowa, by 1930 Sam Bloom is an auto mechanic in Omaha, NB. In 1935, he marries Shirley Feldman (1909 – 1995) in Los Angeles. In 1940, he runs Samuel Bloom Auto Repair at 211 Pico. In 1954, Sam’s brother, Saul Bloom (1905 - 1993) opens Saul’s Seaside Service at the adjacent 2612 Main St. In 1960, they operate Bloom Bros Used Cars at 170 Ocean Park Blvd.
The building opens in 1931 during the Depression - a tough time to do business.