The front of the postcard shows the store at night with the rooftop sign reading “Tarzana Carpets” and the storefront advertising McQueen’s Tarzana Carpets. The display window also promotes Wunda Weve, described on the back of the postcard as one of the store’s specialties.
The back of the postcard gives more detail about the business, listing Tarzana Carpets as a headquarters for Wunda Weve and specialists in braided carpet. The card also advertises the “largest selection of braided carpet and ovals in Los Angeles,” along with complete interior decorating service and draperies.
The postcard lists the address as:
Tarzana Carpets
18584 Ventura Blvd.
Tarzana, Calif.
It also includes the old phone exchange-style number Dickens 2-5119, a reminder of an earlier era of Valley businesses before modern phone-number formatting took over.
Today, the property looks very different. The vintage carpet showroom is gone, and the site has been altered over time along one of the Valley’s most heavily traveled commercial corridors. Still, the postcard preserves a great mid-century slice of Ventura Boulevard retail history, when specialty stores, neon-style signage, and neighborhood-serving businesses defined much of Tarzana’s main drag.
Postcard Details
Business: Tarzana Carpets / McQueen’s Tarzana Carpets
Address: 18584 Ventura Boulevard, Tarzana
Specialties listed: Wunda Weve, braided carpet, carpet ovals, interior decorating, draperies
Publisher: Mellinger Studio, Pasadena, Calif.
Phone number shown: Dickens 2-5119
Corridor: Ventura Boulevard
This is another small but interesting reminder of how Ventura Boulevard once looked and functioned: less like a continuous restaurant and office corridor, and more like a collection of specialized neighborhood retailers with big signs, showroom windows, and very specific merchandise.
You can view more Tarzana Postcards here.
You can view more SFV Postcards here.
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