Long before a Walgreens occupied the corner of Ventura Boulevard and Mecca Avenue, the address belonged to Gump's Restaurant, a streamlined Valley dining room remembered through this colorful postcard.
The postcard identifies Gump's at 18568 Ventura Boulevard—then also promoted as U.S. 101—in Tarzana. Its green tower, low horizontal roofline, broad windows and cursive signage gave the restaurant a striking roadside presence.
On the reverse, Gump's advertised “Breakfast - Lunch - Dinners,” its own baked pastries and the phone number Dickens 3-1304. The card called the business “one of the Valley's newer and finer restaurants,” language that places the image firmly in the era when Ventura Boulevard was rapidly developing into the South Valley's commercial spine.
Gump's was serving Tarzana by 1951
A Los Angeles Public Library photograph supplies a firm date for the restaurant's history. The TESSA Digital Collections record, titled Women's Council meet, documents a luncheon held at Gump's on February 19, 1951.
The event brought together members of the Women's Council Division of the San Fernando Valley Real Estate Board. According to the catalog description, Norman Woest of the Title Insurance & Trust Company was the guest speaker. The record confirms both the restaurant's name and its 18568 Ventura Boulevard address.
The library image does not establish when Gump's opened, and the postcard itself is undated. A Valley Relics Museum postcard catalog describes its Gump's exterior card as dating from the 1940s, but that approximate catalog date should not be treated as an opening date for the restaurant or a construction date for the building.
Gump's in period newspaper clippings
Three surviving newspaper clippings add to the restaurant's period record. Two appeared in The Van Nuys News and Valley Green Sheet during 1951, while a third appeared in the Los Angeles Evening Citizen News in 1953. Together with the library photograph and postcard, they help place Gump's within the everyday commercial and social life of the postwar Valley.
What happened to the original building?
The structure shown on the postcard is no longer standing. A newer commercial building now occupies the corner, but the available online record does not provide a complete chain of permits for the transition.
This is an important distinction: a later new-construction filing is evidence of a replacement project, but it is not by itself proof of exactly when the postcard building disappeared. Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety records may contain older scanned permits or certificates of occupancy that are not surfaced in a simple online address search.
Google Street View
A small piece of Ventura Boulevard history
Even with gaps in the building record, the surviving material tells a vivid story. The postcard preserves the architecture and sales pitch; the 1951 library photograph places community life inside the restaurant; and today's street view shows how completely the corner has changed.
For now, the safest conclusion is also the most interesting one: Gump's was part of Tarzana's commercial life by early 1951, and its memorable green building later gave way to the development standing at 18568 Ventura Boulevard today. Pinning down the restaurant's opening and the building's precise demolition date will require deeper archival permit research.
Continue exploring the Valley through the SFV Blog's Postcards collection, see more local vintage views on the Tarzana Postcards page, or browse neighborhood history, architecture and landmarks on the Tarzana page.
Sources and notes
- Los Angeles Public Library, TESSA Digital Collections, Valley Times Collection, Women's Council meet, February 19, 1951, order no. 00113216.
- Valley Relics Museum postcard collection catalog, entry VR/PC/RS/46.
- Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety property-records guide.
- The Van Nuys News and Valley Green Sheet, February 12 and September 13, 1951; Los Angeles Evening Citizen News, December 14, 1953.
- Vintage Gump's Restaurant postcard from the author's collection.
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