Community
We had very nice stores, department stores. We had Steinfeld’s, we had Jacome’s, we had JC Penny’s, and we had Levy’s. All those stores were downtown. My mom would take us on a Saturday evening. We’d go all the way down Congress to see all the windows, and we would all run, and we would say, “This is my window! This is my window!” Because my mom had nine children, sometimes she’d carry three in a buggy, and some walking... I came from a big family.
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A home in the Menlo Park neighborhood.
From the Scrapbook of Mrs. Irma Henkel.
Courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. John Henkel.
The Riverside Dancehall wasn’t a casino. It was the Riverside. They had dancing there. My sister [danced there. During WWII] They would dance and dance and see who stayed the longest dancing. A dance marathon, something like that. Then it turned into a printshop.
My great grandfather told me that he used to go dancing at a place called the “Riverside” that was located at Congress and the freeway. He said the Ronstadts used to go and also the Steinfields, which were really popular people. This was back in the ’30s... after dancing they would go eat tacos at the taquito store which was located on Congress and Grande, now Menlo Park Liquor Store.
I talked to my grandmother to learn more about my neighborhood. She told me that my great great grandfather moved to Menlo Park in November 1957. My grandmother remembers the sports center, which was located adjacent to the west side of the Santa Cruz River on Congress across the street from the Garden of Gethsemane. Country and western singers Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and others, performed there. Wrestling matches were also held there. It was also a community center.
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