Just indulging for a moment my memories of the Van Nuys Airport area: my greatest feeling of loss is for Skytrails, the restaurant and bar at Sherman Way and Hayvenhurst. A classic hangout if ever there was one. I couldn’t estimate the number of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners enjoyed there, both alone and in the company of good friends. It was the kind of place that, once gone, is irreplaceable.
I don’t know when it was razed for development, but I’m glad I wasn’t around then. My fellow fliers and I also enjoyed some meetings and meals at Lulu’s, on Roscoe, which to my amazement is still there. I recall that as a typical So. Cal. coffee shop type of jernt. For fast food, Tommy’s on Roscoe or Beeps at Sherman Way and Woodley. Oddly, I don’t literally remember eating at the latter, but I know I did. Also enjoyed a few meals at the 94th Aero Squadron bordering the airport. These three also survive, to my amazement, though the Tommy’s is apparently no longer just the “stand” I recall. I also liked the Denny’s on the south side of Ventura, just east of the 405, an occasional stop on my drive over the hill. Long gone.
In the realm of bookstores lost, there were a few dedicated to aviation. One was Pan American Aviation, somewhere around Saticoy on the west side of the airport. I still have books and material from there that might show the address.
For pure landmark value — from the air as well as the ground — the Van Nuys Drive-In, with a great marquee and screen decor (Roscoe, east of Sepulveda) and the Busch Gardens and brewery that were a checkpoint on final approach to runway 16L.
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Topic: THE DARLING DAUGHTER COMES TO VISIT ON CHRISTMAS DAY (Read 4286 times)