Burbank Shorts
Description: In 1927, NBC-operated radio network was called the NBC Blue Network. It would later on become an independent radio (and, eventually, television) network known as the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in 1943. ABC later joined United Paramount Theatres forming American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres (later American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.). After its venture into radio and television throughout the 1960s and 1970s and the purchase of ESPN Inc. in 1982, the company would later be acquired/merged with Capital Cities, forming Capital Cities/ABC in 1985. The company ultimately sold to The Walt Disney Company in 1995.
Description: I wrote a primer and mapped the San Fernando Valley, or simply, "The Valley," for "California Fool's Gold" in 2012. This watercolor map, however, dates to 2013 or so (when I experimenting with watercolors). It is primarily a region of the city of Los Angeles but also includes the municipalities of San Fernando and Burbank, as well as the unincorporated community of Universal City. https://ericbrightwell.com/2012/11/05/california-fools-gold-a-san-fernando-valley-primer/
Description: If you've been around the Southern California hot rod scene for a while, you're probably familiar with Rocket Muffler, the Burbank shop that spent several decades doing custom exhaust work for drag, dry lake, and street racers alike. Their business cards advertised "Racket by Rocket" which was probably a hint to the kind of work they did in squeezing out just a little more horsepower out of V8 engines in exchange for a little noise. In addition to sponsoring numerous local SoCal racers in the '50s and '60s, they also kept a sign out front of their shop on West Magnolia Boulevard offering free welding repairs on kid's toys, wagons, and bikes. Talk about community service!
Description: A retro-style emblem featuring a round red background with a cream outline. Inside, the text "Bob's est. 1949" is displayed above a vintage red car. To the right of the car, a young boy with a bib reading "BIG BOY" runs, wearing checkered pants. "BURBANK, CALIFORNIA" is written at the bottom.
Description: KMET was a Los Angeles FM station that broadcast at 94.7 MHz beginning in June 1968. As with many stations at the time, KMET featured an automated format with female voices and middle-of-the-road music, but eventually added live DJ's and a free form rock music format. Major changes came about in 1974 to create something new for the struggling station by way of a new rock format that retained some of the station's progressive freedom, but added much needed energy and consistency along with high production values. KMET's new format quickly rose to number one, earning them the nickname "The Mighty Met." The station continued to rock the valley through the '70s and most of the '80 before signing off on February 14, 1987.
Description: Taco Tio is one of the long-forgotten fast-food chains that has been lost to the winds of time. Sadly, very little information exists on these guys, but from what we were able to pull together, they opened up shop on March 4th, 1967 on Van Nuys Blvd. in Burbank with ten-cent tacos all day long and went on to open several more throughout Southern California. Given their proximity to the TV and movie studios, their unique cactus signs can be spotted in numerous driving scenes in TV shows and movies throughout the '60s and '70s.
