Since the demolition of the former Kwan's restaurant has been in the news, it was interesting to consider what was under it.
The assessors property record suggests it had been built c.1930.
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| September 23rd, 1934 |
Sure enough, in the 1930s there's a grocery store there! In September of 1934 they advertised Bohemian Club Beer. And "plenty of parking space."
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| January 30th, 1934 |
Earlier in the year, just after the Repeal of Prohibition, they advertised Salem Beer. It must have been operating also as a kind of restaurant. The manager in 1934 was William La Roche. The business morphed into La Roche's Tavern.
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| January 24th, 1952 |
There's a lot of petty burglary from it in the paper, and it may have been a slightly shady business.
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| July 7th, 1932 |
You may recall the Pay' n Takit store that opened in 1932 just one block south at 935 S. Commercial. Within a few years Safeway purchased the building and business, and remodeled it in 1942. It might have been difficult for a smaller grocery just a block away to survive, and the tavern business might have been much better.
Maybe there will be more to say later about the Basket Grocery and La Roche Tavern. It would be nice to find a photo of the building pre-Kwan's!
See previous notes on grocery history, especially on old Safeways, here.
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