Ken from Outside The Berm, read my recent El Toro/Lake Forest post and shared this 1960 slide of the El Toro Country Store..
The Tustin Area Historical Society will host Old Town Tustin's 2009 Promenade Home & Garden Tour on Sat., May 2, 9am-4pm. Visit their website for more information.
That El Toro general store photo is precious to me. I grew up in the mid-60's housing tract culture in El Toro. At that time most of the valley floor was a solid patchwork of vegetable farms, orange groves, and businesses that served the farming community. That general store in El Toro sold just about everything, from clothing, hardware, and groceries. Now just try finding orange groves or a general store in Orange county. All gone. Curiously, the El Toro general store served the early housing tract community very well, otherwise residents had to drive to San Juan Capistrano, Laguna Beach, or Tustin for groceries. The general store also had a fire crew, which if I recall correctly, was a community based volunteer organization. Thanks for posting the photo. Ron Basich (rrbasich@sonic.net)
ReplyDeleteThat is so interesting... ES
ReplyDeleteMy father, Bill Burrows ran the El Toro Store until his death in 1963.As a child I spent many hours in and around that store. I used to pump gas, wait on customers and restock the shelves and refrigerators. My dad was also the butcher, Post Master, and volunteer fire chief. When I was 12 years old I got a horse that we kept in a pasture across the railroad tracks from the store. I rode all over in El Toro on that horse. That picture of the front of the store sure brought back a lot of memories for me...Thanks11
ReplyDeleteIs this Nancy?
DeleteIs this Nancy?
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