The Old Firehouse, Balboa Island, Ca.
For anyone growing up a skateboard away from Balboa Island in the late 70’s and early 80’s, there were a few iconographic places along Marine Ave. Sugar n’ Spice, Dad’s Doughnuts, Hersey’s Market and Island Records, the Persimmon Tree, the Jolly Roger and of course the Firehouse. Hersey’s is still there, though it’s owned by a corporation now and Island Records is long gone, having gone through a variety of incarnations, and currently a interior design shop where you can buy very expensive lamps and the like. The Jolly Roger is still a restaurant but it too has gone through more name changes than I can remember. The P-tree is still going strong and under the longest tenure of ownership of any business on the Island.
Since the Fire Department moved into new digs down the street quite a few years ago, the old Firehouse had been left abandoned. The word was it was structurally unsound. It’s finally getting a retro-fit and under new ownership and direction and will become a new business this year. But for the longest time it was just an empty memory of the old Island. A place where at Island Records you could buy the new Plasmatics album, play a few games of Missile Command, cross the street and get a Cactus Cooler at Island Liquors and drop a few more quarters into Dig-Dug before heading down to Balboa Beach Co. to blow the rest of your paper route money on a pair of Quicksilver board shorts.
This was taken in 2004 and in every subsequent trip I made to Balboa Island in the years that followed, the same picture was available, with the exception of a few leaves. It’s nice to know, that for a variety of reasons, this image is no more.
June 19th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
Don’t forget “Dad’s Frozen Bananas” 2 doors down and across from the old firehouse. And if you want to go back even farther… Jim Jennings’s 76 gas station where the new firehouse is now located, and “Mioni’s Pizza,” which used to be an ice cream parlor in its previous life. Yes, I too grew up on Balboa Island in the late 60’s - early 70’s too (born 1968). My neighbor was old lady Hershey herself. I have watched the demise and resurrection of the Fun Zone not just once, but twice. Sadly, it won’t be coming back this time around. Already gone are the bumper cars, little drummer boy, and scary dark ride. At least the ferris wheel and the carrousel have longer term leases that might keep them spinning for years to come; and I will keep riding them as long as they are around still find myself drawn to the Island on a regular basis to photograph or even just to ride the Balboa Island ferry if it is even remotely on my way to anything in that part of Orange County.
June 21st, 2007 at 10:04 am
my brothers and I used to spend summer vacations on the island in the 70’s, then take our cheesy rafts over to Corona Del Mar and get tossed around in the waves for an afternoon…….aaah then a frozen banana and a cool walk back to the bungalow, if we were good Mom would take us out to the Jolly Roger & the Fun Zone.
sweet sweet memories !!
Its been 30+ years since my last visit, after reading your post I think its time to visit again : )