Josh Kleinbaum
For years, a handful of names have been closely linked to history of
Montrose, names like Faye, Gelsinger, Dorsey and Grayson.
The Montrose Shopping Park Assn. and the Montrose-Verdugo City
Chamber of Commerce on Sunday made sure those names had a place in
history.
At a birthday party for the district, which turned 91, the two
organizations gathered on the 2200 block of Honolulu Avenue to give
out the inaugural Montrose Founder's Day Awards, commemorating people
who helped mold the town into today's thriving shopping community.
For anyone who has spent time in the Montrose Shopping Park on
Honolulu Avenue, the recipient's names have a familiar ring.
Peter Gelsinger founded Gelsinger Meats Inc. in 1932. Faye Snow
moved to Montrose in 1947 and opened her first business two years
later; Faye's Intimate Apparel is still in the shopping park. Raiford
Dorsey opened Dorsey's Department Store in 1965, and the building is
still known as the Dorsey Building.
Val Grayson founded Grayson's Tunetown, Jay Drayman ran several
clothing stores and was a longtime member of the Montrose Shopping
Park Assn., and Eleanor Dorrow and Wanda Bergstrom were a
mother-daughter waitress team at the City Hall Coffee Shop.
"You walk down the street and you see the Dorsey building, you see
Grayson's Tunetown," said John Drayman, a member of the Montrose
Shopping Park Assn. board and an organizer of the event. "It was very
easy [choosing the recipients]. It became very obvious."
The Montrose Shopping Park Assn. and the chamber of commerce plan
to make the awards an annual event, although only one award will
given out each year in the future, Drayman said.
Gelsinger, Snow, Jay Drayman -- John's father -- and Dorrow
received the awards posthumously.
"I wonder why something like this wasn't done earlier, but they've
done a wonderful job of it," Grayson, 90, said. "These people have
really made this town worth going to."
Other businesses and individuals were honored with the following
awards: Critter's, Country Classics, Lauri Jo Designs and Ocean View
Board Sports, Business Achievement; Glendale Police Officer Jerry
Uebel, Community Service; Vita Cannella, Humanitarian; Mike Lawler,
Community Preservation; and Robert Yoohana, Community Vision.
