12-21-2010, 12:55 PM
I haven't been here for a couple of days, and just got back to this thread. Stein has it right, people who live in Los Angeles are referred to as "Angelenos."
Vernon was known as the meat packers district. Most of the meat packing houses were located between Downey Road and Soto Street and South of Washington Blvd. Most of them are gone now. I think the only meat packers left are Oscar Meyer, and Farmer John. I think most disappeared when Swift, Rath, Hormel, & Dabuque either went out of business or the meat industry changed from shipping using meat rails and hanging the meat in refrigerator cars to shipping the meat in large boxes. The other big change was that cattle and hogs used to be slaughtered in Vernon before the animals were skinned out and processed. As far as I know Farmer John is the only packer left in Vernon who still slaughters hogs at their plant. Most of the old buildings were brick or corrugated sheet metal with some stucco mixed in. As the meat packers disappeared, many of the old buildings were knocked down to be replaced by concrete tilt up. The primary reason was the need for bigger warehouses and the wasted space taken up by stock pens. It was easier to just level everything and build fresh than it was to try to add something on to an existing building.
I have seen pictures of the old ice bunker 36 foot meat reefers in service into the 1970's, so an era from 1950 to 1975 would probably still have a lot of the meat packers in business. There were a couple of other meat packers still in Vernon, Cho meats may still be there, the other one , who's name I can't remember, moved to the Escondido or San Diego area in the 1990's if I remember correctly. By the time the railroads switched over from ice bunker cars to mechanical refrigeration, most of the refrigerated commodities had moved off the rails to trucks, and only came back to the rails in a somewhat limited way by the use of tofc.
Today, Vernon has changed greatly. There are a lot of small warehouses in the area now. The primary businesses there now are relatively small distributors of toys, electronics, and furniture, small grocery chains have their warehouses in either Vernon or Commerce. Santa Fe Ave is where most of the old brick buildings are located, and there are some machine shop suppliers on Santa Fe selling new and used lathes, mills, etc. Some of the old brick buildings on Santa Fe have been converted into lofts, but the actual population of the city of Vernon is only about 100.
Los Angeles has historically been divided into districts. Vernon was the meat packing center for the area, the produce district is in Los Angeles primarily around Olympic Blvd near Alameda Street.
Farther West in the area East of Figuroa and North of the 10 freeway is the garment district. There is a little overflow and intermingling of theses districts. I've seen some businesses on Santa Fe Ave between the 10 freeway and Washington Blvd that do contract sewing for the garment industry, for instance. There may also be a few produce warehouses farther West toward the garment district, etc.
Vernon was known as the meat packers district. Most of the meat packing houses were located between Downey Road and Soto Street and South of Washington Blvd. Most of them are gone now. I think the only meat packers left are Oscar Meyer, and Farmer John. I think most disappeared when Swift, Rath, Hormel, & Dabuque either went out of business or the meat industry changed from shipping using meat rails and hanging the meat in refrigerator cars to shipping the meat in large boxes. The other big change was that cattle and hogs used to be slaughtered in Vernon before the animals were skinned out and processed. As far as I know Farmer John is the only packer left in Vernon who still slaughters hogs at their plant. Most of the old buildings were brick or corrugated sheet metal with some stucco mixed in. As the meat packers disappeared, many of the old buildings were knocked down to be replaced by concrete tilt up. The primary reason was the need for bigger warehouses and the wasted space taken up by stock pens. It was easier to just level everything and build fresh than it was to try to add something on to an existing building.
I have seen pictures of the old ice bunker 36 foot meat reefers in service into the 1970's, so an era from 1950 to 1975 would probably still have a lot of the meat packers in business. There were a couple of other meat packers still in Vernon, Cho meats may still be there, the other one , who's name I can't remember, moved to the Escondido or San Diego area in the 1990's if I remember correctly. By the time the railroads switched over from ice bunker cars to mechanical refrigeration, most of the refrigerated commodities had moved off the rails to trucks, and only came back to the rails in a somewhat limited way by the use of tofc.
Today, Vernon has changed greatly. There are a lot of small warehouses in the area now. The primary businesses there now are relatively small distributors of toys, electronics, and furniture, small grocery chains have their warehouses in either Vernon or Commerce. Santa Fe Ave is where most of the old brick buildings are located, and there are some machine shop suppliers on Santa Fe selling new and used lathes, mills, etc. Some of the old brick buildings on Santa Fe have been converted into lofts, but the actual population of the city of Vernon is only about 100.
Los Angeles has historically been divided into districts. Vernon was the meat packing center for the area, the produce district is in Los Angeles primarily around Olympic Blvd near Alameda Street.
Farther West in the area East of Figuroa and North of the 10 freeway is the garment district. There is a little overflow and intermingling of theses districts. I've seen some businesses on Santa Fe Ave between the 10 freeway and Washington Blvd that do contract sewing for the garment industry, for instance. There may also be a few produce warehouses farther West toward the garment district, etc.