Boogie Woogie Cafe

JERRY PERSON

When World War II ended and Gordie Higgins returned home to

Huntington Beach to live and work he told me that there were only two

places in town that he felt comfortable. One was a place on Main

Street that Higgins couldn’t remember the name of and the other place

was the Boogie Woogie cafe on Pacific Coast Highway.

After talking to Higgins I took a walk over to see if the building

at 508 Pacific Coast Highway was still standing. I was surprised to

see the building was still standing. But not for long I regret to

say. The building had just been vacated by Papa Joe’s Pizza and is

scheduled to be destroyed to make way for the Strand, one of those

shopping places that are appearing up and down the California coast.

If we could go back to 1932 we would only see a vacant lot at this

location. In 1924 Joe Harris opened a candy store at 105 Main Street

next door to Obarr’s Drug Store. His store had been the former site

of the Huntington Beach Sanitary Market that was operated by W.

Holtkamp and J.C. Estep. Harris Confectionary was to become a fixture

there for nine years and in 1933 Harris wanted a permanent location

on the new coast highway.

So he planned and constructed a new earthquake-proof candy store.

The interior was painted a cream color and inside would house his

candy kitchen. The outside would reflect the Spanish style of

construction that was so popular in California at the time and

included Spanish stucco and tile work.

It was on Saturday, July 8, 1933 that Harris held his official

grand opening. Homemade candies were made in the back of the store

and sold at the front candy counter. People could also sit and enjoy

a malt at the soda fountain.

In the late 1930s Charlie “Chick” Wilson was doing business there

as Chick’s Malt Shop and was offering the finest malts and shakes for

10 and 15 cents.

You could also take home a bag or box of his homemade Huntington

Beach candy.

One time when Charlie came down to open the candy store on a

Monday morning on Aug. 15, 1938, he was surprised to find the store

crowded with people and his front and back doors open. He was sure

he’d locked up on Sunday night, but nothing was missing and remained

a mystery.

A year later the store became known as Kemp’s Confectionary and by

1942 it was renamed Kemp’s Place.

If you called 3953 on the telephone in 1943 the voice at the other

end would be Hazel Allen. Allen could have told you about her

“business men’s lunch” or her great fried chicken dinner as well as

her malts, shakes, homemade pies and cakes at Mrs. Allen’s Malt Shop.

In February of 1944 Hazel sold her malt shop to Ted Luebben and

his wife. They had come to California the previous September from

Jackson, Minn.

Ted’s wife had experience in running a cafe having worked at one

in Spirit Lake, Iowa. He was working as a guard at the Santa Ana

airport and so it was no surprise that within a month they sold the

business to Charles and Helen Young from Belmont Shore.

The Youngs first step was to rename the place the “Boogie Woogie”

after the popular dance of the period.

On Feb. 24, 1944 they held their grand opening that included

“merchant lunches” and fried chicken dinners for a dollar on Sunday,

a special Boogie Woogie burger for a quarter, barbecued pork and beef

sandwiches and a “solid juke box.”

The Boogie Woogie continued through the 1940s and into the 1960s

with only minor name changes to Boogie Woogie Malt & Sandwich shop in

the 1950s and to the Boogie Woogie Coffee Shop in the 1960s.

Huntington Beach’s Art Hermann recalled going to the malt shop

after watching the Huntington Beach Oilers play at the high school.

“That place was always busy,” Art said.

In the early 1970s it had become Richard’s Coffee Shop and when I

came here I was told that Edna Brown served the biggest and tastiest

pancakes around and I can personally say they were right.

Richard’s closed in 1983 to be replaced by Z’s Beachwalk Cafe.

They lasted until February of 1984 and in the next month Seaside

Cafe opened its doors to the public and remained open until Surfside

Pizza came along in November of 1986.

By January 1989 it had become P.J.’s Boogie Woogie and that name

lasted until September of that year when the name was shortened to

Papa Joe’s Pizza.

They just moved out last month.

The Boogie Woogie has long been a part of Huntington Beach history

although Harris’ beautiful cream color interior has long been painted

over. The Spanish stucco and tiles have faded as the empty building

sits forlorn looking out toward the sea.

* JERRY PERSON is a local historian and longtime Huntington Beach

resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box

7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.