Today we don't think much about the postal service or our local post offices, unless we have to stand inline for holiday stamps or pick up a certified letter. But, in the "old west", a separate post office building was a symbol that a town had arrived.

The first mail-drop in what is now North Hollywood, was located in the Weddington General Store. The intended receiver's name, the town and State were sufficient to get a letter from London or Paris to Lankershim or Toluca. (Valley residents were still unsure of what to call the village they lived near.) Since the most common name was Lankershim, messages sent to Toluca were more likely lost - hence, one of the Valley's oldest jokes, "Send it to Lankershim -Bill it to Toluca!"

The goal of a separate post office, and the official name of Lankershim came about in 1893 when the U.S. Government designated the Toluca Post Office, but amore influential Issac Lankershim got his way and the town and post office took the name of Lankershim.

46 years after Fred Weddington had donated the land on which the post office still stands today, a new US post office was dedicated in North Hollywood. If its walls could speak, a thousand stories would amaze its patrons - one of which follows.

The President of the United States was agitated! Normally, the most powerful man in America enjoyed his once-a-week time watching "movie newsreels" with his life long friend Jim Farley, but tonight he was angry. What Franklin Delano Roosevelt watched on the screen were specters of Nazi Germans smirking as they cast book after book, works or art and even priceless manuscripts into a monstrous bonfire. Works by Jews, union leaders, Quakers, Jehovah's Witnesses, gays, the "polically undesirable" and Marxists were destroyed by the thousands. threatening the very fabric of European civilization.

Slamming his wheelchair against a table, Roosevelt hissed, "God damn it Jim, Americans ought to do something to show the world that our values are diametrically opposed to those fascist scoundrels!" Jim Farley, the Post Master General of the USA, thought for a moment and answered, "How about giving publishers and schools a cheaper rate for mailing books?" In 1939, the federal media postal rate took effect in the new North Hollywood Post Office.

The construction of new postal facilities throughout our country was an integral part of Roosevelt's New Deal. The Democratic president's WPA (Works Progress Administration) put thousands to work, including the many artisans and laborers who built the NoHo Post Office. Take time to examine the building's interior and exterior. On the face of the building rests a handsome cornerstone, bearing the name of James A.Farley, Post Master General.

69 years have passed with film scripts, works of art and novels across the sturdy oak counters still uncensored after almost 70 years.

Sit for a moment on the time-worn steps and think about the decision of Wilson C. Weddington to accept the job as first postmaster of Lankershim California. Weddington dreamed of a real city to serve the growing population of the east San Fernando Valley, and a real post office would be a great start.

United States Post Office
11304 Chandler Boulevard
North Hollywood, CA 91601

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Gerald R. Fecht, Ph.D.
President
Anchor Education Foundation
21031 Ventura Blvd., Suite 419
Woodland Hills, CA 91364
818.347.9665
http://www.anchoreducationfoundation.org
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