Normajean Jonz watched the San Fernando Valley Relics preservationists, Jason Bowsher and Tommy Gelinas hammer out the Googie-style Henry's Tacos sign and she welled up with tears.
"It was so sad, 40 degrees, super cold weather, brrrr," Jonz said. "I fought back the tears."
She took photographs (see the gallery above). She not only knows longtime owner Janis Hood, who sold the business to a longtime but she also knows preservationist Alison Martino of Vintage Los Angeles, who was also going to help preserve the sign and was incorrectly identified as one of those helping out. (Martino had been in discussions with Hood, but ultimately, the man known as "the relic hunter" from North Hollywood, took control of the signage.)
Hood said, "I would love some part of the signs to be put back up whenever they find a new place to locate the business. But I am particularly interested in seeing the signs behind the menu board, those have some of the original prices."
In fact, when Hood's grandfather started the stand in 1961, the original tacos sold for 35 cents. Behind the $2.75 famous "gringo tacos" sign was the original, in very good shape.
Jonz said, "I met Tommy of San Fernando Valley Relics at the sign removal—such a nice guy."
Now the corner stand on Tujunga and Moorpark isn't much more than a wooden shack. People are still going by and taking photos.
"I'm going to Henry's sometime before 9 p.m....with a box of Kleenex," writes Jonz.
Click here for a Daily News story about Valley Relics. See the gallery of photos by Jonz and Valley Relics above.
