JERRY PERSON -- A Look Back

Have you seen those banners lately on Beach Boulevard advertising the

Beach Boulevard of Cars? Main Street had its own version in the 1940s and

1950s.

Roy Bryant had the Dodge agency at 401 Main St. Across the street, at 424

Main, Robert P. Mandic was selling new and used Chryslers, Plymouths and

Imperials.

Next to Mandic, Bob Jurkovich, at his Main Street Garage at 410 Main St.,

was offering the newest Hudsons, Ramblers and that miniature car, the

Metropolitan.

This week, we are going to look at the man who sold those miniature cars

-- B.M. “Bob” Jurkovich.

Jurkovich was not born in the United States but in Austria in 1895.

When Jurkovich was 7 years old, his father died suddenly. When the young

Jurkovich was 8, he went to work for a construction crew that traveled

all over Europe.

In 1911, he said goodbye to his mother and came to Los Angeles seeking

work and a better life. Jurkovich went to work as a welder with the

Southern Pacific Railroad and moved over to work with the Union Pacific

two years later.

During World War I, he continued as a welder in a Los Angeles shipyard.

In 1918, Jurkovich opened his own automobile repair shop in the remote

town of Montebello. In the early 1920s, he arrived in Huntington Beach,

where he operated a garage at 428 Main St., selling and repairing Durants

and Flints.

When was the last time you saw a Flint on Main Street?

Jurkovich’s shop became a Hudson dealership in 1926. Bob built a modern

$40,000 garage at 410 Main in 1944 and moved his Hudson agency over

there. He added the Rambler and Metropolitan lines in the 1950s. The

Durant and Flint, of course, were no longer being made.

Bob married a girl from his native Austria by the name of Mary Lubura,

and they had a daughter, Madeline.

Former Huntington Beach resident George E. Arnold remembers his dad and

Jurkovich would love to go hunting together. Bob gave the nickname of

“Cotton” to George’s dad. George was “Cotton Jr.”

Jurkovich owned a ranch near Elsinore, and he would go hunting there to

relax. He was a member of both our Elks Lodge and the Rotary Club.

Huntington Beach lost its pioneer auto dealer on Feb. 27, 1969.

* 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 92615.