Alison Martino

A Beverly Hills Historian for the Modern Age

By Elizabeth Gregerson

Alison’s collection of vintage menus, featuring Ah Fongs, Hamburger Hamlet, Caffe Roma & Nate ‘N Als | Photo by Michael Allen

A train used to run right through Beverly Hills.

More specifically, a freight train carrying sweet-smelling shipments to and from the Wonder Bread bakery used to run right through Beverly Hills. Alison Martino, a Beverly Hills native, vividly remembers the delicious scent with a laugh.

“You could smell the Wonder Bread through the whole city when it came through,” Martino said. “That's a very early childhood, Beverly Hills memory.”

Martino was raised in Beverly Hills, the daughter of Judi and Al Martino. Her father was a popular crooner who later became known for playing singer Johnny Fontane in The Godfather films.

Alison Martino, Creator of "Vintage Los Angeles" photographed by Michael Allen at The Grill on The Alley.

“I grew up with a father in showbiz, but we had different paths in the industry,” Martino said. “My drive was very similar to my Dad's in wanting to somehow entertain people.”

Martino does just that when she shares her many Beverly Hills memories with her online community, Vintage Los Angeles. With almost 500,000 followers on Facebook and 120,000 on Instagram, Martino uses social media to connect with others who share the unique perspective of growing up in Beverly Hills and the surrounding areas.

“I had no idea that it would take off the way it did,” Martino said. “I just wanted to have a, ‘do you remember when . . .’ type of page.”

Martino family’s living room on Rexford Drive in 1971

Beverly Hills circa 1975

Vintage Los Angeles has evolved from a walk down memory lane to an actual interactive community where Martino says connections and reconnections are made every day.

Robinson’s Department Store built in 1952 on Wilshire Blvd. and demolished in 2014.

“I could post a photo of the old Robinson's department store and walk away for an hour,” Martino said. “ When I come back to that thread, 10 people are connecting again for the first time. There are negative things that can come from social media, but this side of it is positive. I'm glad to be a part of the positive side of the internet.”

Martino’s corner of the internet not only embodies the positive aspects of community, it harkens back to a time when Beverly Hills itself was more trusting and carefree. When it was a village where even the most A-List celebrities felt comfortable being in the public eye.

“Movie stars were attached to Beverly Hills,” Martino said. “For instance: Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, Rosemary Clooney, Doris Day, Fred Astaire, Jimmy Stewart and Peter Faulk all lived on one block. We lived a few blocks away, across the street from Edward G. Robinson. None of these well known stars lived behind gates. I mean, they walked their dogs freely down the street. There was no paparazzi running after them or a sense of fear. Elizabeth Taylor would be inside Chasen’s and you'd have one or two paparazzi outside trying to get the best photo they could get of her. Today they’re looking for the worst photo.”

Oldschool Hollywood hotspot Chasen’s, closed to make way for a Bristol Farms in 1995.

Chasen’s, a restaurant famous for its clientele of Hollywood legends, is now the site of a Bristol Farms grocery store. Chasen’s may be closed but one of the restaurant’s menus lives on as a piece of Martino’s extensive memorabilia collection.

“I've always been a documentarian at heart. I've always been a collector,” Martino said. “I've always wanted to be able to physically touch the things that I've collected.”

A glimpse inside Alison’s vintage memorabilia. Photographed by Michael Allen.

From menus to matchbooks, photographs to film set relics, and more. Martino collects objects to keep memories alive and show her Vintage Los Angeles community a glimpse into the past. She even has saved cassette tapes full of phone messages from high school.

“You put them on and it feels like you are time traveling,” Martino said. “I think Vintage Los Angeles may be the closest thing to a time machine.”

It is an apt analogy. Martino has been crowned “The Delorean of the Internet” by friend Donavon Freberg, son of Stan Freberg and fellow Beverly Hills native. It's a nickname Martino delightfully embraces with reverence for the industry she has built her career on.

“I'm a 1980s girl. Back to the Future is one of my favorite movies, I love the reference,” she said. “Not only do I love Los Angeles history and Beverly Hills history, I love pop culture and entertainment and film. So I really love that line.”

Martino’s love of entertainment and history converges in her work with Spectrum News as an on-air contributor and correspondent for the channel’s “The SoCal Scene” series. She recently covered the Virginia Robinson Gardens. Once host to classic Old Hollywood parties, the gardens are now open for the public to visit. It is a hidden Beverly Hills gem that even Martino did not know everything about.

“I’m learning every day,” Martino said. “You're never going to know everything about your city. Somebody's gotta keep asking questions.”

One of the bigger questions on Martino’s mind lately has been whether or not the growth made in Beverly Hills over the past few decades has impeded the city’s ability to preserve some of its greatest treasures.

Alison’s first birthday at The Luau in 1971; Photo by her mother, Judi

“We need to find a way to keep local businesses alive financially and to keep beautiful historic homes off the chopping block,” Martino said. “I miss the places I grew up in. The Luau, Ah Fong’s, Hamburger Hamlet, The Daisy, J.J. Newberry's. I know we can't save it all and progress is important, but Robinson’s department store and the residence at 1001 Roxbury Drive are prime examples of historic structures that should have never been torn down. We desperately need a balance of the old mixed in with the new.”

Martino recognizes the efforts of people like Michael Libow and Shelli and Irving Azoff, who have dedicated time and resources to preserving historical Beverly Hills icons. Libow, a Beverly Hills realtor, owns the Witch’s House, and worked to have the home designated as a cultural landmark. The entertainment executive Irving Azoff and his wife Shelli bought Nate ‘n Al's in 2019. The deli has been a Beverly Hills staple for almost 80 years.

Pamela Gonyea and Giorgio Sease of The Grill on the Alley join Alison Martino to celebrate the iconic eatery’s 40th anniversary since its 1984 opening.

Martino remembers other Beverly Hills restaurants with fond memories including Caffe Roma, which recently closed after 45 years, The Grill on the Alley, which celebrates 40 years in business this year, Mulberry St. Pizzeria, where you can find her father’s album displayed, and La Dolce Vita, a Beverly Hills staple since 1966 that reopened in 2023 under new ownership.

What Martino and the hundreds of thousands of people in the Vintage Los Angeles community all have in common is their love for Beverly Hills. It is a love Martino thinks can push the city forward by preserving what makes Beverly Hills so unique, its history.

“I live in 2024. Does that mean I want to transport myself back to 1975 and stay there? No,” Martino said. “I'm supposed to be here right now. I'm supposed to help tell our legacy, to help share our legacy. It is so important to know our history as we move forward.”

The Beverly Hills train tracks that carried Wonder Bread. Wilshire and San Vicente in Beverly Hills, 1970s.