It has been said that every town possesses a unique history — and this certainly applies to Pacific Beach. It is the people, however, who make a community what it is. A community is organic. So, too, is its building environment. This is definitely true of what is often referred to as “the Wendy’s building,” located at 1621 Grand Ave. at the intersection with Ingraham Street. In addition to being the home of Wendy’s restaurant, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in May, the upstairs offices are home to building owner Charles Blane and his realty offices. The second floor is also home to the offices of the San Diego Community Newspaper Group, publishers of Beach & Bay Press, The Peninsula Beacon, La Jolla Village News and Downtown News. The newspaper group relocated its offices there in May from its former location on Cass Street. But the Wendy’s building wasn’t always such. Longtime locals often reflect on the area’s changing landscape with parlances like,”Do you remember where such-and-such used to be? Well it’s now the …” Blane, who has been in the realty business for 56 years, said longtime residents might recall the site used to be a Texaco station with a house on the adjoining lot. The Texaco station was eventually sold, torn down and a house was built on the property. In 1964, Blane purchased that house for his realty office. After serving as Blane’s realty office for 22 years, Wendy’s approached him to purchase the site. Rather than sell, however, Blane offered the restaurant chain an opportunity to lease. The site was then re-envisioned for Wendy’s restaurant. But when Wendy’s indicated it needed a larger lot of 2,500 square feet, and Blane didn’t want to move his offices again, the two parties came up with a plan to include office space upstairs from the restaurant for Blane Realty. Initially, there was just a 2,500 square foot shell, but then the parties arrived at a plan to divide the space into two offices of 1,250 square feet each. Wendy’s moved in on May 20, 1986. Blane’s very first upstairs tenants were Bruce and Michelle Rawdin-Barron Financial Services, which was in business there for 20 years. Blane said that while it may seem unusual, architecturally speaking, to have a real estate office above a Wendy’s restaurant, it has worked out nicely for several reasons — particularly since it’s a good corner location. Looking back 56 years ago, Blane said he opened his first real estate office at 4401 Cass St. on June 1, 1955. He then moved his offices to Grand Avenue in 1961. Back then, he reminisces, Grand Avenue was only paved from Mission Boulevard to Ingraham Street. The rest of the area still had dirt roads. Blane said back in the late 1950s through the early 1960s, the Brown’s Military Academy and barracks existed where Vons does now. Blane still remembers watching the proud graduating cadets march up the street on Fridays. Also of interest, Blane said the present home of US Bank, across the street at 4427 Ingraham, was a real estate office, then a bank then a car wash — before becoming a bank once more. After 56 years, Blane remains active as a residential and commercial Realtor.