History's Dumpster = GLORIOUS trash! Kitsch, music, fashion, food, history, ephemera, and other memorable and forgotten, famous and infamous pop culture junk and oddities of yesterday and today. Saved from the landfill of time...
(Late greetings to the New Year. I have had a lot of health issues as of late. So I haven't been much for writing. Hope this finds you well. - Larry)
Woolworth, JCPenney, Lucky, Pay N' Save & Fredrick & Nelson, Aurora Village, Seattle, WA, circa late '60s.
Woolworths: The
ORIGINAL "dime store". Woolworth's was one of the most popular discount
department stores of the last century. EVERYBODY'S Mom shopped there and
the prices were amongst the most reasonable anywhere. Which might have
been their downfall.
It seems like the prices at Woolworth's, which were
the cheapest anywhere also corresponded to the quality of some of their
products (which were mostly off-brand names made in Taiwan by almost
totally anonymous "corporations" - Sound familiar?)
Then there was their cafeterias (or "Luncheonettes".) Historically, they're reviled as racist relics from an uglier time - especially in the South. But they was fully integrated by the '70s and the food I remember they
served in the '70s was prepared by elderly women and reflected a
different time. Yes, greasy kid stuff like cheeseburgers were served,
but so were "blue plate specials" like meatloaf, mashed potatoes and
gravy and the like - even liver and onions.
The downtown Seattle store, a
virtual institution since the '20s closed in 1993. They even still had
the ORIGINAL candy center, in the middle of the store which sold
licorice by the rope and candy bins that had remained almost
unchanged - other then actual product, until 1993. It was a very sad day
for me and countless others when it closed. I remembered
seeing a lot of young people at that candy area
that their grandparents probably had fun at when THEY were teenagers...
The Bon Marche: The Bon Marche was a formal
department store chain in the Puget Sound area. It used to sell a
variety of items, but later began focusing on women's clothes,
kitchenware and jewelry.
The name was shortened to "The Bon" in 1980
.....and
the full name was restored in 1990.
In 1997, The Bon Marche chain was
sold to Macy's and Macy's operated the chain as the ridiculous
sounding Bon-Macy's.....
.....before dropping the Bon reference altogether in
2003, and today operates the stores as Macy's.
Frederick & Nelson: Another upper crust
department store chain in the Puget Sound area. Like The Bon Marche, it started out as a general (but somewhat upper class department store), but soon
specialized in clothing and jewelry.
Frederick & Nelson was a local institution
during the holiday season with their annual picture takings with Santa
Claus and had a local favourite holiday candy called "Frangos".
But
Frederick & Nelson's style of clothing selection was
extremely stuffy and people were increasingly turned off by the
expensive and conservative attire Frederick & Nelson always
specialized in by the '80s. They closed in 1990. Macy's today now
carries the Frango holiday candy.
Rhodes: A Bon Marche competitor in the Puget
Sound from the '20s to the early '70s. Rhodes was purchased by in the late '60s and in the early '70s became Lamont's.
Their now demolished downtown
Seattle building once supported an extremely rare wire rooftop AM
transmitting antenna (which were outdated by 1930!) for radio station
KXA 770 AM until 1984, which was STILL in use until then! (the station
also used to have a funny noise underneath it's fairly weak signal....) KXA spent much of it's life as an independent classical music station before changing to Oldies, Rock, Religious and finally Adult Standards before being sold to a country broadcaster. After a few decades of varying call letter and format changes, 770 AM in Seattle is now KTTH, a conservative talk station.
Rhode's old downtown Seattle, with KXA Radio's original rooftop antenna system. The site is now occupied by Benaroya Hall
White Front: The thing about White Fronts was
you knew one when you saw one. A HUGE white painted semi-circular arch
greeted you as you entered the store and like Woolworth, everything was
dirt cheap. But too much expansion and not enough capital forced it's
quick demise in the mid-'70s. Most stores were sold to K-Mart, but none
retained the familiar "White Front" arch. A typical White Front entrance:
The same Anaheim,
CA White Front store, abandoned since the '70s in 1981. It mysteriously
burned to the ground a few months after these were taken: http://www.synthetrix.com/awf/pages/wf01_jpg.htm
K-mart: Still in operation, but barely. The last
time I entered a K-mart in Burlington, WA was a few months ago and it
was a near time warp. Brands I haven't seen in DECADES that I thought
were totally defunct reappeared (Rath Black Hawk Hot Dogs, Andy Capp's
Hot Fries, etc.) It's now a subsidiary of Sears (itself a struggling
icon department store.)
Montgomery Ward: Now
defunct since 2001 (they were dying by the '70s due to their
inability to keep up with current trends, which was PAINFULLY apparent
by the '80s. They were STILL selling 8-Track tape players in 1985!) The name continues on via an unrelated catalog company.
Jafco:
Jafco was a Puget Sound "catalog showroom", a concept of retail
marketing I never understood because unlike most department stores where you could get what you want off the shelf. Most Jafco items were on display
and there was a warehouse of everything in the back. You had to order
these items from the mail-delivery catalog - in the actual showroom, write out a ticket and wait
for a stock person to go get it. And these stock people I swore moved
with the speed of well,...the mail.
Jafco was bought out by Best (a
similar chain - go figure) in 1982 and changed their name to Best by
1987. And Best went belly up by 1995. Jafco/Best DID have good products
though and their prices were pretty reasonable.Here's more on Best including their STRANGE looking showroom facades.
Wigwam Discount Stores: Wigwam was a discount
department store chain based in Seattle, WA. Wigwam had it's own loss
leader - free popcorn. But sadly, it was rarely fresh popped and it was
often stale - to the point of GROSS. I actually got a bag that was
MOLDY. It started out selling Army surplus goods (a product Wigwam sold
until the end), which made Wigwam a favourite among men, but it also
expanded into general merchandise by the '60s. It was defunct by 1983
(damn that popcorn!)
A ghost from the past arrived in my mailbox the other day.
A Montgomery Ward catalog.
Needless to say, I was puzzled.
Montgomery Ward (or simply "Ward's") went out of business in 2001.
Interesting....
From it's beginnings in 1872 as a mail-order catalog.....
At the Sno-Isle Library in Lynnwood, this reproduction of the 1922 Montgomery Ward catalog was actually one of my all time favourite books there when I was growing up......
......to it's early-mid 20th century heyday as one of the big three chain department stores (along with Sears and JCPenney) Ward's was iconic. As both a catalog and a department store retailer.
Fall/Winter 1968. These bi-annual catalogs were HUGE and weighed nearly six pounds EACH!
LONG defunct former mall anchor store
But beginning in the '70s, it became a victim of a succession of several bad executive decisions and changing tastes (Ward's was an old school department store in the age of the box store. They had a very minimal online presence at the end of their life and were considered an anachronism in the new millennium.)
Timewarp to today.
After a little investigating, I finally found the reason why after 10 years defunct, Ward's was back - The intellectual property of Montgomery Ward had been sold. The original company itself was dead for at least 10 years. This was an entirely new operation using the still valuable name of Montgomery Ward.
This new catalog, is ummm.....a heck of a lot THINNER than the bi-annual behemoth books that used to be a staple of Ward's until 1985 that I remember (well over 2,000 pages thick!) Even stranger, I also received catalogs from Seventh Avenue and Ginny's and the products in these catalogs as well as the new Montgomery Ward catalog are exactly the same. Right down to the corporate colour scheme and type fonts of the catalogs. So I'm guessing it's all just one company under several different names.
The year was 1979 and there was change in the air.......
1979 was the year the disco backlash began. And something NEW was going to replace it. Something for the '80s. But what?
Well, leave it to Columbia Records to figure that out.
Columbia released this FREE 7" EP to record stores. Columbia (then a part of the CBS Records empire that was acquired by Sony in 1989) had been on a signing binge of assorted Knack-like power pop acts and this EP was a freebie at the counter of the Lynnwood, WA Fred Meyer Music Market I just couldn't pass up. (It had new music on vinyl and it was FREE. So there.....)
There were four recently signed groups featured on this EP.
1. "Take Me To Your Leader" The Sinceros
2. "Do Wah Diddy" The Hounds
3. "Don't Wait Up For Me" The Beat
4. "Good Reason" Jules & The Polar Bears
This EP did help launch a few minor stars. Jules & The Polar Bears, who's frontman Jules Shear reappeared in
1983 as the writer of Cyndi Lauper's megahit "All Through The Night" and The Bangles 1986
hit "If She Knew What She Wants". He's still active and a well respected songwriter.
Paul Collins was no newbie. His former band, The Nerves gave us the original version of what would become a classic for Blondie
His second band, The Beat however ran into a few problems. There was a British band, also called The Beat. So the band changed their name to Paul Collins' Beat (the British band was known in the US as The English Beat.) But Columbia decided to ruffle the feathers of the British band by threatening them with a lawsuit to completely change their name. There were other tensions between Paul Collins' Beat and Columbia that led to Columbia suddenly dropping the band in 1982. But the group pressed on and self financed the videos for their last album for Columbia, one of which became an early MTV hit.
Paul Collins is still active today, fronting the alt-country Paul Collins' Band
None of the other two groups, The Sinceros and The Hounds, who's songs on this EP also got modest airplay on early New Wave stations were ever heard from again.
Before the era of digital and even one hour photo development, Fotomat kiosks were once ubiquitous in shopping centers across America. Yours Truly worked at one one summer in the mid-'80s.
It was just me, still in high school and a girl named Julie, a college student who worked there. Julie was a drop dead BABE and sweet and bubbly as soda pop - but already taken (Man! I was jealous of her boyfriend! I mean, he was a really cool guy to me and all. And I had to be really cool to him, but....Still...)
Julie had the morning/early afternoon shift and I had the afternoon/evening shift and closing.
Fotomat offered one DAY photo processing. A JOKE today, but at that time, it was still very much standard (although the first one hour processing places in drug stores were appearing. But not so much to give us any SERIOUS competition. Not just yet.) Our biggest selling point was still pure and simple All American drive-thru convenience. And for a lot of people, we were good enough for them.
We also sold Kodak and Konica film, batteries and even flashcubes/bulbs for your old trusty '50s/'60s/'70s cameras. Even Polaroid film was available (yes, we even showed them some love!) Disposable cameras were still a few years away.
The customer would drive up to the kiosk and drop off his/her film rolls, which the customer would pay for and we would take down their names/addresses/phone numbers on an envelope (or they would take an envelope and do it themselves, making things a LOT faster), put the film inside and pay for their purchase and we would wait for the pick up/delivery person to come and get them/drop off finished photos. They came twice a day - usually at noon and again around 6pm to take the film to Seattle and return them the next day. So between pick-up/deliveries and taking orders/returning finished orders, it was mostly a pretty laid back job. A lot of tedium. But for minimum wage, it was worth it. And for me, not so much an outgoing "socially active" person in public, it was PERFECT.
And contrary to popular belief, Fotomat kiosks were air conditioned in summer and well heated in the winter. "Lavatory use" was provided by a nearby AM/PM gas station/mini-mart who's franchise owners, a sweet older Indian lady and her husband were one of our friendly regulars (they often brought us sackfuls of cheeseburgers, hot dogs, burritos, BBQ Pork "rib" sandwiches - anything pulled and sodas along with their film.) And we didn't care if they were just pulled from the heat lamps and a little dry (well, maybe Julie did more than I - which is probably why she never ate much of it if it came on her watch and left most of it for me.) But to a hungry young man like I was - and still am (though not quite so young), chow is chow.
And if you've ever seen Tommy Chong's character in That '70s Show, you know just how "laid back" a photo kiosk was. But even though on the surface, it looks like the perfect place to "smoke 'em if you got 'em", the reality was you never knew who could show up at any given time (regional managers would make surprise visits.) Cops also developed their personal/family film there too. So it wasn't always as easy to get away with that as it would appear.
In the '80s, we had no internet or any kind of social media to play with to pass the time (would have been PERFECT.) So a lot of the time between customers and pickup/deliveries of film - gaps of between 10 - 30 minutes weren't unusual, was spent listening to the radio and reading magazines, library books and newspapers. Actual LINES of cars were rare, but the busiest day I had that summer was the day after the 4th of July. That was my biggest line at one time, five cars, all done in less than 6 minutes. Julie said she dealt with an eight car line that morning.
But there were problems. The worst was having film or photos lost or misplaced at the processing center. We made sure everything was organized and accounted for on our part. But accidents still happened on the other end. Dealing with angry people was a real problem sometimes. We had a hotline number we gave them. But sometimes that wasn't good enough and understandably so - people's memories were on that film. Fortunately for me, that only happened once.
And the occasional robbery. We never kept more than $50 at any time in the till. But I never had a robbery in the whole time I worked at Fotomat (Julie wasn't so lucky.)
It was sad seeing the Fotomats disappear soon after I left as one hour photo processing became standard. But it was one of the best jobs I ever had. No pressure to overachieve, low stress. And one I actually MISS in spite of the low pay and occasional boredom.
