Downtown Stores 1950's-60's (Cincinnati, Reading: crime, hotel, tenants)

[Woody1950]

Does anyone remember the Hershman's Dept. Store? Gibson Hotel, with all the Rookwood Potery tile? Planters Peanut Store. Do you remember Wolworths lunch counter and their corndogs? They where caticorner to Newberry's and it's lunch couter and soda bar. Hot fresh Kettle Corn.

[andrewodo]

Remember it all wel....and richman bros for easter clothes!

[Shiners60]

I remember these too, but as a youngster when anyone mentioned downtown Cincinnati the thought that immediately came to my memory was the Christmas displays in the windows of Shillitos. A visit to see the windows, a trip inside to see Santa and then across the street to the bakery to get my gingerbread santa (gingerbread covered with a paper picture of Santa Claus) was all I needed until Santa came bounding down the chimny at home....... in later years those memories changed to a visit to the Skyline chile parlor on Vine St before a quick visit to Provident Camera....

[sparksharp]

I was gonna mention Shillitos, but someone beat me to it! How about Mabley and Carew?

[kjbrill]

So does anyone remember Max's downtown. I can't remember their exact location. Can only remember conjouling my mother to take me there in the 50s, as they had the current rage, Pink Shirts, Grey Trousers and Suits, White Bucks, the whole rage of the time.

I believe, but cannot confirm, they opened their first suburban location in Swifton Shopping Center. I believe the original name was Max's Gentry Shop, but they quickly dropped the Max's.

At 6"-4" tall and 240-250 lbs, it was one of the few places I could find an extra-tall, big man's suit at under a month's salary. I was a loyal customer for many years. But as they say, all things change with the times.

[vashtiesther]

Yes I remember Woolworth's, Newberry's, Neisner Five & Dime, Rollman's Dept Store, Planter's Peanut on the square, how about Potter's shoes,. Now I'm really going to take a lot of you back; remember the RKO Theaters? And here's one for ya, how about Harris Rosedale's dance studio on 5th street? I was on his show "School for Talent". Hey, with all these memories, we all need to get together and write a book, so these younger generation can see that Cincinnati in its heyday, was hot!!!! A lot to do and hardly any crime like you see today. Yes it was Jim Crow and it still is, but racism then was alive, but not as harsh as it is today. I mean back then people would keep their thoughts to themselves. Today, they don't care who they hurt with their words.

[shyspider]

One of my fondest memories of downtown is from the late 60s (maybe very early 70s, I don't recall) when my grandma took me down there around Christmas, and we had lunch at the Woolworth's lunch counter. I remember she bought me one of those plastic candy canes filled with M&Ms.

[goyguy]

Originally Posted by kjbrill

So does anyone remember Max's downtown. I can't remember their exact location. Can only remember conjouling my mother to take me there in the 50s, as they had the current rage, Pink Shirts, Grey Trousers and Suits, White Bucks, the whole rage of the time.

I believe, but cannot confirm, they opened their first suburban location in Swifton Shopping Center. I believe the original name was Max's Gentry Shop, but they quickly dropped the Max's.

At 6"-4" tall and 240-250 lbs, it was one of the few places I could find an extra-tall, big man's suit at under a month's salary. I was a loyal customer for many years. But as they say, all things change with the times.

I don't recall there being a "Max's" downtown. But I do clearly recollect Gentry Shops. The Elkuses were one of the first - and last - tenants of Swifton. I was in high school when they called it quits at Reading & Seymour. After all these years, I still have one of the shirts that I snapped up for a crazy price at their store-closing sale. (As if it'd fit now. ) They relocated to the Tri-County mall sprawl and stayed in operation into the '90s, whereupon the owners retired.
There were two other men's haberdashers downtown that I came to favor in my youth, one of them being Just Any Old Thing on East 6th St. The name of the other will probably occur to me as soon as I log out, LOL...That store was on Race St, I think, and just like my shirt from Gentry Shops I still have two suits in my closet that I purchased from them. The lapels betray their vintage.

[kjbrill]

Oh there definitely was a Max's downtown, but not on the beaten path. If my memory serves it was a couple of blocks West of Shillito's. I just recall convincing mom to take me there since they had the pink shirts & socks, grey trousers and slacks, white bucks, and string ties which were the rage of the early 50s.

A few years later I began patronizing the Swifton Center store. I am quite sure it originally opened as Max's Gentry Shop, which is where I made the connection, but quickly dropped the Max's. Later on came the Tri-County Store and the Kenwood Store (located behind the original Early American Furniture Store on Gaibraith Rd).

With some frequency I would bump into Gene Elkus on return flights from New York to Cincinnati. This gave some credibility to me he actually was dealing with the connections he advertised. As I said, I am a large man and wore clothes purchased from them for most of my working career.

Gentry Shops, a Cincinnati icon of the late 20th century which I for one miss.

[andrewodo]

Max's was on Central Ave. I believe the building was where the parking lot for the Cathedral is at this time.