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In Los Angeles when I was gounvcç...Haggerty's, Bullocks, Robinson's, Buffums, Bullocks Wilshire, Desmonds, May Company, I.Magnum. These were beautiful stores with exquisite service.
CT & southern New England- Jordan Marsh, Filene's, Sage Allen and the already noted and most wonderful- G Fox . We used to got G Fox in Hartford just to see the Christmas displays
San Francisco- the main store of The Emporium chain on Market St. It had a gorgeous glass dome on the roof level.
Some of the above were eventually swallowed up by Macy's.
I still get choked up when I think of our beloved J.L. Hudson's in downtown Detroit. J.L. Hudson began doing business in 1881 in the old opea house. By 1961 it had expanded in it's present location to one city block and stood 25 stories. At that time it was the tallest dept. store in the world and was only second to Macy's in sq. footage.
At the end of Hudson's annual Thansgiving day parade Santa would appear. Anyone who wanted to see Santa had to go to Hudson's because he did not appear anywhere else. Millions of us kids through the generations have fond memories of sitting on Santa's knee and getting our picture taken. The 13th floor of the store was a winter wonderland filled with Santa's elves and mystical displays of puppets, Lionel trains and of course, dolls from all over the world. I still remember the escalators with wooden slats and the elevators with live operators. I can still hear the ding, ding, ding of those elevators.
The outside display windows were always exquistly decorated for the seasons. But, Christmas was the most magical with characters and props with moving parts. Unfortunately, it is only the oldest of boomers who can remember those magical times. However, there are millions of us still around who will always cherish the memoriesof being taken to Hudson's as a child or shopping there as young adults.
I believe Hudson's closed sometime in the 80's and the building was imploded on Oct. 24, 1998.
I remember Meier & Frank, Bloomingdales, Montgomery Ward and Tiffany's, all in Portland, Ore. The Lloyd Center downtown was the first mall in Oregon and was the place to go at Christmas. It was built around an outdoor skating rink.
Abercrombie & Fitch in Manhattan - not the over-priced store for 18-22 year olds it is today but the real Abercrombie's founded in 1892 as an elite outfitter of sporting and excursion goods. The original store, which still stands although the faux Abercrombie's closed it in 1977, had two whole floors dedicated to guns and was THE premier seller of expensive shotguns from around the world. How my father and I loved it there. What's left today is an embarrassment that shouldn't be allowed to use and sully the name.
Last edited by Curmudgeon; 06-03-2013 at 06:32 AM..
In Los Angeles when I was gounvcç...Haggerty's, Bullocks, Robinson's, Buffums, Bullocks Wilshire, Desmonds, May Company, I.Magnum. These were beautiful stores with exquisite service.
I remember all of those but Haggerty's. They were since replaced with miod-priced stores like Mervyn's for apparel - a chain that disappeared in the early 2000s. Service? Wazzat? The younger generations don't know what they're missing. Not only have the true department stores pretty much disappeared but along with them the independent, specialty stores where good goods and exceptional service were the standard and a gold one at that.
Sometimes advancing years can be a blessing. I hate to think of what a new generation will bring and am glad I won't likely be around to see it. The Walmartization of America is a travesty!
Chicago - Marshall Field and Carson Pirie Scott (both downtown; both sadly gone). They competed with each other to display wonderful Christmas windows. And a lunchtime wander through Fields, when I worked downtown, was often a nice part of my day. There was also a quite large Goldblatt's (lower-priced stuff) downtown that was fun to visit.
Minneapolis - a huge 4-story Sears that was within walking distance of grandma's house. We never visited her at Christmas time, though - I imagine the toy department would have been heaven. We consoled ourselves with the huge Christmas catalog ...
/boston area Webber's Almy's and Filene's/ Miss Woolworth's and their banana splits. Pick a balloon
break it and pay that price!!
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