Lots of Interest

I am pleased to say that folks are responding and contacting me with some great ideas and questions about the great old Boston department stores we all loved or at least heard about:-)

Two photos today of Woolworth's in Boston. Some questions have come up about locations of Woolworth's before the BIG new store of 1970.

This was a pre-1970 location along Washington Street right next to the Annex of Jordan Marsh.

This shot was done from West St. and is just below the corner of the former Avon Street that ran between the Main Store and the Annex of Jordan Marsh Company.

I do not recall this location as a child. I think this must have closed early to mid- 60's.

Jordan Marsh filled out these side stores in the 1960's and they became part of the large Annex Building. A posting on this blog of a few days ago shows this location as shot by Nick DeWolf in 1970.

In that photo you can see the Jordan Marsh sign covering over where the Woolworth's sign would have been located.

Enjoy and keep asking!!!!!!!!

Charles..............................

Boston Department Store Ads From The Past

Here are a few Boston store ads that I have found or have been given.

I would love to put more of these up on the blog.

Any other exciting finds out there to post would be SO WONDERFUL!!!

Enjoy!!!

Charles.......................

Looking At A Photograph

A bit of fun! I came upon this photo some time ago and wanted to post it.

The Bostonian Society has this in its archive and has said it is a photo of Washington Street.

I am very sure it is not! The photo was taken in the early 1950's on the corner of Bedford and Chauncy Streets. This photo shows the Bristol Building of Jordan Marsh and the rear of the Annex. You are looking up towards Washington Street and at the rear entrance of RH White's.

You can see RH White's flag(celebrating the 100th birthday) up near the top of the photo.

Note the 1928 ward map and see the way I have marked it with blue. This shows the Jordan Marsh complex of buildings and the "X" marks the spot of the photographer's shot.

During the time my grandmother worked for Jordan Marsh(1920's to 1950's), the various Jordan Marsh buildings were called by the names Bristol, Hovey, Main and Annex by both the shoppers and workers alike. Each building being known for the specific range of items it sold.

The use of the Bristol Building decreased with 1949 wing which replaced all of the old Hovey Buildings along Summer and Chauncy Streets.

All of the buildings were connected by tunnels and there was also a sky bridge over Avon Street connecting the 1949 wing to the Annex Building.

By my time in the late 60's, the Bristol Building was still there but used for extra office space by Jordan Marsh. I think...and I may be wrong...but the photo I posted today of the rear of the Annex was where the book department was....I think. Am I right???

Let me know:-)

Charles.............................

An Hour In the Boston W.T. Grant Store

Nick DeWolf spent a quality hour doing some great photos of Christmas shoppers in Grant’s back in December 1970. Grant’s had a long history on Washington Street and it was one of the shops my family had been visiting for years as part of a routine shopping trip into Boston.
Grant’s began operating shops of the five and dime variety back in 1906 and carried on all over the US in most cities until 1975 when it failed.
Grant’s in Boston had always done well but by the early 1970’s the effect of suburban shopping malls and the new “BIG” Woolworth’s across the street took a serious toll on business. Grant’s was the first big store of it’s kind to fail in the downtown area during my childhood. Others had closed before my time but this was the first of the newer closings and it seemed rather sad to my 10 year-old mind.
The photos show the typical layout of these type of stores. I am very fond of the shot showing the candy and nut counter. I can still smell the aroma!
Grant’s in Boston had a two floor plan with a staricase and escalator connecting the levels.
After Grant’s was closed and renovated in 1975, Barnes and Noble held the location for nearly 30 years. Note the excellent hair styles and the Bobby Orr record on offer that year with a free wall poster. I had one.....Oh, well:-)

Also there is a great view taken under the Orpheum Theatre door looking towards Grant's. You can just see the base of the wall sign above the main door.

Enjoy......

Charles:-)

A Man Named Nick DeWolf

I was feeling a bit low:

Putting a blog together about Boston department stores of the past is no easy task! The task is extra hard when you consider I do it from England.
My hope of offers of photographs and memories of the once very exciting Boston shopping area have been few and far between. I am still keeping my fingers crossed for some eager folks out there who would enjoy a chance to share their own memories or have a burning desire to visit the BPL and scan some classic adverts from the large newspaper archive to put up on the blog.

A wonderful discovery:

The other day I was thrilled to come across the photographic work of the late Nick DeWolf.
Nick spent a large part of his adult life shooting photos that span a wonderful assortment of subjects.
Nick and his family lived in Boston for many years and the life and times of the city from the late 1950’s to the early 1970’s are captured in his fine photographic work.
Seeing the beautiful archives of Nick’s work gave me new inspiration to carry on with the blog!
I am pleased to have received permission from Nick’s wife to present on my blog some of his brilliant shots taken in 1969-70 in and around Washington Street.
I also wish to thank Steve who is working hard to post all of Nick’s photographic work on Flickr.
Thanks so much! It is a wonderful tribute to Nick.

The photos I include today show various sides of the old Jordan Marsh buildings including a view of the Annex taken from West Street looking up towards Avon Street. These photos are perfect and reflect the feel of the Boston I knew as a little child in the late 60’s. Nick DeWolf had a keen eye for catching the moment and saving it on film for us all to enjoy again and again.

I Remember Woolworth's

A short passage from F.W. Woolworth and the American Five and Dime

“Such were the swelling problems of big-city merchants, but Woolworth officials had not been unduly hesitant to proceed with plans to build it’s largest variety store in a return to downtown Boston and to open the nine-floor, 133, 000 square- foot building on September 11, 1970. Almost twice as many items as were sold in other Woolworth’s would be stocked on the four selling floors of the Boston store, with the four of the five upper floors making a ramp connected parking complex for up to 1,000 cars.”

The demolition of Raymond’s Department Store was a big event for me. I watched the process and wondered what would fill the large hole that opened by Christmas of 1967. The work was slow and the shifting over of Franklin Street to meet Bromfield seemed to take a long time.
The building that was finished in 1970 was very modern compared to the ones it replaced that once housed Raymond’s. This new building was to be the largest Woolworth’s that the company had ever built. Woolworth's had other smaller, traditional stores in downtown Boston but all were closed to make way for this new BIG ONE!
I was five when it opened and I don’t recall a grand opening in the Washington Street area like this.
I did not attend the first day festivities but was taken in soon after and was amazed that this place was a Woolworth’s!
We had a two Woolworth’s in Brookline and this was not at all like them. They were kind of small and all on one floor. This was so large and it felt like a real department store.
The main floor was alive with crowds and activity. It was two-stories in height and held many display counters as well as a very large curved lunch counter with some booth seating as well. I recall the wonderful smells in the this area coming from both the restaurant and the deli counter. Towards the rear of the main floor there was a full service deli counter with chickens roasting on a rotisserie. The smells were great!
Most of the standard Woolworth’s items were found on this main floor. Another feature was the “town crier” type of sales attraction in the main area by the front doors. The salesman would use a microphone and show off various items for sale.
The “new” LCD watches were an attraction at this counter that I remember seeing one Saturday on a shopping trip in the early 70’s.
The second floor contained large and small electrical appliances including televisions and stereos. The hardware department, bath shop, pet shop and children’s toys were also on this floor.
The third floor had men’s clothing, children’s clothing and a nice sized sporting goods department with bicycles. Men’s and children’s shoes were held in a corner of this floor, too.
The basement included the women’s clothing and shoe departments as well as baby clothing.
A shoe repair counter and the Harvest House Restaurant were maintained on this lower level.

The loss of Raymond’s to this location was a big change for the Boston shoppers of the late 60’s. Woolworth’s tried to capture some of the sights and sounds of the original Raymond’s by keeping a full range deli and food counter and a modern version of Unkle Eph pitching items to the shoppers but without the hat and costume of long ago.

This Woolworth’s was grand and just that little bit tacky. It was a place you could have a nice sit-down lunch and not spend all your newly acquired allowance. I found myself going in this place on every shopping trip into Boston and it seemed to often have some item I needed for this or that.
The Harvest House was a nice place to eat if you did not feel like the crowd of the upstairs counter area and it had a full menu to suit most tastes.
The Harvest House was the place I ate on shopping trips from the early 70’s to mid-80’s.
It never changed. Woolworth’s hardly changed.
Maybe that’s why it’s gone. 1970 to the mid-90’s was a short run in comparison to its other department store competitors.
Not every Bostonian found it to their taste!
It was not trendy…not really uptown…It was Woolworth’s!
But it was very unique and a Boston original!
Our very own REALLY BIG five and dime.

.......................Charles

Ps....The photos above are all Boston shots except the old 1950 interior of a Woolworth's.
The photos of Raymond's were taken in mid-1967 just before the demolition began.
Feel free to contribute your ideas, photos, store logos, adverts....just write me at:

charles65ofboston@yahoo.com

A Day Out In Boston In 1968... Part 3

Part 3

Before I carry on with a typical shopping day in 1968, I would like to add a little note.
By the time we finished in Jordan Marsh, my mother and nana had boxes in their arms. Most stores still offered cardboard boxes, large handled shopping bags or paper bags all embossed with their logo. A few stores had just begun using a form of plastic carrier bag but they were not very common yet. Some of the more durable shopping bags were offered in coin operated dispensers near most of the outer doors to the big stores.

Jordan Marsh had a wonderful logo at this time. The logo I recall had a pencil style drawing of old Boston with the words Jordan Marsh Company printed bellow. I would be very excited to have some of these old Boston store logos scanned and sent to me for posting.
It would make a super archive to add to over time and view! Have a look in your attic or basements…you may have some logos we need!


Back to 1968:
We would walk down Washington Street back toward Winter Street and look for a place to have lunch. Two nice and not too expensive spots were The Brass Lantern across from Jordan Marsh on Washington Street or The Iron Rail on Winter Street. Both had a clam platter with French fries and cold slaw with a buttered roll that I enjoyed very much. Sometimes we would walk up towards RH Stern’s on Temple Place and have lunch at Thompson’s Spa. All these places had table seating and nice family friendly atmosphere.

**I believe that Thompson’s Spa lasted until about 1976 and sat vacant for a while. With the demise of RH Stern’s around this same time, I think Thompson’s Spa had lost vital shopping traffic. The Brass Lantern and Iron Rail carried on a bit longer but both soon became fast food Chinese restaurants in the early 1980’s.

Having lunch was an important ritual during these trips and it was chance to practice my newly acquired table manners.
After we ate, the next stop was further up Washington Street past Filene’s…not in!
Nana was a Jordan’s shopper and past employee and Filene’s was just not on her list. Very old fashioned and loyal!
I would not step foot in Filene’s until about 1977 and that was eye opening. More about that another time.
Grant’s 5 and 10 was like Kresge’s with two floors connected by an escalator. I liked Grant’s and I think it still had a soda-lunch counter still on the street floor. We would poke around in Grant’s for bit and then cross Washington to look at the big project. I liked cranes and construction sites since my dad was a builder. In 1968 a major project was going on. Raymond’s Department Store on the corner of Washington and Franklin Streets was being torn down and Franklin Street was being moved over to join up with Bromfield Street. The Raymond’s lot was becoming smaller and the plaza or park on the side of Filene’s was being created. It was a large scale project lasting from mid 1967 to the Autumn of 1970.
I shall write about the new super sized 1970
F. W. Woolworth’s store in its own update.
I would spend time watching the project and asking mother or nana questions about what the men were doing.
We would end our trip with iced teas at Neisner’s wonderful lunch counter located on the Bromfield Street side of the store. If iced tea was not in season, I had a Raspberry Lime Ricky instead. All the sodas back then were made with syrup and tasted great!
Neisner’s was a large Woolworth’s type of store built in an “L” shape with large main doors on both Washington and Bromfield Streets. I loved to look at the toys located in the basement of Neisner’s. Neisner’s was a chain store
like Grants and Kresge’s but I liked it the best of all.

** The mid 1970’s marked the end to most of these 5 and 10 type stores in the downtown area.
Neisner’s held on until about 1977 when Wendy’s Hamburgers took the Washington Street side over.
The Bromfield Street side became Sherman’s
Electrical Supply.
Grant’s went on until about 1976 when it made way for Barnes and Noble.
Kresge’s was part of K-Mart and lasted on Washington Street until about 1985 or so.
It went down hill and became a bit tatty before it closed it’s doors in the 1980’s.

We would walk up Bromfield Street and make our way back to Park Street Station. I can recall the music of the Harri Krishna dancers and drummers that always seemed to be near the subway entrance in those days. The music would fade away as we rode down to the platform to board a streetcar for Beacon Street and home.

It had been a busy and very happy day out for me!

PS.......Please remember to visit The Bostonian Society. The above 1967 sample image of Raymond's demolition is from their vast collection. Worth supporting their fine work!