Boston Had Style.....have a look!!!

Hello Retro Boston Lovers!


Thanks to another new friend of the blog I have more wonderful images to share!
Andrew, an Art Director with a passion for the stores of old...just like all of us...has sent these treasures.


More charge plates from Jordan Marsh...My first one was just like the top one:-)

RH Stearn's and Jordan Marsh building plaques live on!







The grand entrance to RH Stearn's on Tremont St. still intact and in fine shape!



And hat boxes...I must say these GREAT hat boxes are my favorites...why?






I had hoped that we would have samples of the old store logos and these hat boxes give us a great insight into the "Style" that graced our once busy Boston streets. Enjoy these logos of taste and distinction that remind us all of times past.
Andrew...Thank you! Feel free to share anytime! We so enjoy it!




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

Gifts from a new fan of the blog…

Hello Retro Boston Department Store Lovers!
An update finally!
Thanks to a new fan of the blog who contacted me recently, I have a few treats to post!
Michael is a Boston based man with many fond memories of the once “delightful and exciting” day out in Downtown Boston.
He sent two images for us to enjoy.
One is a small shot of the former RH Stearn’s building as it is today. It still stands out as elegant and proper as ever as it looks down on Tremont Street.

The other image shows a wonderful collection of what most Bostonians had in their wallets or purses for decades…some of the famous Boston charge plates.
I adore the Jordan Marsh Company plate most of all for the lovely little drawing of the main entrance to the large new “super” building addition of 1949-50. This charge plate style was issued in metal for years and I can recall both my mom and grandmother having them.
I remember when my mom’s finally developed a sharp crack in the edge and had to be retired in the mid-1980’s. The sales person was really impressed that she still had one of the “old” plates still in use.

That was true...my mom was a loyal Jordan Marsh customer if there ever was one!
The new plastic cards were just not the same. I had one in issued to me in 1983...it was my first real credit card...ever! It had to be from Jordan Marsh and I had a credit limit of $200.00...at 18 that was cool!
The modern logo and style of these cards seemed to lack that Jordan Marsh character that was so much part of the Boston shopping experience…but Jordan Marsh by then was really far from what it used to be anyway.
Thanks again to Michael and I hope that at some point he will share more of his Boston shopping memories with us!

More Soon...Charles:-)

ps...Please visit this wonderful link on Youtube to see a great video of Boston's signs of yesteryear. It includes some great old store logos as well.
The man behind the video and the other great creations you can see there gave me the go ahead to post this link. Enjoy!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irFPMvq4_VE&feature=channel_page

pps...Thank you Andrew!! The cleaned up plates are perfect!!
What a star!!

Best & Co. In Boston

Hello my Friends!

 All the stores that I feature here were Boston based department stores or stores that had a large branch or branches in the downtown Boston area. Best&Co. was a New York City based department store that had a branch in Boston for many years. Best&Co. was one of those department stores that had a few areas of speciality that it served well and for many years in its main store in New York City and in the branches it had operated during its time in business from 1879-1971. 

Best&Co. was mainly known for children's and women's clothing and accessories. It had a very tasteful, upmarket style and a keen eye for fashions. I would say that in the Boston area it most looked and felt like RH Stern's on Tremont Street. 

The Boston branch of Best&Co. was located from the late 1950's until it closed in 1971 on Boylston Street in the Copley Square area. My research seems to indicate that it was in the building built to replace the very ornate Hotel Brunswick just behind Trinity Church. 

This typical "retro" style office and retail building housed Best&Co. on the first two floors.

The store may have been located in another spot prior to this time but I can find no information on this. 

In 1966, the declining company was acquired by McCrory's and sadly, this was the start to an even bigger decline and eventual closure in November 1970 of the flagship store in NYC and some branches. The Fifth Ave. marble faced flagship building would be sold and torn down in 1971 to make way for a "typical" NYC tower. Best&Co. was another of the many victims to fall during the closures of the 1960's and 70's. 

The Boston branch seemed to hang on for another year or so before McCrory's closed it as well.

Enjoy these stylish photos of the interior of the Boston branch circa 1960 and some sales adverts from the New York based stores. I also include some of the articles written in the New York papers at the time of the closure in 1970. 

I tossed in one shot of the Fifth Ave. building from 1961 located next to St. Patrick's on the left.

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

Some Fun Raymond's Trivia

Hello All!

My friend Jan Whitaker wrote me with a bit of Raymond's trivia that I did not know and hope you will all enjoy reading. 

In 1998 Robert C. Schaye, who had served as president for the once great Boston institution, died and in his Boston Globe obituary a bit of trivia was found and recently located by Jan.

Raymond's department store was a fixture in downtown Boston for 100 years. Its spokesman was "Uncle Eph," a bewhiskered top-hatted swamp yankee with an eye for a bargain and a problem with spelling.

Every year, with much fanfare (and advance publicity), "Uncle Eph" arrived at South Station and was led to the store by a marching band to celebrate "originashun day," the anniversary of the opening of the store.

In 1872, the year of the Great Boston Fire that destroyed much of the downtown shopping district, George J. Raymond pitched a tent downtown and sold an assortment of hats he bought at a fire sale. His family-operated store soon became a permanent fixture on Washington Street. At one time Raymond's also operated outlets in Dedham, Lynn, Malden, Quincy, and Waltham. The firm filed for bankruptcy in 1972 and closed shortly thereafter.

According to Boston legend (and a story published in the Globe on May 12, 1957) Uncle Eph first arrived on the scene many years ago, when Frank Dorr, the general manager of Raymond's, received a letter postmarked Slatersville, R.I., and addressed: "The Big Mogul at Raymond's Where U Bot Th' Hat.'

The letter was from the Rev. Harvey B. Eastman of the Congregational Church in Slatersville, and related in familiar language and abysmal spelling how the preacher had been sending away for many years for Raymond's merchandise.

"After `awl these years," he wrote, `thot I'd set right down and write you how awl-danged pleased Ida' been with your guds and th' way they guv me years uf long wear."

To show his appreciation, The Reverend, "Uncle Eph," was coming to Boston Town to make a "speshul" trip to see Raymonds and thank 'em.

Mr. Dorr knew an opportunity for good publicity when he saw one. He met Eph with a marching band when his train arrived at South Station and thus was born a Boston tradition.

And now I present a few examples of 1920's adverts from a few Boston papers which showed Unkle Eph and his unique spellings.  The adverts in the 1920's were large and almost always a full page. Each contained a message from dear old Unkle Eph to fill us in on the goings on in his special world. Lessons to be learned and values to be found in the patchwork of buildings that made up the famous Raymond's Department Store on the corner of Washington and Franklin Streets. I will also repost a photo from the last days of Raymond's in this location before it was torn down to make way for the new BIG Woolworth's of the late 60's. 

Thanks Jan!  Enjoy!

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

ps...."Unkle Eph" always spelled his name this way. The Globe just had to fix it:-)

The Last of the Boston Giants

Thanks again to Nick DeWolf and his camera. These photos of Filene's are mostly from 1970 and act as a great reminder of what the store was like on the main floor and in that world famous basement. One photo is from 1958 and it shows the street just outside one of the main doors. 

I look at these photos and I am still in shock that this place is no more. It joins all my other stores on this blog and becomes a place to visit only in our memories.

Enjoy these and thanks again to the family of Nick DeWolf.

Charles:-)

charles65ofboston@yahoo.com

A Dedication

Hello Friends! It has been a while since I updated and I felt a great inspiration this past week.

The inspiration was my dear, old best friend from my hometown of Brookline....one who has known me longer than anyone living or I am in touch with now at this point in my life. Mike....Thank You!!!!

Mike contacted me via one of those high school reunion sites and we have been emailing and chatting by phone again. It's wonderful and we have so much fun remembering Boston and Brookline together! Mike is still based in the Boston area and is just as hooked on "old" Boston places as I am. He took time this week to go and do some key research for me and has sent me all I asked for.  AND is enjoying it soooo much.....he will do it again:-) WOW!! 

So Mike, this update is for you!

These ads are from local papers in the areas around Boston but give a good feel for the type of goods on offer in the 1960's in Woolworth's and WT Grant's. Now I learned that WT Grant's in some locations sold large appliances. I had no idea! The Grant's in Boston did not, at least not big ones when I went in in the late 60's- early 70's.

Let me know what you think!!!  Charles..........

charles65ofboston@yahoo.com