Grocery Store, April 1963
Here's something a little bit different! I found three slides featuring a grocery store, circa 1961, that I thought were a lot of fun.
Here we are, heading toward the front door, but we'll have to parlay with those Campfire Girls selling candy before we do anything! Thanks to a label by the door we can see that this is a Safeway store; there is also a partial sign from the Herald Examiner mentioning the Los Angeles Dodgers, which helps us narrow down the location. Inside we can see a lit sign for Van de Kamp's Bakers, with the familiar windmill. If you had less than 50 cents you could still walk out of the store with a "fresh fryer" or a fruit pie. And you could rent a rug cleaner or floor polisher for a buck! My marble floors could probably do with some polishing.
Photos taken inside grocery stores are not common, to put it mildly! Here we have a refrigerator case full cheese (and maybe some pickles and sauerkraut) - what a bounty. A gigantic block of Velveeta cheese - the finest cheese in the world - hovers mysteriously (is there anything Velveeta can't do?). The lady to our right has picked up a child in the baby aisle, packed fresh daily. Signs in the window advertise aluminum foil, bagels, ketchup, peaches, and other items available for such a value.
This last one was rather dark, and I lightened it as much as I dared. The freezer case holds a large assortment of Sara Lee products, including some new "light" treats for those watching their calories. I see a sign for "E-Z Por", but don't know what it was. There also appears to be a display of cigarettes in the distance, along with a sign saying that they appreciate our business.
I hope you have enjoyed your visit to Safeway!
16 comments:
Speaking of Sara Lee, here are two classics:
HERE and HERE!
The little guy's picking a winner in that last shot!
Will be back later...looking forward to reading everyone's comments...
Thanks, Major!
These shots are wonderful! Even though I wasn't born yet (sorry, I just had to get that in there), I do remember when grocery stores looked like this.
In the first shot, we can see the large rubber mats that made the automatic doors open when you stepped on them. Also, I think one of those Campfire girls might be Peter Brady.
In the second shot, we can see "Thing" from The Addams Family, opening a carton of eggs to check for breakage. That's not an easy task when you only have one hand......and nothing else.
Sue, and afterwards, he ate it!
These are great! I used to love poring over the store interiors at the Pleasant Family Shopping blog. The history of the U.S. is so tied up with commerce and advertising that you can learn a lot about an era by what and how people were selling and buying.
I think my favorite thing in this set is the displays in the second picture. I love the giant Velveeta box and the inflatable(?) “Drink Milk” cow. I remember at the store where we got our groceries when I was very little, there was a big cow-shaped sign over the seafood counter that read, “Make a cow happy: eat a fish!” It struck me as odd even at that age. Why was there no “Make a fish happy: eat a cow!” sign at the meat counter?
When I was a Camp Fire Girl (well, Bluebird) I couldn’t sell a box of peanut brittle to save my life. Probably because we lived in the middle of nowhere. Luckily, that stuff never goes bad, so we could eat it up slowly over a long period.. Until we got braces on her teeth, anyway.
These are more wonderful than I ever thought they could be! The memories of my mom and myself at Piggly Wiggly just flood back. I want more! More!
By the way, Randall's Grocery in Houston actually put a nail in the Soviet coffin. The story goes that when
Boris Yeltsin was visiting Johnson Space Center, he went to Randall's and was amazed at the variety and selection of food. He decided that Communism didn't stack up so well...and the rest is history!
TokyoMagic, I was born, but I was a mear year old at this time.
Fun pics! Thanks, Major!
My dad worked in a grocery like this through high school and college, which would have been about 1956-63. I remember visiting it when I was very small. It looked just like this.
I believe E-Z Por was a type of ready-made concrete mix. If I recall correctly, it came in three different flavors.
The mention of a “fryer” always reminds me of dialog from The Great Race:
Professor Fate: Leslie escaped?
General: With a small friar.
Professor Fate: Leslie escaped with a chicken?!
I wonder if Nanook will check in today, now that he’s on a retired schedule?
Major, these are great! Grocery stores are the best! I go with Mrs. G every week, it’s a form of entertainment to me.
My Dad also worked in a grocery store in LA, during the 30’s, I’m not sure of exact dates. He always loved the LA Farmers Market at 3rd & Fairfax since he picked up produce there for his store.
This store looks so much like the ones I remember, right down to Velveeta (cheese of the Common Man, praised by Aaron Copland), Sara Lee, and Van De Kamps.
When we travel, I always want to visit a grocery since they do say so much about people and places. Great ways to learn. For example, I know that Wyoming would be hard for me since good wine is scarce and sold only in liquor stores, and Italy doesn’t permit toothpaste to be sold in the grocery, you must go to the pharmacy.
Please post more grocery photos when you find them.
JG
@ Sue-
Kinda hard to forget that Sara Lee jingle. [It sounded like Thurl Ravenscroft intoning the final line]. But the second spot is the keeper. Don't remember it at all; but more-importantly, that guy should really have a lower resting heart rate-! Especially if his "only vice" is power-eating box after box of fattening, Sara Lee cakes-!
I have to agree with Melissa about how perusing the aisles of a grocery store really does open the door into the history of commerce & advertising in the U.S. Regrettably, this is Safeway. Their stores were so impossibly 'dumpy'. What an unappealing, embarrassing hodgepodge of "displays"-! Growing up, there were several choices of grocery stores near our house, so the Safeway was avoided like the plague - even though that particular location was much nicer than this pigpen.
The cheese "menagerie" is a treasure-trove of eye candy and clutter. (I wonder what delectable I can whip-up using just Gouda cheese and Fleischmann's Yeast-??)
Just this-side of the Sara Lee "bakery department" is the Pepperidge Farm 'section'. That certainly appears to be an 'un-branded' Coke machine in the background.
@ JG-
During the 1930's when your dad worked, I'll bet the aisles were referred-to as "tables" - when many items were actually stacked on tables. In the 1960's, I still remember shopping at [one of] our local, very-modern grocery stores, and asking an employee where an item was located. I clearly recall him using the word 'table', rather than 'aisle'. Suddenly, I felt as though as was transported back into a bygone era.
Drat - now I'm hungry. And as Chuck was surmising - I have plenty of time on my hands now. (Maybe I could take-up eating box-after-box of Sara Lee cakes-? I have a much-lower resting heart rate than the 'singular vice fella' in that commercial, after all-!)
Thanks, Major.
Fun pictures today! I thought it might be Christmastime from those garlands in the first one, but maybe it was just an especially festive Safeway. I’m heading straight for the cat food aisle. I also do whatever the mysterious hovering Velveeta box tells me to do. I wonder why someone wanted to take these photos? Baby’s first grocery store trip? Thanks, Major.
I'm a sucker for vintage inside grocery store photos. Especially from the late 50s-early 60s when I was a grade school kid going to Alpha Beta with my mom.
I do the weekly shopping now. It's striking how much has changed in sixty years. Refrigerated and frozen sections are enclosed, price tags a thing of the past, everything bar coded, bring your own bags, and let's not even get into costs.
My fav pic is the Velveeta one.
As JG said... more grocery store pics please Major. :)
I had totally forgotten that friar/fryer joke from The Great Race. I love that movie!
The only time I’ve been to a Safeway was in London, right down the street from my hotel. After 8 o’clock, which usually coincided with coming home from the day’s tourist activities, the whole bakery section would be marked half off. The fresh bread! The pies! And it was the Easter season, so there was all kinds of cool chocolate on display. I remember the sweet-looking little old lady who rang me out the first day, offering all kinds of completely unsolicited, shockingly racist remarks about Pakistani immigrants. Their store brand sparkling lemonade was delicious.
I used to have a skinny little cat whose coat was a shockingly bright shade of orange, and she fit perfectly in an empty Valvedere box. (She could also sprawl out to effectively fill a guitar case. She must’ve had retractable bones.)
I like to wander the grocery aisles while my Mickey Bars melt. Not!
Our local Safeway is clean and friendly. Maybe because it's a small town and you start to recognize people.
As a kid we had a local Mom and Pop grocery store where Bireley's and Nehi shared space with Coke and Pepsi. And the chips space was 3 feet, not from one end of the aisle to the other.
Thanks, Major
I am retired, (technically) but I work part time for Safeway as a kind of jack-of-all-trades. I love seeing these old pictures. We still decorate for every holiday, and in a small town like ours, it is kind of a meeting place as everyone knows pretty much everyone. The great Race is a favorite of mine I saw it on my birthday in the theatre. My big takeaway was that Natalie Wood was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Hubba hubba. Thanks Major. Also, happy retirement to Nanook!
"Nobody doesn't like SARA LEEEEEE" Love that tune. Thanks for the photos of the rather mis-merchandised Safeway. I think Safeway went bye bye in the 90's....then returned into a slightly better package. I haven't been in a grocery store since the pandemic began- and have no desire to return. A personal Hell for me would to be in a grocery store purgatory, where everyone goes the wrong way down aisles, leaves their carts unattended in the middle of aisles, and eats "free" grapes, cherries, and bulk foods. No thank you, but I do like pictures of flying Velveta boxes and Campfire girls selling their most delicious candies! Love the mints! And that could be Peter Brady as a "Sunflower Girl". If he sells the most, he can be "blossom of the month."
@Nanook, thanks for that bit of detail.
Dad didn’t share much about the actual job, but he was very watchful of how the groceries were bagged and often offered polite tips to the box boy about how things should be arranged. He went with us shopping often, maybe that’s where I get it. Always fascinated by anything with a cute or innovative label or package.
He was also very picky about produce, saying that if the produce was old or not properly stored, the meat and baked items would likely be similar.
Zach: Nehi! Fanta! Frosty Root Beer! We had Calandra Brothers Bottling, they had their own brand and bottled Dr Pepper and Canada Dry on contract. Remember those machines where you opened the door and pulled the bottle straight out?
JG
Love that cheese isle. And reasonably priced too. They even had the rare gold wrapped Gouda. There's even some ready to heat Fondue right next to the Velveeta, the cheese that cannot die. I think there's enough Mozzarella there to satisfy anyone, plus good ole Kraft grated Parmesan cheese. Reminds me of El Rancho market, down the street from Food Giant.
Grab a cart, I'm going cheese shopping.
Thanks Major
E-Z-POR appears to have been a manufacturer of disposable aluminum cake pans & similar items.
https://www.freepatentsonline.com/3958504.html
But maybe branched out into other housewares…
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1034030193/vintage-hazel-atlas-pink-juice-decanter?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=ez+por+corp&ref=sr_gallery-1-1
JG
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