Grandma (center, with glasses)and The Ladies Of Hogan's Department Store
Savannah, GA
~1955
Before malls, everyone in Savannah shopped downtown on Broughton Street. Every Saturday the sidewalks were crowded with people dressed up to go shopping.
Grandma worked at the cosmetics counter at Hogan's Department Store for 31 years. I have fond memories of Hogan's. The coolest thing was riding the elevator, which was run by an elevator operator. The operator knew I was "Miss Kitty's" granddaughter and he let me ride as many times as I wanted. There was a metal grill inside the doors that the operator opened and closed to allow passengers on and off. If there were no other riders on the elevator, I was allowed to push the buttons for various floors.
Another treat was watching Grandma write customers' sales slips, take their money, and shoot it up to the accounting department via a vacuum tube. The customer patiently waited until the tube mysteriously reappeared, containing their receipt and change.
Malls may be convenient, but I miss the excitement and glamour of shopping downtown. Are you old enough to have similar, fond memories?
Sassy wants to thank everyone who voted for her in Tucker's Sit-Stay Competition. Byron, Remi and Sassy received the most votes and Tucker randomly chose Sassy as the winner!
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37 comments:
I remember the old days when everyone had to dress up for almost everything! Hats and gloves - always prim and proper. Dresses at school, never pants. My how things have changed. The part I miss the most is the use of Mrs. or Miss. Now even the grocery store clerk thinks it is okay to call you by your first name. We were taught to respect our elders and wouldn't dream of calling our friends Mom by her first name! It is kind of sad!
The Duchess
Mom has lots of memories when she was a young pup about department stores like that -
The Doggy Nanny worked in one when she was in high skhhool too!
KHONGRATS on your PAWESOME win!
Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra
I definitely remember big department stores before malls. My dear late aunt Bette worked in a big department store in downtown Plainfield NJ in the hosery dept. and I remember how nice the cosmetics dept smelled too. I remember those vacuum tubes!! I remember how one could actually try on tube lipstick in the days when the same tester tube of lipstick was used by all the customers!!! We also got all our children's and school clothes from another store owned by the same family. One could also browse the 45s in the local record store. Afterwards we would stop at a tea house where good behavior and manners were a MUST... or if we were lucky we stopped for a grilled hamburger, milkshake and fries at another place. It was a treat to stroll downtown back in the day!! xoxo
You go Sassy! Congratulations on winning Tucker's Sit-Stay! Victory is sweet! :->
Lovely photo! I am not of that generation but I do know of a few stores that still have the tube system, which is so cool. And a job I had in downtown Chicago, in an older building, had an elevator as you describe, complete with a very kind elevator operator.
I agree with what The Duchess (Emma Rose) wrote also. We were always taught to use "Mr." Mrs." or "Miss" and to dress up. Every time we flew we had to dress up. It is sad to see the sloppiness today.
Thanks for the lovely memories of the past!
K and Suka
Glad Sassy has won, I to remember the air tube in stores and the thump as it came back into the wire basket. Yes as Emma said it was always Mrs or Mr or mams long term friends were auntie and uncle although no relation. Sorry respect has gone it wont be coming back.
Memories are the treasures of our soul! What a lovely nostalgic anecdote...thx for sharing it with us.
We also just want to say thank you for all you guys have done for us.
MAXDOG AND YOUR FRIENDS IN SOUTH AFRICA
That is such a nice memory of your Grandma, and it's even better that they called her Miss Kitty! We had a special big department store in the small town I grew up in too. I remember it being very sad when they closed it down.
I think Sassy deserved the win! She had to look just like the statue..not just sit and stay! Way to go, Sassy! Of course, I remember dressed up shopping on Broughton and the elevators with operators. I recall Hogan's and Fine's particularly. My aunt was manager of draperies at Levy's Department Store. I loved going in the back to her little office. Even today I imagine that when clerks go in the back to look for something that it looks the same way! Thanks for a great memory! SH
my how times have changed....i remember when people used to dress up to fly....
when Spike (my 103yr old neighbor) was still up and about, whenever we had a dinner, or guests over, he would always wear a tie and jacket...thought it was so endearing....
xoxo
I so miss downtown shopping. I lived close to a small town that didn't require hats and gloves for shopping but when we would go to a city to shop, my Mom would dress like she was going to church - life was simpler then and so much more refined. Thank you for bringing back these wonderful memories.
Congrats to Sassy!!
Lynn
Congrats, Sassy! You would be a winner in anyone's heart! I remember when we all dressed up to go shopping downtown. We always went on Saturday as a family. Going downtown for Christmas shopping was fun because it was cold, crowded, and decorated.
Liz
Hi Ms K
Yep I too remember the days of department stores and shopping in downtown Raleigh at Hudson-Belks.
My best friend's mom worked on first floor. Anytime you rode the escaltor down you could see her smiling face.
I loved watching the money get sucked up to the office in the vacuum. Thanks for the memories.
First off..congratulations to Sassy!!! I remember the days when everyone dressed up to go downtown to shop. We had Miller and Rhoades, Heironimus, Sidneys and alot of other great department stores. They had great big fitting rooms to try clothes on and the clerk would come and check on you, take back what you didn't want and bring more for you to try on. Miller and Rhoades had 5 floors and on the 5th floor, there was the Tea Room where you could eat! I definitely miss those days. I am not fond of shopping centers with little tiny rooms to try something on and cameras everywhere! Lots of love, Debbie and Hollydog
I am right there with what Emma Rose says! And oh those vaccuum tubes! I always was intrigued with those!
Those department store ladies look so classic and coiffed. It's definitely nice, but I'm so glad I don't have to doll up everyday! That would make it much too difficult to have a lab running around!
Congrats on winning the competition! How fun!
Hi Kit, This post brought back so many great memories for me as a child. Nobody in my family worked in a department store--but since we lived in a small town, we'd make trips about once a month to Bristol to shop. We went to Kings Department Store --and I remember the elevators with the operator and the grills that she would close. I also remember the money tubes that they would shoot from all over the store. Seems like there were some loud bells that would ring when the tubes were being sent...???
We'd go to a ole' fashioned soda fountain grill for lunch --and sit at the counters... I remember those home-made milkshakes... The sandwiches always tasted so good at that place. Yum!!!
Oh---what great memories of my childhood.
Hugs,
Betsy
What an awesome picture, thanks so much for sharing!
Smileys!
Dory
I love this photo! All the girls look so beautiful. I wish people would still dress up nice when they go out of the house.
Congrats to Sassy!! As far as the memories, I do remember the vacuum tubes at the banks...I LOVED watching those things. :)
Amber
You know I remember it well!!!!!
I miss main street!! My girlfriend and I would walk down to main street and window shop. That was what we would do 3 or 4 times a week!!! That was our TV. I agree with Emma it is sad. We have lost so much!!!!
Kiss the kids, Bambi & Fern
Give Sassy a special kiss for her win!!!!!
Sassy, the winner! Yay, congratulations again. :)
As for memories...yeah, I'm old enough. I remember back in the days before pet steps where invented and I always had to use my momma as an escalator. Those were the good ol' days!
Twink!
Oh what wonderful memories you have stirred in me!! I will always remember what fun it was to go down town at Christmas to do our Christmas shopping. The streets were full and the shops were filled with so many people my family knew. It was definitly a social thing back then and it was wonderful. Walking from store to store and seeing so many friends was special.Everyone was in such a fun Christmas mood. And of course it was magical when we would walk down the sidewalk and it would start to snow! You can't even come close to those kind of memories shopping in a mall! Thanks for the memories!!!
You need to go to Alaskan artic expeditions and leave a post on the giveaway. They are giving away a tikka headlamp. Could come in handy for you in Alaska next month!!!!
How about the mannequin head in the background? Now THAT'S a hat! :)
Sadly, I'm too young to have a memory like this, but appreciate that you've shared it with us!
One more from SH in Savannah...Levy's had the Azalea Room...I could get a chocolate soda there for a quarter. Never been another one like it!
Beth says she wishes everyone would dress up all the time. It makes a person feel good about themselves.
Na, but we live in a place now where everything is 'downtown'. We kinda like it.
Shannon
Awwwwwwwwwwwww.....
memories are sooooooo important in life of everyone of us!!!!
Thanks for sharing dear friends....
we love your "Sunday is for family"!!!!!
And....
WOWWOWOOWOWOWOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Congrats to Sassyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!
We're sooooooooooooooooo proud of you!!!!
You deserve the prize...you're the besttttttttttt!!!!
WE LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!
Sweet kisses and licks....
I remember those vacuum tube thingys that shot up with your money...and back with the change.
Mum ALWAYS wore a hat and gloves when out shopping.My Dad's office used to be around the corner from Harrods,and that was a real treat to be taken shopping in there! Little did I know that years later I would work there...in the hosiery dept!
Bellaboo :)
I remember my Mom getting all dressed up to shop--But as a "young teen" we used to go together and enjoyed shopping in downtown Louisville KY and looking in all the windows as we walked by! Then we'd have lunch at the "lunch counter" in Walgreens--Good times and great memories!! My 85 year old aunt lives in Magnolia Mississippi, and everyone, young and old call her "Miss Bess."
PS: Congrats to Sassy!!
fond memories - Mom remembers those elevators and the tubes too. She always wanted to sit on the little stool in the elevator.
Congrats to Sassy - we are happy for her.
Woos, Phantom and Thunder
Congrats Sassy!
My mom says she remembers having stores downtown too. Where people cared about you as a person not just how much money you would spend. Her favorite store was actually the little store on the corner. It reminds her of a modern day convenience store. She would go there and buy cigarettes (gasp) for her dad and get candy and pop.
Snuggles,
Twix
I so miss those times. All is so homogenized now. Have to roll with it, but I don't have to love it!
Oh, yes, I'm old enough to remember the days we dressed up. We had a department store in our local town that was more than one floor and it had the pneumatic tube too for purchases. My first job was working in our town's hospital as a ward secretary and each floor's nursing station had the pneumatic tubes too. They saved a lot of walking - although not everything could go into them. My grandmother would take me to downtown Cleveland once a year to go shopping in the department stores and eat in their dining rooms (we didn't go out to eat in the 1950s) for lunch. I remember the beautiful huge dining rooms with the white table cloths. That was a very special treat. And school... I went from kindergarden through high school wearing dresses or skirts - NO pants! In fact, one wouldn't even think to wear pants or slacks if you were a girl. I didn't have pants until I was 14 and then only wore them at play not to any activities or school. I didn't have my first pair of blue jeans until I was 22. My Mom hated blue jeans. She loved dressing up and had nice legs and slim ankles to wear high heels. Me, I hated high heels - never had a pair that was comfortable or that I could walk in without my feet hurting. We dressed up on Sunday too. Oh, yes, as Emma Rose commented you never called an adult by their first name. It was Mrs., Miss or Mr. In some ways I miss the formality but in other ways I like to be comfortable and dressing up wasn't always comfortable. Boy, have the times changed.
Teacup Lane (Sandy)
I loved the magic tube that sucked stuff away. It was like magic. Everything smells so new. You had to dress to go to town. Everyone of that time from Savannah has a photo taken walking down the streen all dressed up.
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