Prominent on the left is Woolworth's.  The touchup artist got that sign color right!  The store was a sacred destination for any kid under 10 and fully guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, Virginia State Law, and the Old Testament.  Inside was the infamous long toy counter - one side for boys, one for girls.  Little kids had to be lifted up to see everything, but by age 4 you would be turned loose to stroll and drool while mother went off to look at whatever mothers looked at then. 

I can remember mid-1930s excursions with my mother and suffering extreme torture while being dragged through all the dress shops on Washington Avenue.  My patience would be stretched beyond human endurance with promises that we would end our trip with a visit to Woolworth's.  Usually by then I would have successfully built her guilt to the point where she would pop for something at the lunch counter.  Woolworth's cherry pie was a dream come true and would quickly steer childhood emotions back to near normal.

In the block on the right was Barclay's Jewelry Store, Epes Stationery, and Monfalcone's (where the jocks hung out). 

To Kent Miller:  That tall modernistic-looking white building on the left is Kresge's.  It was on the NW corner of 30th Street.  In 1941, some kid just freshly arrived from Phoebus was mercifully taken to lunch there by three of his new classmates.

Be aware that things have changed.  Don't expect to relive your memories with a walk down The Avenue.  Stick to old postcards and cherry pie.

- Fred Field ('45) of CA - 04/01/06
BOY HOWDY!!!  Thanks, Fred!
 

Thanksgiving just past and Christmas on its way brings back memories of the season in downtown Newport News. New York City has its Macy Day Parade, but in downtown Newport News in the Fifties we had a Christmas Parade, too. Although I can’t remember for sure, it seems to me now that it was held the Saturday after Thanksgiving, rather than the first Saturday in December as many communities do now.

In our Christmas parade we had inflatables, too. They rode on platforms on wheels. I’m sending a picture of one of the Christmas parades. My father took the picture from the second story of his restaurant, the Sanitary, located on the southeast corner of Washington Avenue and 31^st Street, so we are looking north on Washington Avenue toward 32^nd Street. You can see Nachman’s Department Store marquee in the picture. Leggett’s is beyond Nachman’s, and beyond Leggett’s you can make out the sign for Hofheimer’s Shoe Store. Hanna’s Dress Shop would have been across the street from Hofheimer’s. In the foreground of the picture the Christmas lights are visible stretching from light pole to light pole.

At night the stores were open late for the holiday shopping and the red and green lights shone overhead with a star with white lights at each intersection. You can make out one of the stars hanging in the intersection just above the second inflatable animal’s head. When the stores stayed open late, the streets were crowded with people. All up and down the avenue we shopped at Nachman’s, Leggett’s, Hanna’s, Hofheimer’s Shoe Store, the Parisian Shop, La Vogue, Blechman’s, Punch n Judy, Whelan’s Drug Store, Woolworth’s, Epes Stationary Store, Barclay’s Jewelry Store, Barr Brothers Jewelry Store.

Whelan’s had a cosmetic counter that fascinated me in my preteen years. Each week of the year I took my Christmas Club Savings Book to the First National Bank to deposit my 25 cents. The teller tore out a coupon and marked each deposit on the stub. One Christmas I went to Whelan’s to spend my Christmas Club Savings on an elegant set of Evening in Paris toiletries for my mother. I fell in love with the midnight blue and the white sateen lining the box . What dreams of glamour the set evoked! Another Christmas I went to Whelan’s to buy her a gleaming gold-toned brush and mirror set that I was sure was like the one on the Queen of England’s dresser!

It was an exciting season. When I was growing up in Newport News, stores closed everyday at 6:00. At some point in time, they began to stay open on Friday nights until 9:00 but that was about it. The holiday season was different! The Christmas parade signaled the start of the later closing hours. Stores stayed open late, and it was exciting to go to Washington Avenue to see the Christmas lights and the displays in Nachman’s big glass show windows. Crowds of shoppers thronged the streets.

There was a store on Huntington Avenue near 34^th Street or so, I think,  that had all sorts of fascinating toys for kids and was a favorite place of mine during the holiday shopping season. I can’t remember if it was a Western Auto Store.  Santa Claus was either at Nachman’s or Montgomery Ward. I don’t remember if he was at both stores or if he was at one store and then in later years moved to the other. I do remember going to Montgomery Ward’s basement to see Santa. He looked so much the part that I was convinced he was the absolute, real guy that lived at the North Pole.

My mental image of Santa was formed by the Coca Cola calendars on the wall of Sam’s market. Sam was an elderly man who wore a cap all the time and ran a small fruit and vegetable place on the side of 32^nd Street opposite Nachman’s, just below Washington Avenue. He was located near Mrs. Fox’s candy store. Cheney’s Studio was in that same area. Mrs. Fox had great candy that I think she made. The reward that most motivated me was candy from Mrs. Fox’s. Anyway, Sam’s Coca Cola calendars of Santa Claus formed my ideas of what Santa looked like and the Santa at Montgomery Ward looked just like that to my eyes.

Newport News also had parades during Fire Prevention Week and Armed Forces Week. I am sending two more pictures from parades. I’m not sure which parade the picture of the fire truck is from, maybe a Fire Prevention Week parade?  In that picture you can make out the sign for Tops Grill. I can’t remember exactly which block that was in and could not figure out from the City Directory Pages on the website here. I’ll try again another time. The photo of the people watching a parade I would guess is from an Armed Forces Day parade judging from the dress of the bystanders, for that parade was held in May. I think the crowd there is standing in front of Woolworth’s.

- Aretie Gallins Patterson ('59) of Northern VA - 11/26/05
Thank you so very much, Aretie!
 

In some of the latest images which
Dave Spriggs ('64) has graciously given us,
I've noticed with shock and dismay that many
of the newer downtown structures appear
to have been designed and built behind the Iron Curtain - stark, ugly, and altogether unpleasant.
They seem to have been born
in someone's nightmare.

What a shame we cannot awaken.

- Carol Buckley Harty of NC - 04/09/04

-  Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA - 09/26/03

THE HOLY GRAIL!

THE UNHOLY GRAIL!