Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Newspaper promotion for a series of articles by Walter Young in the 1950s.

Picture from the Past

John S. Baggerly

An early history buff writes about the good old days

In the mid-1950s, Walter I. Young, who ran a transfer service in town, wrote a series of articles for the old Los Gatos Times-Observer. This is a piece he wrote about the Mountain Park store:

The very noticeable difference between a country store of yesterday and today often presents itself in my mind as I sometimes sit at the snack bar in the Mountain Park store and reminisce. I hope I can describe that store at Wrights [railroad] station so that you have a picture of it in your mind.

Country stores generally found room for the post office, located in the rear part of the store and named for the railroad depot. Such was the case of Wrights Station. The store had shelves along the walls, which held canned goods, and there was a counter in front. On the floor were many large burlap sacks full of dry materials such as sugar, beans, etc., both in front of and back of the counter with tops rolled back so that any amount could be measured out.

There were also barrels containing molasses, pickles, sugar, etc.

Canned goods were limited to a very few articles. Wooden boxes were used exclusively for packing canned goods, macaroni, codfish, etc., with the odor of fish prevailing. There were only about 10 different varieties of candies, and about the same number of tobaccos on the back shelf. One thing that was very much in evidence was the tobacco cutter, used for cutting plug, smoking and chewing tobaccos. I was about 11 years old before I knew there was any other chewing gum than "Black Jack." Cigars and cigarettes came under about three different brand names. A person couldn't afford to be choosy.

In the center of the store were tables piled with common work clothing for men, such as overalls, 50 cents; shirts, 50 cents; socks, 10 cents a pair; and "jumpers" (not frogs), a garment, waist-length, buttoned at the sleeves and down the front. Very comfortable, and handy for covering a much-soiled shirt after working all day.

. . . Cold drinks were out of the question, as there was no ice. However, there were some soft drinks such as "Moxie"--similar to the Cokes of today--and cream soda and straight sweet soda, not forgetting sarsaparilla, quite a favorite.

All things began to change around 1895. There began to be an improvement in the quality of groceries. It was quite gradual, however, and it was many years before grocery stores were able to get away without clerks.

I remember when in 1918, Harry Baumgardner started a "self-serve and save" grocery in Los Gatos and it failed. People just couldn't get over the idea of being waited upon. Also, they insisted that their groceries be delivered to their door.

It was always a miracle to see how the early stores could keep going, as they gave so little credit. It seemed that everyone, and especially the ranchers, would ask for credit from one harvest to another. The majority of wages were paid but once a year, other than a small amount for everyday necessities. I am sure that $3,000 would cover the price of the stock in an average country store, excepting their supply of feed for animals. A grocer had to keep a large supply of the latter, as most ranchers had cows and horses.

. . . If you can visualize such a store, just compare it with the present Mountain Park grocery store, which now serves this mountain community. If I hadn't lived through these two ages, I could scarcely believe that there could be such a difference.