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Photograph courtesy of Cookie Curci
Neighborhood Icon: This Victorian home was the residence of Phil Herold's grandfather, who founded Herold's Shoes in 1869. The home, located on the north corner of First Street and Alma, was a popular landmark for many years.
Remember When
Herold's Shoe Stores
Remembering a Business Pioneer
By Cookie Curci
This past Jan. 10, former Willow Glen resident and San Jose businessman Phil Herold passed away at age 91. For those of us who remember a much earlier San Jose, Herold, and his shoe stores, rekindle special memories.
For more than 101 years, Herold's shoe store was a mainstay in the community.
Herold was named after his grandfather who founded the original Herold's shoe store in 1865. Grandfather Herold had come to California for the gold, but soon realized there was a greater need for someone who could make work boots and shoes for the gold miners. He opened his shop in Yuba County and then in Placerville County, close to the gold mining workers in desperate need of leather boots. In 1865, grandfather Herold moved his business to San Francisco. But four years later he moved to San Jose and raised a family of five children. He sold boots made to order for special customers and settled into life in San Jose in a roomy house on South First Street, near Alma.
Phil Herold's father, Chester Herold, was one of these five children. He married Charlotte Lathrop, daughter of pioneer settlers of Santa Clara County and San Benito County, and set up housekeeping on S. 15th Street. Phil Herold was born there in 1910, in the dining room of the family home, which is still standing today. Later, Phil became a partner with his dad and uncle Harvey in the family-owned business.
In 1938, Phil married Dorothy Davis and moved into a home on Terra Bella Avenue. This is where my memories of the Herold family begin. Their house was directly next to my parents' house, who were also newlyweds at the time.
Photograph courtesy of Cookie Curci
Happy Days: For Dorothy and Phil Herold, traveling together was part of the rewards of retirement, as this happy passport picture, taken in 1980, testifies. The couple was anticipating another trip together.
The fathers in our neighborhood were busy working during the week, eking out a living from their businesses. My father owned the Spartan Do-nut shop on Fourth Street in downtown San Jose, and Phil had his popular shoe store on First Street. Many of the neighborhood children had fathers who owned their own businesses in downtown San Jose. The owners of the popular Spivey's drive-in, Lew Jones Construction Co., and Nelson's Furniture store, were a few of our Terra Bella neighbors.
I remember Halloween in our old neighborhood and the wonderful excitement of the trick-or-treat ritual; how we'd rush to Phil and Dorothy Herold's back door for a big helping of chocolate fudge, fresh from the stovetop. And how Phil was always generous with the big squares of chocolate he dropped into our candy sacks. I remember their sons, Les and Scott Herold, and our days attending Lincoln Glen Elementary classes together, and how we'd play all summer long, filling every moment of those long days that seemed to go on forever. We played street games, corner lot baseball and marbles, and climbed the neighborhood walnut trees that were so plentiful back then.
I remember how Phil loved to fish, and how, on those rare days when he found the time, he'd exchange his familiar suit and tie for Levi's and plaid. When he returned home after a day of fishing, his face was lobster red from the sun, and slung over his shoulder, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, was a huge assortment of rainbow trout. I remember Dorothy and the boys welcoming him home at the door, how their smiles and laughter always greeted him. And later on that evening, how the mouth-watering aroma of fried trout permeated the dinnertime air.
Years later, when the Herolds moved to Pebble Beach, Dorothy and Phil kept our long family friendship intact with cards and letters, always graced with photos of the family. Until her death in 1999, Dorothy and I maintained a long and faithful correspondence.
When I remember buying shoes at Phil's downtown shop, I remember impatiently waiting with my mom on the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Malone for the downtown bus to pick us up. Buying a new pair of school shoes at Herold's shoe store was only part of my excitement. I was anticipating a big piece of free bubble gum from Phil and the thrill of slipping my feet into the shoe store's x-ray machine. Yes, that's right, at one time it was very popular to try on a pair of shoes and slip your feet into a machine that actually x-rayed our feet so we could see exactly how our foot bones looked while wearing our new shoes. The x-ray machine fad didn't last long, and it soon faded.
Shoe Genius: Grandfather Herold originally came to California to pan for gold in 1869, but discovered hard-working miners had a great need for durable work boots. His shoe designs and handmade quality boots soon led to the area's most popular shoe store.
Photograph courtesy of Cookie Curci
Another fun experience at the shop was when we paid the cashier for our shoes. Something marvelous happened then. The sales clerk put the money and the receipt into a round glass and metal cylinder, then he placed the cylinder in a tube that ran along the walls and the ceiling. A moment later we watched as the cylinder soared, faster than lightning, up the side of the walls and sped across the ceiling on its way to the store's upstairs cashier. The cashier, upon receiving it, made the proper change and sent the pneumatically driven cylinder speeding back to the sales clerk, where he dispensed our change. Those of us who shopped in the downtown stores of the 1940s and '50s remember the fun of watching these fast-moving pneumatic change-makers in action.
Tom Ross, an engineer for Blach Construction Co., was one of the children from my Terra Bella neighborhood. He has a vivid recollection of Phil's shoe shop. He should. He worked there as a kid every summer stocking shelves and doing general cleanup. According to Ross, working for Phil's prestigious shoe shop was quite an honor, and one that taught him some valuable lessons.
He credits Phil with teaching him a good work ethic.
In 1962, Phil became sole owner of Herold's downtown shoe store and the store located at Town and Country Village. He was district governor of the 20-30 Club and president of the San Jose Better Business Bureau and Merchants Association. He was a member of the San Jose Camera Society. His photographs were displayed all over the country, and he served on the board of the Salvation Army in San Jose and was a lifetime board member of the Monterey Corp. But, more important, Phil was a success as a father, friend and neighbor. He was a man loved and admired by his community, friends and family.
Yes, things have changed dramatically since those days when the fall season just automatically meant a new pair of school shoes, and Easter week just naturally meant I'd be getting a new pair of patent leather pumps. But there are some things that never change. Our memories see to that. Nostalgic memory preserves things the way we perceived them as children. Childhood days are a cherished time and the people we knew and the experiences we shared with them remain with us a lifetime. For me, the Phil Herold family and Herold's shoe store will always be a treasured memory.
Contact Cookie Curci via e-mail at cookiecurci@aol.com.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
