Holman's - Pacific Grove, California

Holman's was one of those classic small-town department stores with local roots. John Steinbeck bought his pencils here and mentioned the store in his novel, Cannery Row. At one time it was the largest department store between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Many similar stores around the country have now been taken over by Macy's. The Holman's building is still standing in Pacific Grove, and although it is no longer Holman's Department Store, it is also not a Macy's. There is a Macy's store just a few miles away, so that conversion remains unlikely.

The current owner of the building leases it as an antique mall. The building was up for sale recently, and, in fact, the listing is still posted online, although the owner claims it is no longer for sale. The developer who owns the building has been trying for years to build a hotel there; he is currently moving forward with the city on a feasibility study for a hotel, including examination of water issues.

A friend of mine used to like to play in Holman's store in her adolescent years. She would ride up the elevator with a friend and they would slide down the banisters and then ride up the elevator  again to repeat the whole process. Finally one day they were confronted by a gentleman who asked them to stop playing around. My friend, in typical adolescent fashion, said, "Who do you think you are...Mr. Holman!" It turned out it was Mr. Holman.

Here's another view, with Holman's on the left at the end of the street:

Save That Boy!

One thing in particular strikes me about this card, sent in 1943. It's the boy in the second row on the very left. His pants are pulled up high by suspenders. He looks like a skinny farm boy, who has fed the chickens, milked the cows, and is now being sent off to war. His family misses him already. I want to send him back home, but it's decades too late.
The message on this card reads:

This is what I looked like 4 months ago.

Love, Charles

Last Known Survivor of the San Francisco Earthquake Dies

This weekend, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Jeanette Scola Trapani died; she was thought to be the oldest survivor of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. This is not the first time that the oldest known survivor has died, but at some point they will be right because these survivors are now very old.  Jeanette Scola Trapani was only four when the disaster happened, but that still meant she was 107 when she died. And despite her young age at the time, she remembered the earthquake.

As a tribute to Jeanette Trapani and all of the other survivors, I'm posting a few postcards from the earthquake.