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YES, THEY'VE MOVED to their present location on Idaho-Maryland Road, Grass Valley, from the west Main location next door to the Holbrooke Hotel (left in July 8, photo) and that's what a whole bunch of you including a former employee told us. And there was also mention of the ubiquitous, old time Sears' catalog.
The Sears' catalogue: Ah, those were the good old days before indoor plumbing became all the rage. Then a trip to the outhouse was an adventure in wishful reading as one browsed page after page in the aforementioned catalog (prior to tearing it from its binding) marveling at the vast selection of merchandise offered in the out-of-date tome which hung in a place of prominence in that essential “little house out back.”
A TIMELINER! asked who was this Sears fella and wasn't there a guy named Roebuck involved?
Briefly: Richard Warren Sears,1863-1914; opened a mail order business in Minneapolis with S.C. Roebuck. In 1893, they moved to Chicago where today, the Sears Tower dominates the skyline. The firm then became Sears, Roebuck and Co., with Sears as president, a position he held until 1913, when he retired. In 1895, Roebuck sold his interest to Julius Rosenwald.
Just thought you'd like to know. TIMELINES! is indebted to the Merriam-Webster folks for this tidbit of intelligence as listed in and lifted from their Biographical Dictionary.
Okay, let's get on with it.
Welcome to the TIMELINES! Early Risers Club! Beginning just before 5:05 AM, July 8, when DENIS KUTCH rubbed the sleep from his eyes, opened his copy of The Union and turned to the Learning section and LO! a photograph of the old Sears store next door to the Holbrooke Hotel on West Main in Grass Valley. Thanks, Denis for your capital achievement and you may now rejoin your coffee!
Logging in at 5:47 AM with his correct answer was another regular TIMELINER!, Kenneth Holbrook who was followed at 6:23 by, Les Worthington who probably slept in. The competition to be first in is among the Early Risers is becoming fierce, but remains gentlemanly.
Here comes a battalion of the TIMELINERS! including: Margaret Forbes, Ed Hayden, Lee Hudson, Dolly and Ken Jaynes, Brenda Apple, Bob Pease, Letitia Darling, Jean Rowe Kenney and Jim Dierberger.
Bob Caris, who identifies the photo and writes, “In the late 1960s, I worked...as the parts guy and waited on the counter. An elderly lady came in and said she was not ‘satisfied' with her washer and wanted it replaced...her washer was 21 years old! The store manager explained that it was too old, but the lady pointed out the ‘Satisfaction Guarantee' sign. The district manager came to moderate...The lady would not be moved and (finally the manager) said ‘give her a new one.” That's customer service above and beyond the call! Thanks Bob.
Now, back to the passing parade of some new and many repeat TIMELINERS! Jim and Debbie Luckinbill, Harry Lum, Marilyn Kuebler, Oregon; Mario Valceschini, Dennis Babson, Julie Dorris, Troy Ellen, Melanie Wellner, Terry Noziska, Lloyd Goddard, Helen F. Turner, told us after she identified the location by the “side of The Holbrooke ... I worked there for many years...I love The Holbrooke and was excited to see this picture,” and Helen, thank you for sharing.
Some great family nostalgia from the Thomsen sisters. Patsy Thomsen Rieger told us that “My dad worked for Sears in the ‘60's, ‘70's and ‘80's...” she then forwarded the July 8, TIMELINES! to her sister Jill Thomsen Campbell who now lives in Stockton. Jill filled in some of the blanks: “The (Sears store) manager was Becky Alderman (and) the Service Department was...manned by one repairman...who served...the area as far east as Donner Lake. He was our dad, Roy Thomsen...,” she continues.
“He did in-home service, small appliance repair in the store, and delivered and installed the new...I remember more than one Christmas and Thanksgiving being interrupted...all the customers had our home phone number...in case the stoves and refrigerators stopped working...He was on call 24/7 just like Dr. (Bernard W.) Hummelt (a Nevada City physician). Dad delivered us to school in the Sears Service Van until we got our driver's licenses. It was mortifying being chauffeured in a rolling billboard-or so I thought until he picked us up early the day John Kennedy was assassinated....Thanks for sending me down a trip on the old memory lane. I spent a lot of hours doing my homework in the Sears back office.”
And thank you Patsy and Jill, Bob Caris and all who share with us and our readers their personal memories that TIMELINES! helps to return. It is indeed living history and quite satisfying for all of us here.
Today's photo is of a commercial building under construction in one of our better uptown locations. Where in one of the Twin Cities do we find this structure? Clue: today it looks absolutely nothing like is does in the photo.
As always answers to: bobwyckoff@sbcblobal.net or PO Box 216, Nevada City CA 95959
BOB WYCKOFF is a retired Nevada County newspaper editor/publisher and author of local history. His latest effort is “The Way It Was- Looking Back at Nevada County.” It is published by and available at The Union newspaper office, 464 Sutton Way, Grass Valley CA 95945.
The Sears' catalogue: Ah, those were the good old days before indoor plumbing became all the rage. Then a trip to the outhouse was an adventure in wishful reading as one browsed page after page in the aforementioned catalog (prior to tearing it from its binding) marveling at the vast selection of merchandise offered in the out-of-date tome which hung in a place of prominence in that essential “little house out back.”
A TIMELINER! asked who was this Sears fella and wasn't there a guy named Roebuck involved?
Briefly: Richard Warren Sears,1863-1914; opened a mail order business in Minneapolis with S.C. Roebuck. In 1893, they moved to Chicago where today, the Sears Tower dominates the skyline. The firm then became Sears, Roebuck and Co., with Sears as president, a position he held until 1913, when he retired. In 1895, Roebuck sold his interest to Julius Rosenwald.
Just thought you'd like to know. TIMELINES! is indebted to the Merriam-Webster folks for this tidbit of intelligence as listed in and lifted from their Biographical Dictionary.
Okay, let's get on with it.
Welcome to the TIMELINES! Early Risers Club! Beginning just before 5:05 AM, July 8, when DENIS KUTCH rubbed the sleep from his eyes, opened his copy of The Union and turned to the Learning section and LO! a photograph of the old Sears store next door to the Holbrooke Hotel on West Main in Grass Valley. Thanks, Denis for your capital achievement and you may now rejoin your coffee!
Logging in at 5:47 AM with his correct answer was another regular TIMELINER!, Kenneth Holbrook who was followed at 6:23 by, Les Worthington who probably slept in. The competition to be first in is among the Early Risers is becoming fierce, but remains gentlemanly.
Here comes a battalion of the TIMELINERS! including: Margaret Forbes, Ed Hayden, Lee Hudson, Dolly and Ken Jaynes, Brenda Apple, Bob Pease, Letitia Darling, Jean Rowe Kenney and Jim Dierberger.
Bob Caris, who identifies the photo and writes, “In the late 1960s, I worked...as the parts guy and waited on the counter. An elderly lady came in and said she was not ‘satisfied' with her washer and wanted it replaced...her washer was 21 years old! The store manager explained that it was too old, but the lady pointed out the ‘Satisfaction Guarantee' sign. The district manager came to moderate...The lady would not be moved and (finally the manager) said ‘give her a new one.” That's customer service above and beyond the call! Thanks Bob.
Now, back to the passing parade of some new and many repeat TIMELINERS! Jim and Debbie Luckinbill, Harry Lum, Marilyn Kuebler, Oregon; Mario Valceschini, Dennis Babson, Julie Dorris, Troy Ellen, Melanie Wellner, Terry Noziska, Lloyd Goddard, Helen F. Turner, told us after she identified the location by the “side of The Holbrooke ... I worked there for many years...I love The Holbrooke and was excited to see this picture,” and Helen, thank you for sharing.
Some great family nostalgia from the Thomsen sisters. Patsy Thomsen Rieger told us that “My dad worked for Sears in the ‘60's, ‘70's and ‘80's...” she then forwarded the July 8, TIMELINES! to her sister Jill Thomsen Campbell who now lives in Stockton. Jill filled in some of the blanks: “The (Sears store) manager was Becky Alderman (and) the Service Department was...manned by one repairman...who served...the area as far east as Donner Lake. He was our dad, Roy Thomsen...,” she continues.
“He did in-home service, small appliance repair in the store, and delivered and installed the new...I remember more than one Christmas and Thanksgiving being interrupted...all the customers had our home phone number...in case the stoves and refrigerators stopped working...He was on call 24/7 just like Dr. (Bernard W.) Hummelt (a Nevada City physician). Dad delivered us to school in the Sears Service Van until we got our driver's licenses. It was mortifying being chauffeured in a rolling billboard-or so I thought until he picked us up early the day John Kennedy was assassinated....Thanks for sending me down a trip on the old memory lane. I spent a lot of hours doing my homework in the Sears back office.”
And thank you Patsy and Jill, Bob Caris and all who share with us and our readers their personal memories that TIMELINES! helps to return. It is indeed living history and quite satisfying for all of us here.
Today's photo is of a commercial building under construction in one of our better uptown locations. Where in one of the Twin Cities do we find this structure? Clue: today it looks absolutely nothing like is does in the photo.
As always answers to: bobwyckoff@sbcblobal.net or PO Box 216, Nevada City CA 95959
BOB WYCKOFF is a retired Nevada County newspaper editor/publisher and author of local history. His latest effort is “The Way It Was- Looking Back at Nevada County.” It is published by and available at The Union newspaper office, 464 Sutton Way, Grass Valley CA 95945.
