Uptown/Downtown Port Arthur
My friends, siblings and I only took a walk 'uptown' or 'downtown' (depending on what you preferred to call it) when there was a good reason such as shopping for a birthday, Mother's or Father's day gift. Woolworth's, Kresge's and Eaton's were all located on what is now called Red River Road in the core of the Port Arthur business district. Back in the day the main street was called Arthur Street. When the City of Port Arthur and Fort William amalgamated in 1970 to become Thunder Bay some of the street names had to be changed. The South side already had an Arthur Street hence the North side Arthur Street became Red River Road.
We often walked up Court Street as it was the safest and most straightforward route. Rarely in those days did we use Cumberland Street because there often were inebriated homeless men sitting on the pavement and leaning against the walls of the buildings. I seem to recall that in the early sixties their numbers were great. There was a lot of joblessness in the early years of that decade. One time, returning from a shopping trip I found myself separated from my friends making my way alone down Cumberland Street towards Bay Street all the while fearing that someone would grab my ankle as I ran. Much later, that area was refurbished and I often wondered where did all those poor old men go?
Shopping in Kresge's at the corner of Court and Arthur Street was rather special as in those days there were aisles of long, wooden tables with the products arranged on them. I recall the tables were of dark wood and their numbers reached from the front to the back and side to side of the store. The long table was divided by a mirror. You could see your hands in the mirror as you touched the different items and you could not help but glance at yourself in the mirror now and then. I always remember the story a friend of mine told me about her mother shopping at Kresge's. She was rushing down the aisle and looked to her side to see a friendly woman smiling at her. She acknowledged the woman with a 'hello' but did not get a response. She glanced again and wondered why the woman was keeping up with her and continued to stare. Eventually, to her great amusement, she realized that it was her own reflection in one of the mirrors. There were two entrance/exits to the store. The one on the right side was close to what I think was a small in store coffee shop with a wooden bar where I would order a strawberry milkshake as I sat on the high stool. The anticipation was great as I watched the waitress spoon in the ice cream, squirt in the syrup, add in the cold milk and finish it off by attaching the metal container to the special machine that whipped it up. I would get a big smile on my face when she left the metal container, that made two glasses full, beside my tall glass. I paid 25 cents.
The décor of Woolworth's, down the street, was much the same. However, the wooden tables seemed to be arranged in a different pattern. It used to be such a treat to go look at the colourful costume jewelry arranged on the tables closest to the large front windows. One year I purchased a lovely leaf shaped, pink rhinestone brooch for my Mother on her special day. The sales lady placed it in a gold coloured box with white cotton batten below it and on top of it. I paid a whopping $1.00 that I had saved up. I was so excited with my find.
Eaton's was a whole different story. It was the largest Canadian retail store and it seemed that shopping at Eaton's somehow meant that you had money to spend. As a child, I don't recall going in there ever because most everything I needed was either made by my mother or handed down from my older siblings. It wasn't until my teen years that I became interested in the clothing, jewelry, shoes and beautiful leather boots. The exciting part about Eaton's back in the sixties was the catalogue. I can remember mom sitting by the kitchen table her catalogue laid out in front of her, leafing through the pages. It was fun to look at all those wonderful items. The catalogue also served a secondary purpose with great success. During the fall, I would arrange my colourful yellow, orange and red maple leaves between its pages to press and dry them for show and tell at school. Even more exciting than the regular catalogue was the Christmas edition filled with everything anyone would ever want under their tree. The famous store first opened its doors in Toronto, Canada in 1869. It filed for bankruptcy 130 years later in 1999.
I'm going to rummage around in my old chest again. Who knows what I'll find there. I know there are old bags from the store stuffed inside boxes that hold some old keepsake from years gone by. That's the fascinating thing. Often bags and papers that protect valuables turn out to be the most valuable.
The Kresge's, Woolworth and Eaton's stores are a thing of the past. We now have malls filled with stores that cater to every whim.
We often walked up Court Street as it was the safest and most straightforward route. Rarely in those days did we use Cumberland Street because there often were inebriated homeless men sitting on the pavement and leaning against the walls of the buildings. I seem to recall that in the early sixties their numbers were great. There was a lot of joblessness in the early years of that decade. One time, returning from a shopping trip I found myself separated from my friends making my way alone down Cumberland Street towards Bay Street all the while fearing that someone would grab my ankle as I ran. Much later, that area was refurbished and I often wondered where did all those poor old men go?
Shopping in Kresge's at the corner of Court and Arthur Street was rather special as in those days there were aisles of long, wooden tables with the products arranged on them. I recall the tables were of dark wood and their numbers reached from the front to the back and side to side of the store. The long table was divided by a mirror. You could see your hands in the mirror as you touched the different items and you could not help but glance at yourself in the mirror now and then. I always remember the story a friend of mine told me about her mother shopping at Kresge's. She was rushing down the aisle and looked to her side to see a friendly woman smiling at her. She acknowledged the woman with a 'hello' but did not get a response. She glanced again and wondered why the woman was keeping up with her and continued to stare. Eventually, to her great amusement, she realized that it was her own reflection in one of the mirrors. There were two entrance/exits to the store. The one on the right side was close to what I think was a small in store coffee shop with a wooden bar where I would order a strawberry milkshake as I sat on the high stool. The anticipation was great as I watched the waitress spoon in the ice cream, squirt in the syrup, add in the cold milk and finish it off by attaching the metal container to the special machine that whipped it up. I would get a big smile on my face when she left the metal container, that made two glasses full, beside my tall glass. I paid 25 cents.
The décor of Woolworth's, down the street, was much the same. However, the wooden tables seemed to be arranged in a different pattern. It used to be such a treat to go look at the colourful costume jewelry arranged on the tables closest to the large front windows. One year I purchased a lovely leaf shaped, pink rhinestone brooch for my Mother on her special day. The sales lady placed it in a gold coloured box with white cotton batten below it and on top of it. I paid a whopping $1.00 that I had saved up. I was so excited with my find.
Eaton's was a whole different story. It was the largest Canadian retail store and it seemed that shopping at Eaton's somehow meant that you had money to spend. As a child, I don't recall going in there ever because most everything I needed was either made by my mother or handed down from my older siblings. It wasn't until my teen years that I became interested in the clothing, jewelry, shoes and beautiful leather boots. The exciting part about Eaton's back in the sixties was the catalogue. I can remember mom sitting by the kitchen table her catalogue laid out in front of her, leafing through the pages. It was fun to look at all those wonderful items. The catalogue also served a secondary purpose with great success. During the fall, I would arrange my colourful yellow, orange and red maple leaves between its pages to press and dry them for show and tell at school. Even more exciting than the regular catalogue was the Christmas edition filled with everything anyone would ever want under their tree. The famous store first opened its doors in Toronto, Canada in 1869. It filed for bankruptcy 130 years later in 1999.
I'm going to rummage around in my old chest again. Who knows what I'll find there. I know there are old bags from the store stuffed inside boxes that hold some old keepsake from years gone by. That's the fascinating thing. Often bags and papers that protect valuables turn out to be the most valuable.
The Kresge's, Woolworth and Eaton's stores are a thing of the past. We now have malls filled with stores that cater to every whim.
(click photos to view larger image)
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