Remembering
Tuolumne…..
By Joseph Celentano, TCMM
Research Committee
This month we have a guest writer, Erline
Heldstab, who was born and raised in
Growing Up Times, Part I of
II.
"
Whitaker's Grocery Store. "Whitaker's store was located in the West Side
Lumber Co. office building along with, beginning on the north end, the Post
Office, a butcher shop, Whitaker's, Max Raff's Dry Goods and Bigelow's Drug
Store which was also used for the Greyhound Bus Station. Whitaker's was just about forty feet wide (or
so) with shelves on the walls and lower shelves to the left of the door and the
counter and cash register were on the right side. About 2/3 of the way back in the store was a
section where you could find cookies in the bulk. We didn't have package cookies like
today. Although, Whitakers still carried
my favorite. You could take them apart
and have two cookies with vanilla frosting in the center. Oreo cookies, you couldn't get a buy better
than that. My mother (Glada Spinetto)
would treat me now and then, purchasing about a 1/2 pound. I was so happy. A large wooden scoop was used in the
container and put your cookies in a bag that was then weighed.
"I also had a favorite
breakfast cereal. Shredded wheat. It was not only good but it had game cards
between the rows of wheat. I had no
problem eating this cereal in order to get a new box with more game cards.
"I remember the beer
that my parents would sometimes buy.
Acme. It had a black can with a
gold Acme in script. There were not the
brands then as there are now.
"The people in the
store were wonderful to me. As I was my
mother's only child and they were some of her best friends they were very nice
to me…little sneak things now and then, like an extra Oreo. Barney Whitaker and his sister, Evelyn
Burns ran the store for their mother.
Their father had died long ago.
Barney lived with his mother in a house just below the Methodist church
on Cedar Street. He surprised everyone
by bringing a bride home from the Bay Area.
He built her a very nice house overlooking Tuolumne. They had two boys. Evelyn and her husband lived in Sonora. Her husband owned Burn's Cigar Store. It was located on Washington Street in
Sonora. Evelyn traveled everyday to
Tuolumne to work in the store; rain, snow, sleet or whatever. They had no children.
"Barney was the grocery
deliveryman for this store. He had a
1937 Chevrolet delivery truck that was open on the sides. During bad weather he could let down the
"blinds" and keep the groceries dry.
It was common in those days to ring up the store in the morning and Barney
would have it delivered for the noon meal.
What a deal!!
"The store had a large
back storeroom. The first time I opened
the door to go back, it was rather scary…so big. But, it stored the extra produce, can items
and some feed. The majority of the feed
was stored in a barn that was located in the vacant lot just north of today's
firehouse on Main Street. The
"firehouse" was a lean to on the side of the barn. It was big enough for just one truck, a 1940
Dodge fire truck. Modern for its time,
it is definitely an antique now. I
would often see Barney driving his delivery truck to the barn and getting hay
for someone's animal and delivering to whoever needed
it.
My family lived at the end
of
Next month, we will continue
with part II of Erline's work as a Theatre Usher at
the Fireman's Theatre.
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