(With apologies for yesterday’s horrendous post.)Pictured above, in a circa 1953 photo, is the Montgomery Ward store in San Luis Obispo, California. This photo was taken during the La Fiesta de las Flores parade, an annual event in San Luis Obispo from 1925 to 1995. The clown/cowboy’s horse is equipped with a shovel, a necessary accessory depending on the length of the parade. At least he has a smile painted on his face!
This store, with its rectangular red sign with white lettering, is extremely typical of Wards stores over a very long period – from the mid 1930’s until 1958, when the company embarked a building boom, opening modern stores with an exciting new look, mostly in shopping centers and malls. Nonetheless, Wards continued to operate stores like this well into the 1960’s, and even beyond that in some locations. In most cases they received facelifts with the new Wards signage, but this store, as evidenced by this 1964 photo (of another parade) kept the original façade for at least that long.
The cloth banners advertising the electric blanket “Lay a way” sale are a neat aspect of the photo. I’m sure those electric blankets were most welcome on those frequent chilly nights when the Pacific winds were up.
Many thanks to aroid for the use of this fine photo.
