Crescent memories (Part 2): Readers share memories of the downtown department store

In October, The Spokesman-Review wrote about how “The Strange Beautiful” author Carla Crujido is seeking stories from the Crescent and is calling on readers to submit their tales of the shopping mecca.

And boy did readers respond. Nearly 50 subscribers wrote or emailed letters sharing their favorite and most interesting memories.

Beginning Dec. 7, The Spokesman-Review printed a handful of these Crescent letters so that the entire city can share this history. We will run them through Dec. 29.

Crescent ‘magic’

Enclosed is a photo from Christmas 1963 at the Crescent in downtown Spokane. I am sitting on Santa’s lap, while my older brother, John, looks on.

The Bon Marche department store across the street also had a Santa. I asked my mom, how the Crescent and the Bon could both have Santas. She replied, “magic.”

The Crescent was truly a one-stop shopping experience. Clothing, housewares, a pharmacy, a restaurant and so much more.

–Jim Feehan

A favorite store

The Crescent was one of my favorite stores. I took my family down every Christmas to see the Christmas window. I loved the department with the embroidery stuff in it. The Crescent had great things for sale. Now I am old and couldn’t come down, so the timing was great. I don’t shop much now. It is more fun making stuff for others.

We didn’t miss seeing the Christmas windows. I think it was the only one that did that. I am thankful for the enjoyment we had.

–Marian Lund, Medical Lake

Grandma’s store

I am an old lady now (in my 80s), but I do have memories of the Crescent Department store. My grandmother, Ethel Nettles, worked there in the 1940s and 1950s, in the Midway Shop. I also remember that my grandmother’s boss was Mrs. March. I remember that my grandmother was required to wear a dress and high-heeled shoes when she was working. When she came home (she lived with us), she would immediately take off her shoes and ask me to rub her feet. Apparently that made them feel better.

I remember going to the basement of the store with my mom to look for bargains because that was where the cheaper items were sold. (As I recall, it was called the “bargain basement”).

When I was really young and we went to the Crescent, they had a room where parents could leave their children while they went shopping. I don’t remember where in the store the child care room was located, but I do remember that some of the other children were mean and would grab the toys that the younger kids were playing with. And I hated that!

I also remember that when my mom went shopping with friends and they would meet at the store, they would often “meet up” under the clock when they got to the store.

Oh yes, and I cannot forget the beautiful Christmas windows that were designed each year at Christmas season. So creative and beautiful!

I guess that’s about all and I will be thrilled to hear about others tales of The Crescent.

–Nancy Chevigny-Dahlke, Spokane

Elevator laughs

I will start by saying what an honor and wonderful experience to have worked at the Crescent from the summer of 1968 to the fall of 1973. My mother worked there first, followed by my brother, and then me.

Working there was truly an experience of Americana like you would find in an issue of the Saturday Evening Post with Norman Rockwell’s flavor of American life.

One of my favorite memories was meeting under the renowned Crescent hanging time piece, “The Clock,” on the morning of Christmas Eve before the store opened. Here, all employees gathered and were led each year by a senior executive in singing Christmas carols. Such fun and lots of Christmas spirit.

After the singing ended, the buyer of the department I worked in would take us up to the “Tea Room” where he would buy everyone breakfast and we would have a gift exchange.

Another memory happens to be a funny one. One of the department buyers I worked for was a buyer for toys wear and the toy department. It was Christmas time and the Crescent was alive with the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping. The air was filled with Christmas merriment and a constant hum of conversation. I’m getting on one of the elevators and at the same time my boss gets on with a small red cloth bag in his hand and joins me in the back of the elevator. I ask him what it is, and he says, “you’ll soon find out.” The elevator car fills quickly up with people and suddenly, when the elevator door closes, you can hear a pin drop. Perfect for what my boss had planned. Suddenly, he pressed the side of the red bag and we heard a loud boisterous “Ha! Ha! Ha!” The silence in the elevator car broke into an atmosphere of “what’s going on?” and then laughter, as the toy buyer held up the red bag and pressed it again, producing more “Ha! Ha! Ha!” He gets off on the fifth floor of the toy department and turns around, holding the elevator door open and says, “you can purchase a ‘Bag of Laughs’ right here in the toy department. It makes a great Christmas gift.” I thought it was an ingenious idea to sell the toy. Well done!

Of course, when you think of the Crescent you have memories of the beautiful Christmas windows created there each year. There was a crew of four people who would do them. My favorite was the Alvin and the Chipmunks window display. People would come from all over to enjoy the windows at Christmas. A lasting legacy. Helping with these displays would be the seventh floor carpentry workshop. I think there were around five carpenters who worked there.

Also, at Christmas the Main Street entrance was something special. Doormen dressed in red jackets and caps welcomed the Crescent patrons.

Above the Main Street doors on the overhead flat canopy was anchored a huge, lit up Santa Claus. This is now on display at the Grand Hotel in Spokane at Christmas time.

How about the elevator gals, usually in the first two elevators, who would get Christmas shoppers to the right department for their Christmas adventures? What a great job they did.

This is a scary memory that I have that happened in the summer of 1968. When I first got hired I worked in the toys department. I worked there with a gal my brother was dating that he had met at the Crescent. Later that fall they would get married. We were standing in the department talking, when all of a sudden we heard a horrendous crash. Just around the corner from our department was the large freight elevator that my brother often operated. In fear, we both ran to the elevator, thinking something terrible had happened. Luckily, he was not hurt. What occurred was, as the elevator was going up in between floors, a large ladder on the elevator fell forward over the top of the elevator gate, hanging out into the elevator shaft. In doing so, it got caught and smashed in the elevator shaft. We were so relieved to know he was all right. He even got a big kiss and hug from his soon-to-be wife, which helped make things better.

In February would come the yearly Coliseum sale. This event was something shoppers in the Spokane area always looked forward to. I think it broke up the winter blahs.

Each buyer was responsible for ordering merchandise at a great price. Once all this merchandise got checked in and priced on the seventh floor stockroom, it was trucked over by Crescent trucks to the Coliseum. Here, every department was given a space to sell their wares.

This sale always brought in thousands of people looking for quality merchandise at a super price. I remember the first day I ever worked a Coliseum Sale. It was February of 1969. I was the stockboy for the toys department. My job was to get all the tables stocked with the various clothing and to keep the merchandise neat and sized. Well, good luck on that! When the doors opened at 9 a.m., a rush of shoppers poured down the halls of the Coliseum. Those coming to my department attacked the tables, and in a matter of seconds my neatly piled merchandise was a heap of entangled clothing. Well, looking at this from the bright side, it gave me job security.

My wife wanted me to mention how girls in the eighth grade could take a charm class at the Crescent. In 1969, a small group of Campfire Girls, my wife being one of them, attended in the spring a charm school class here. They come in every Saturday for six weeks to attend the class.

At the Crescent charm school the girls learned amongst others enrolled in the class how to be a young lady. They also were instructed on how to walk properly, were given their first Bonnie Bell makeup for teenage girls, and taught how to use it. They got to participate in a fashion show where each modeled two outfits. My wife enjoyed the experience and thought it was fun.

I remember a couple times at least, the National Duncan yo-yo champion came to the store to show some amazing things he could do with the various Duncan yo-yo’s, such as the Sputnik Duncan yo-yo. A crowd would assemble around him with sounds of “oohs and ah’s”. When he was finished you would see an exodus of parents and children heading for the toy department for a flashy Duncan yo-yo! Who knows, there may have been a future Duncan yo-yo champion among them.

The camaraderie and friendship of the Crescent employees was what helped the store be such a great place to work. Many people who worked there spent many years in employment and retired from the store. I feel this is a testament to how people loved working for the Crescent.

One such place where the camaraderie was shared was in the eighth floor employees cafeteria. There, you could get a very good lunch or dinner at a very reasonable price. The chicken à la king was great! You could get a piece of pie alamode for 25 cents. But beyond the great food and prices was meeting up with your friends to share how your day was going and to enjoy a laugh or two. It was also a great way to meet new people who worked in different departments throughout the store.

I must mention the bond I enjoy with the older salesman when I worked in the suit and sportcoat department. On Friday nights it was slow until after the dinner hour. During the slow period, most of them, who were raised in Spokane, enjoyed telling stories about the past. Such interesting stories of what life was like in their younger years. Hearing them tell of going to the local dances, Natatorium amusement park, and many other adventures I loved hearing.

Also, the Italian tailor was a great guy! He was one of several tailors, but he was the main one who worked in the tailor shop right above the suit department. Oftentimes on my break, I would go up stairs to see him. He always encouraged me to stay in college. He served in the Italian army during World War 2 and had many interesting stories to share.

In closing, the motto of the Crescent was “the customer is always right.” I would like to add that the Crescent, through its rich heritage over the years of serving the Spokane area, did something right! Congratulations to a department store, who in my opinion, will always be rated No. 1.

–Leroy Bishop, Newport

Fondest memories in Santa’s lap

I grew up in Spokane, went to Lewis and Clark High School, graduated from the Edward R. Murrow School of Communications at WSU, worked for KHQ radio and TV after serving in the Air Force, then left Spokane to follow a career in advertising. Then, I got hired by a client to run his hospitality company and then started my own food business, which I ran for 25 years before retiring to Bend, Oregon, but still my fondest memories are sitting in Santa’s lap in 1949 in the corner display window of the Crescent Department Store! (I have a framed photo of that event.) But even better is a photo of me in 1951 sitting on a “creepy” Easter Bunny’s lap in that same window! I am certain that I am one of thousands who have similar memories of that “special” Department store. Good Luck on this project I am certain the book will be a HIT.

–Rob Bartell, Bend, Oregon

Santa and more spark memories

My fondest memories from the Crescent was visiting with the “real” Santa. I remember he was located in a curved out section on the first floor by the clock. I always had a new winter coat or dress on and I remember being in awe of Santa. I have enclosed different pictures of myself and Santa, plus three copies of the front of the picture holder with the Crescent on it.

Windows: Of course, along with Santa came the Crescent Christmas Windows. It was a special journey to go downtown to see Santa and the windows. I would watch the elves and others for the longest time, mesmerized by the mechanical movings of each window.

Lunch: My mom and I would also have lunch “under the clock” at the Crescent Court. I always wanted to sit in the horseshoe counter seating, not the booths. There was so much action and it was always crowded. We would do this several times a year.

Escalators and elevators: I loved going up and down on the elevators. The experience of the elevators with an operator made me feel “grown-up”, however, my favorite were the escalators … so fun!

Bra fitting: When I was older, I remember my mom taking me to the basement floor of the Crescent for my first “bra fitting.” It was so embarrassing to be sized with a tape measurer by an older woman who I did not know. Fortunately for my own children, I had boys and did not have to subject them to this experience!

Oh, I wish the children of today could experience the magical amazement of Christmas as we did in the ’60s, when downtown was the “place to be” and to shop year round.

–Lorrie Wertz Bos, Spokane

Shopping sales and lunchtime

My mother was a shopper. Dedicated, frugal, driven and tireless. She never missed a sale, she knew all the salesgirls on a first name basis and their history, had privy information on upcoming sales, would watch a dress for months until it came down to her desired price. The Crescent was her domain. She was a lady from the East and always wore a hat and gloves, hence so did I.

The worst day of shopping with my mom was the Crescent’s Day After Christmas sale! All wrapping paper, ribbon, cards, package tags and decorations were on sale and the women were fierce! I couldn’t even see the top of the wrapping paper table and I was being hit with the rolls of paper and anything else in their arms! There were no “excuse me’s” spoken on that day, it was every man for themselves! So surviving the women was traumatic enough, then we had to get the huge bags of treasures my mom had found onto the bus headed home. My mom could pack a shopping bag like no other person alive, but on these days with all the sales, we were loaded down. My mom also has super human eyes. She could read the bus sign at least ten blocks before it got to us at our standard stop on Riverside in front of the Crescent.

As a small child probably starting around five years old, one Saturday a month my mother and I would dress up, hat and gloves, and ride the bus down to the Crescent’s Apple Tree Room for the monthly fashion show. I loved the finger sandwiches and we came so often all the models knew my name. It was a wonderful day of love with my sophisticated mom.

The second floor bathroom was another big memory at the Crescent. I always used to make a point to visit there, even as I grew, just for the tender memories. This was where my mom carefully taught me to use the toilet seat covers … and if they were not available, she showed me how to use strips of toilet paper to line the toilet seat so none of my skin would touch the dirty seat. Usually, with any movement, one of the strips would fall off and the lesson would begin again. She also taught me how to straddle the toilet seat as I got a bit taller. And to always wipe off the seat if I dribbled on it! I so often wished other mothers had included that in their instructions! The second floor bathroom always smelled of fresh ginger to me and the white quarter-sized tiles trimmed in black grout gleamed in the sunlight through the fogged glass window. It was always immaculate in that restroom … always. Always smelling of fresh ginger.

The Clock was the famous place to meet people … both those you knew and those you didn’t … yet. It was always lined with people waiting for someone to appear. Just off the side of the Clock was a counter luncheonette with boots. The waitresses weren’t the kindest people, but the food was ok. The booths were the oddest shade of pink… nearly flesh tone. This is where I learned my mothers trick of taking all the ice out of my water glass and putting it into her hot coffee so she was able to drink it. She was a genius!

The Christmas windows were always the highlight of our Christmas season. My dad would drive us down, usually at night and if we were really lucky we got to make another stop on Sunday after church. But for some reason they seemed better at night. We waited our turn to get up to the window and stand in utter amazement at all the goings on within the Christmas scene. The corner window was always the “grand window” and you had to look at it from both sides to see it all. That was difficult when there were lots of people and you were a small person/child.

In high school, perhaps junior high, my mother heard the Crescent was having a Charm School and of course I had to attend! At the end of the school there would be a fashion show where we would all model. I loved the school and all we learned and the girls I spent Saturdays with. Seventeen Magazine sponsored the fashion show and I was chosen to wear a little red dress, which I hated. But the graduation day/fashion show was magical and I know we are all better women for attending the classes. I went on to modeling for Drezden Modeling Agency later in life.

–Patty Kiefer-Severud, Spokane

Special fertilizer

I moved here from Kansas, which being further south on the globe has a longer growing season. I told the people from Kansas that we don’t have Spring in Spokane, we have green winter.

My nextdoor neighbor worked for the Crescent in their display department. When the Crescent went out of business they sold off at the equipment they had in their warehouse across from the Steam Plant.

I went to the sale and bought a large number of plastic flowers. I then was first in my neighborhood in color in the spring as I positioned them outdoors in planters.

I had people ask me how I get things to grow so early in the spring, I told them it was special fertilizer from the Crescent Department Store.

–Paul Piper

Charge accounts

In 1946, my mother, Gratia Hannan Griffith, was a 24-year-old single girl living in Chicago’s near-North Side and working as a secretary at GE Medical. She was very proud that she could open a $25 charge account at the Marshall Field store in downtown Chicago.

Fast forward to 1968 … Our family moved to the Silver Valley, the latest of several small mining communities we lived in while my father pursued his career. We quickly came to view downtown Spokane as a shopping Mecca and grew to love the Crescent. So much so that Mom decided to open a charge account there. Upon providing her full name at the credit office, she was asked if Hannan was her maiden name. When she answered in the affirmative, she was told she already had an account.

It seems Marshall Field had acquired the Crescent in 1962 and that $25 single-girl charge account had followed her across six states and 22 years. Needless to say, this endeared the Crescent to us even more. We were heartbroken when the store closed.

–Wade A. Griffith, Spokane

‘It’s on the way’

We had only lived in Spokane for a handful of years after moving here from Whitefish, Montana. I am certain it only took a handful of weeks for my mother to discover the Crescent and the joy of shopping there. It was 1959 and I was eight years old just hanging around in the kitchen while Mom was cooking. Out of the blue she asked if I’d like to learn how to cook? I probably shrugged and said “yes,” since she was my mom after all. I remember her picking up the receiver of the old rotary dial wall phone and calling the Crescent. After being connected to the book department she asked if they had “Betty Crocker’s Cookbook for Boys and Girls.” Getting a positive response she asked for it to be delivered, since the Crescent had its own fleet of delivery trucks. Within a few hours the truck showed up with my first cookbook. I soon chose French toast for my first attempt at haute cuisine I still have the cookbook.

As an aside, my mother began teaching me all of the tasks associated with being a housewife when I was very young. She taught me to sew and iron clothes, as well how to launder them. She started reaching me about cooking and gardening as well. I didn’t know at the time that my mother’s loss of both her parents when she was very young caused her to feel that she perhaps wouldn’t have a long life and she was preparing me to be self-sufficient if she died before I was grown. Her fears were realized and she died when I was fourteen years old. She did leave me prepared to take care of myself and I am thankful for her foresight, but I wish she had been granted more years.

Thanks for the opportunity to share this special memory of my mother.

–Jeff Nadeau

First credit card

I, like many, have multiple memories of the Crescent. The first one, however, is one of the best. Sometime in early 1968 I wanted to make some sort of purchase where a credit history was required. At the time I was an airman at Fairchild, having been there for less than a year. We didn’t make a lot of money in those days, and at the time I had no credit card or history. I can’t recall what it was I wanted to purchase but whatever it was I wanted it now. In talking to some of my fellow airman friends who had been at Fairchild longer than me, and kind of knew their way around much better, suggested I go to the Crescent and apply for a credit card. They told me the Crescent would give you a credit card even if you had no credit history, or a significant income. I did go to the Crescent, applied for their card and was accepted pretty much immediately. I actually bought a reading lamp of a sort on their card, mostly right away, because I felt I should give them some business and establish a credit history. I never shopped a lot there over the years. At the time the base exchange was far less expensive, though it obviously did not have near the items available as the Crescent. I did, over time, make many purchases there just because they were kind enough to give me credit. And whatever it was I wanted to purchase, the Crescent made it possible.

As I think about it, I believe what I needed was an automotive repair. I didn’t have the money and I wasn’t very astute financially. I ended up at one of those high priced loan agencies, who approved my loan mostly because of my Crescent credit card and the fact they knew they could call Fairchild and tell one of the commanders there was an airman behind on his payments. It worked like that back in the ’60s. And I in turn told airman who came to Fairchild after me, and found themselves in a situation much like mine, to go to the Crescent and do the same thing I did. One only knows how many airman got their first credit card and history compliments of the Crescent!

–Terry A Hontz, Spokane