Crescent memories (Part 4): 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. The final installment will run Monday.

Smiling reminders

I feel like slipping on my white gloves to type this letter and wishing I were heading to the Crescent coffee shop on the main floor under the clock. I’d go there as a girl with my sisters and my mom. I’d order a chicken salad sandwich. My mom always had a chopped olive sandwich. I moved to the Valley at age 6. It was always special to visit downtown Spokane and shop at the Crescent. At Easter we would dress up specially to go into town (of course with those white gloves). It was, after all, the city. My sisters and I were on an adventure for a new dress and hat. My mom taught us manners and specific ways to dress. We learned many of the manners while dining in the Tea Room upstairs.

More shopping came in late summer for school clothes with both of my parents. But, of course, it was Mom took me to buy my first bra at the Crescent. We dined at the coffee shop afterward. Yes, of course, a chicken salad sandwich for me and chopped olive for Mom. Once, there was lunch after a visit to the dentist for my braces. I still smile to remember sipping a delicious milk shake served in a charming old-fashioned fountain glass.

The clock at the top of the entry rise of the first floor was the place when I was older to meet friends. Meet a friend, a cousin or aunt, and later my soon-to-be husband.

I remember one special event in 1972. I bought my wedding dress at the Crescent. My sisters (JoAnn and Kay), my mom and I met my Aunt Barbara Ann … under the clock. We had a lovely, elegant lunch in the Tea Room on the sixth floor. Then on to the Bridal Shop.

The woman helping me (actually, us) had that sweet, treasured kind of personal service that added to the joy and warmth of the occasion. She measured me; then brought several dresses to consider. There was no rushing. I loved the most expensive one – $180.00 (by Miss Betsy of Boston). A lot of money in 1972. I loved how it looked and flattered my figure. Mom smiled and said, “We should buy this one, Michele.” My wedding registry was, of course, at the Cresent. I remember how the boxes were so … special, so elegant. And, in recent years, I have found several of those long-ago treasures.

I worked one summer in the men’s department as a salesperson. I moved away from Spokane in 1980. But I still hold and cherish fond memories of times at the Crescent with my family and my friends. My husband and I downsized several years ago and have come upon treasures from the Crescent. My friend, Susie, who still lives in Spokane has given me Spokane gifts through the years that feed my passion for the history of my beloved Lilac City. The most recent was over this past Thanksgiving. Susie gave me an old-fashioned olive-green Crescent hatbox with the string tied at the top. The hat was a 1950s Chanda Boutique and also housed a royal blue Koret purse with a beautiful button clasp. (Another smiling reminder of days gone by. I miss the department store experiences of then and how the visit was always so special). My memories of the Crescent on Main Street sits sweetly in my Spokane heart.

– Shelly Fisher, Spokane

Virtually indestructible canoe

Until the late 1970s, the Crescent boasted one of the most elite sporting goods departments on the West Coast. But gradually the store shrank its footprint dedicated to high-end shotguns, fly rods and camping equipment in favor of less expensive inventory such as snow skis and tennis rackets.

It was on a snowy winter day during this closeout phase that I happened upon a handsome Old Town Tripper canoe. The salesman described how its synthetic hull was virtually indestructible – a claim the manufacturer demonstrated by dropping a canoe off the factory’s roof, then restoring its original shape with a heat lamp.

Impressed, I bought the discounted canoe, imagining adventures the following spring.

The first opportunity arrived Memorial Day, when a friend and I impetuously decided to set off just below the dam where Priest Lake feeds Priest River. Having no experience whitewater canoeing, we didn’t think of adding flotation – this was an indestructible canoe, after all – and had only one lifejacket between us. Nor did we check the river’s elevation, significantly swollen by melting snow.

We quickly found ourselves overwhelmed by “haystack waves” churning four feet high. Without warning, our canoe vanished beneath us and we bobbed helplessly downriver, unable to hear each other screaming instructions.

Somehow we eventually coaxed our way to a shore and desperately grabbed branches to avoid being swept further downstream. My friend had managed to hold on to a paddle. Everything else had vanished beneath the rapids. After climbing a steep, muddy riverbank, we hitchhiked back to Outlet Bay and shelter.

Epilogue: The head of a local canoe club, upon hearing of our misbegotten expedition, assured us we were lucky to be alive – “An Air Force survival school instructor died in that same spot a week ago,” he informed us – adding that trying to find the canoe downstream, minus flotation, would be a fool’s errand.

But since we were heading back to Priest Lake the following weekend, we decided to survey a stretch of calm water just upstream from Dickensheet Campground, several miles from where we scuttled.

From the road, we bushwacked 100 yards to the riverbank. Looking upriver and down, we saw no sign of the canoe. Dejected, I lowered my chin to my chest … and THERE, 2 feet underwater and snagged on a submerged log, was our Old Town Tripper, still intact as the Crescent salesman had promised!

After dislodging the canoe, my only option was to paddle it downstream to Dickensheet.

Later that summer, I sold the tale of our misadventure to Audubon Magazine. The title of the article – what else? “The Immortal Canoe.”

–Michael Guilfoil, Spokane

Not the ‘lesser’ store

I started high school in 1959. My friends and I would take the bus from the valley to downtown, 25 cents one way. There were many stores to shop in and this was an all day experience. Of course we dressed up to go downtown in those days. We hit all the dress shops before buying anything. The Crescent store was higher end so it was a treat to find something on sale. It was a good learning experience for all of us as in those days as we had no credit cards or checks. Everything was cash or some stores had lay aways and we would pay weekly until we had the whole amount paid for.

We would always have lunch downtown at one of the stores that had a lunch counter. The Crescent main floor had a lunch counter to eat at if you could get a spot. The Apple Tree Tea Room upstairs was very expensive. We did not eat there until way into adulthood!

If you were meeting someone to eat lunch with and shop the only place to meet was under the clock at the Crescent! I loved those days and miss them.

Right after college before I started my teaching job I worked at the Bon Marche for a few months. I was opening some mail at my desk and noticed how it was addressed: Bon Marche across from the Crescent Spokane, Washington. It was payment for some drapes. Obviously she thought the mailman might now know where this “lesser” store was located! We all had a good laugh.

–Sally Bean

Winter wonderland

The Crescent weaves magical memories throughout my childhood, teenage and young adult years. My story is typical of so many other’s.

A photo frame in my living room rotates across daily – my big brother Benjamin and I visiting with (the real!) Santa at the Crescent as small children. My brother and this beautiful store are both gone now, treasured in my heart.

I remember the friendly elevator operators in proper uniforms asking which floor we wanted and the washroom attendants.

The Crescent Christmas windows were magical-animated, adorable animals and beautiful dancing ballerinas. The stuff of dreams. My wonderful parents, Frank and Marie Gillio, took us every holiday.

The Crescent was beautifully gorgeously decorated, a winter wonderland.

As a young teenager, my girlfriend and I would ride the free bus from Whitworth College to downtown and back to have lunch at the Crescent and window shop.

The jewelry and makeup counters were mesmerizing and our favorites.

My husband Gary and I had our engagement photos taken at the Crescent Portrait Studio.

A treasured memory is of my mother, best friend Rosalee Sicilia, and I shopping for my wedding dress at the Crescent. The perfect dress was the one that made them have tears in the their eyes.

The Crescent was truly a Spokane landmark. There were many affordable and sale items, along with the luxurious, and in this way welcoming many shoppers.

–Frances Gillio Lynch, Spokane Valley

‘Mark down’

In the 1960s, I lived in Richland and had the opportunity to participate in the Music Festival in Spokane as a fifth-grader. I was to be adjudicated for my piano pieces. My mom and I took the train from Pasco and headed to Spokane to stay at the Ridpath. Part of our adventure was to go to the Crescent and buy a pound of chocolates out of the lovely glass cases. So many choices displayed in an upscale way. Then we proceeded back to the Ridpath to devour these delicious decant morsels.

My daughter just shared she remembers going to the Crescent and eating at the coffee bar, which looped around like a snake. She would order the best Bacon Cheese Hamburger and at the checkout there were Frango mints you could purchase. I always said yes to my two daughters, as it topped off the delicious lunch. We lived in Cheney at the time, and going into town was a big deal.

Another memory is hitting the bargain basement. We were on a very low budget then and I could purchase deals. I would tell the girls mark down; mark down was our saying.

We loved their jewelry display only to find a mark down all silver sombrero lapel pin for my husband for $10. What a treat for me to gift him with this. He is Hispanic and you didn’t find much here in Spokane in the 1970s for Mexican lapel jewelry.

I know you will get many memories of meeting at the clock (pre-cell phone days) and the Christmas windows too.

–Paula Perez, Spokane

Holiday greeting card

My husband’s cousin, who lives in Spokane, sent us a clipping from the Oct. 12 issue of The Spokesman-Review with regard to finding anyone with a memory of The Crescent. Though my husband doesn’t have any stories to tell of going there, he does have information about one of its employees.

My husband, Reed Bender, was about 3 years old when his father, Hilbert Eugene (“Hib”) Bender worked at the Crescent as the window dresser. (I’m certain that was not the title he had, but it’s what Reed recalls.) Reed does remember the beautifully decorated windows at Christmas time, with animated holiday figures. Hib worked there from about 1959 until 1965 when the family moved first to Denver for two years, and finally to Hawaii to work at Liberty House (now Macy’s) in Honolulu.

Because of Hib having worked at the Crescent, a family member sent us a Christmas card with a painting print of the window dressed for the Christmas holiday, done by Patti Simpson Ward.

–Susan Bender, Honolulu

Fast fountain drinks

I currently live in the Los Angeles area but grew up in the Spokane Valley. I spent many hours with my Mom (who loved to shop at the Crescent) walking from floor to floor discovering new items we could not live without. She was diabetic and we did not know that at the time. I remember her eating candy bars to keep her going as we shopped. There was no stopping her when she was in her Crescent shopping buzz.

In the early 1970s when I was in high school, I took a summer job at the Crescent at their Fountain. It was one of my earliest employments and I was terrible at that job. I can remember not receiving any training but expected to whip out fountain drinks quickly and expertly. One day, a nice gentleman was sitting on one of the fountain stools. He ordered a milkshake. I made a milkshake that I was embarrassed to serve. I put it down in front of him with this terrible feeling of failure. I can’t remember his response but I am sure it was not positive. This memory has stuck with me over thew years and I am now 74 years old.

–Ann Rawlings, Stevenson Ranch, Calif.

Wrong grandma

Among the many departments was the Record Department, where my mother-in-law, Rita, worked. She sold sound equipment and records to music lovers from all over. It wasn’t unusual for customers to hum a tune and ask her to find the record that matched. One day, however, a customer puzzled her by asking for a “monorail record.” Rita was baffled – until she realized the woman really wanted a monaural record!

Life at the Crescent was never dull. One particularly memorable day, a woman approached the record counter with a stack of albums and presented a Crescent Credit Card. Rita glanced at the name and froze – it read Isabel Stowell, my grandmother’s name. When Rita asked about it, the woman confidently claimed to be a granddaughter. Following the Crescent’s rule that “the customer is always right,” Rita completed the sale – but something didn’t sit right.

As soon as she could, Rita called me to ask if I had a cousin by that name. When I said “no,” she immediately alerted store security. They quickly caught the woman leaving the store with piles of merchandise from other departments. It turned out that while my grandmother was in the hospital, her credit card had been stolen.

–Roberta Brown

Washing Fountain dishes

I have some of the many memories from working at the Crescent back in the mid-1970s.

I was hired by Chef Gary Brown as a dishwasher and worked in the Fountain for a while. I was mostly as assistant to what I would call “a professional dishwasher.” He was an older Asian gentleman named Frank. He was very nice and I thought we operated very efficiently and we got along well. I later found out that he was quite a “pool hustler” that played quite a bit down the street at a local bar (possibly may have been Vic’s) which surprised me.

Then I moved up to the Apple Tree, as a dishwasher, then eventually was trained in the pantry making salads and sandwiches.

After a time in the pantry, I was moved across the aisle to train and work as a grill cook making burgers, steaks, and the other hot food items. Mary Morse pretty much trained me at that position and unfortunately I found out later that she passed away from cancer shortly after I had left the Crescent.

It was a fun job and I remember several other of the employees as well as several of the managers, Georgia being one, and Dorene, who later married Gary Brown.

I ended up working at numerous other businesses with Gary and Dorene and they really helped me along in my career.

I actually still have one of my pay stubs from the Crescent.

–Kurt Braegger

A family affair

What a wonderful time to reflect back on my childhood in Spokane and the Crescent Department Store, which was THE Department Store to go to in Spokane “back in the day.”

1) My father was an electrician for Washington Water Power (now Avista). He worked on transformers so needed heavy duty work clothes. Every month or so we would go as a family to the Crescent for new work clothes. We always parked behind the WWP because we could, and it was free. We felt privileged to park there. Shopping for work clothes meant we went to the Crescent basement department. It wasn’t my sister and my favorite place to shop, but we were at the Crescent! Oftentimes Dad would let my sister and I go to the soda fountain area on the first floor to get a soda. This was located around the corner from the famous Crescent Clock. We’d meet our parents there after we finished.

2) My mother worked in the Crescent Tea Room. We were proud of that as this again was at the Crescent and pretty impressive to us girls. She made tips which was really special as the money went for our vacations.

3) The Crescent had elevators with “Elevator Girls” dressed in dark green suits. They also wore gloves and little hats. I always felt most grown up when I was allowed to ride the elevator by myself. I knew that I wanted to someday be one of those special Elevator Girls.

4) Mother loved Fostoria Dishware. The Crescent carried Fostoria and lovely China in their Fine China Department. She often times would put a piece or two on layaway, then purchased them by paying on them each month.

5) Of course we cannot forget Christmas at the Crescent. Each department was fully decorated in gorgeous and lavish decorations. The main attraction was the storefront windows on West Riverside Avenue. Each window had moving elves, children, and animals. Most Spokane folks made a trip to town at Christmas just to see the windows at the Crescent.

6) My favorite aunt would shop at the Crescent. They had a service where you left your purchases with a doorman and then later that day or the next day the Crescent Delivery Truck came and delivered her packages. I think she may have taken the bus to town and that’s why she used this service. (Can’t quite remember that part).

Thank you for allowing me to think back to my childhood memories of the Crescent Department Store.

P.S. By the way, I still have a Crescent Charge “card” which was a metal plate with dad’s name on it. It was in a small leather case.

–Diane Nelson Brown, Spokane Valley

Remembrances

At age 91, I’ve lived in Spokane for 84 years. I worked from 1953 to 1968 in the Sales Audit Department on the fourth floor.

Most everyone met at the Crescent Clock.

The ice cream parlor was a popular meeting place.

All employees had to use the same door whether working or shopping.

The elevators were installed while I worked there.

I bought my wedding dress there.

I bought a couch and chair for the family house, which were delivered at no charge, as all deliveries were free.

Every Christmas they had a new window display with music and action. Every Christmas we were invited to meet the “Big Wigs,” who were on the same floor as our office.

The television sales department was on our floor and as John F. Kennedy’s death was announced, they told our office immediately.

The Crescent was my favorite store.

–Myrna Utt, Spokane

Like a dream

My name is Richard and my wife is Kathy. She was born here in St. Luke’s Hospital (not there now). She has many memories about that store eating ice cream with her grandma, shopping, etc. She is 70 years old, so she has been there, but she wanted me to tell my story as it seems to be a better tale. By the way, we have lived here about 35 years.

I am 71, raised in Southern California. The only things about Washington was it is a state and it has Seattle. Never heard of Spokane. Met Kathy in Las Vegas, got married. Anyway, she told me about her grandfather who was 90 years old in Newman Lake, lived alone and she wanted to help take care of him in his alive years, so we moved up here.

Being at the lake we went into Spokane only a couple of times. I still didn’t know much about it. Enough of this. Here is my story:

We were living with Grandfather until we could settle in the Valley … about a month into living here I had a dream, very vivid and still fresh in my mind. I woke up that morning and told my wife about this dream: I was in a department store and was able to tell her about the food counter, escalators, where the men’s section was, everything. Then I told her I even had seen the name of the store. She turned white as a ghost when I said the Crescent. I saw the store, and was in it. I had never heard of Spokane, much less a store long gone before I got here. Hell of a dream don’t you think?

–Richard McMillen, Spokane

Generational shopping

I’m an 83-year-old woman who grew up in Newport, Washington. My mother would bring my brother and sister to Spokane for medical appointments – and other shopping at the Crescent. So I had an early connection with the store.

When my children were young, it was sort of our tradition to go downtown on Thanksgiving evening to see the unveiling of the windows showing all the animated animals and figurines. The windows were so much fun to look at through the Christmas season.

For several years, my mother and I would take my children to the Crescent Tea Room for breakfast with Santa Claus. From there we would go to the toy department to see Santa Claus and look at all the toys. We also went to breakfast with the Easter bunny. We all had a delightful time.

Meeting family members under the Clock was our usual meeting space. We loved the cafeteria. There was always a line waiting to be seated.

For two years, I worked (seasonal) at the Crescent. It was during the Christmas season. I learned a lot and there was a particular way to wrap. Some beautifully wrapped gifts left there. I was called in to help with inventory for two years.

I was surprised and sad when the Crescent closed. It was such a nice store. Almost like an Elegant Lady.

–Christy Smith, Spokane

Happy memories of Max Carson

I believe the Crescent is a special memory to most of the Spokanites and neighboring towns back in the 50’s and on. The excitement of dressing up and going downtown to admire the Crescent window at Christmas. Then the much-awaited trip through the toy department. Most exciting of all was Santa Claus sitting in a big, beautiful throne-like chair! Yes – the very live and real Santa! So professionally spruced up to the 10th degree. His gorgeous, glistening white hair and beard. And so loving and kind with sparkling, clear eyes. As one can see, I was thrilled with this wonderful experience. Such a fabulous treat for the whole family.

Well, I’m certainly not the lil’ boy in this (attached) picture anymore. I’m 77 years old, 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds! So I probably won’t be sitting on any more Santa laps, but that enchanting memory will never fade.

P.S.: I recently found out that my wife’s mother washed and waved the Santa beards and wigs every night during Christmas. She remembers her mother sitting at the kitchen table with wet, white, fluffy hair pieces all over! Metal hair clamps, combs and fingers got the job done beautifully.

–Max Carson, written by spouse Sheila, of Spokane