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101 Broadway Pharmacy: 1957

I purchased this 8 x 10 print at the swap meet. On the back is printed:
Mr. and Mrs. Cliff McCorkle, proprietors of the 101 Broadway Pharmacy, Richmond, Calif., getting an order ready for delivery. 5 November 1957. Photographer: Pfc. Barbara A. Warner, Sixth US Army Photo Lab, Presidio of San Francisco, Calif. Official US Army photograph. View full size.

I purchased this 8 x 10 print at the swap meet. On the back is printed:
Mr. and Mrs. Cliff McCorkle, proprietors of the 101 Broadway Pharmacy, Richmond, Calif., getting an order ready for delivery. 5 November 1957. Photographer: Pfc. Barbara A. Warner, Sixth US Army Photo Lab, Presidio of San Francisco, Calif. Official US Army photograph. View full size.

On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5

Cliff & Lola McCorkle

Our pharmacist is Clifford W. McCorkle, born in Tygh Valley Precinct, Wasco County, Oregon on June 6, 1906 to farmer Rufus W. McCorkle and his wife Jessica L. McCorkle. He had two older brothers: Calvin, born in 1891, and Lester born in 1892. He was still living with his parents in 1920, but they are all shown as living in Wapinitia, Wasco County, Oregon.

He graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in Pharmacy on June 3, 1929. The photo below is from his senior yearbook.

The 1930 U.S. Census shows him living in Hillsboro City, Washington County, Oregon. He married at the age of 21, it shows him as a lodger in the home of John Kelley, but his wife is not listed with him. He is already working as a pharmacist in a drug store. In 1931 he is shown with his wife Lillian living at 297 E. 39th Street in Portland, Oregon.

The 1940 U.S. Census shows that he was residing in San Francisco by 1935. In 1937 he was working at Birnbaum & Son Drugs at 757 Market Street, San Francisco, CA. He was living with his wife Lillian at 511 Leavenworth in San Francisco.

In 1940 he was working as a pharmacist in a drug store in San Francisco, California, he was making $2,185 a year, and he was now divorced. His residence is at the Lyric Hotel.

In 1955 he worked at Bellini's Bayside Pharmacy and his wife Lola is a clerk in the store. They resided in Oakland, California at the time.

He died on January 10, 1972 still in Richmond, Contra Costa County, California.

Sales no longer allowed

Nearly 50 years from the date on this picture, Richmond enacted an ordinance that prohibits the sale of tobacco products in establishments with pharmacies. You have to go to El Cerrito or Albany now for your nicotine fix.

Divinity memories

As a kid growing up in Mississippi in the 1950s, divinity was home made candy. Sugar, eggs whites, corn syrup, vanilla, sugar and pecans combined to make a divine candy. I haven't visited Mississippi in 25 years, but today there is always the hope someone will bring divinity to a church supper. Maybe I should just make some tonight.

Impressed

I am happy that this photo has been well received. I never thought that I'd get to see a color version, or a photo of the photographer! I have a few more pictures from this collection that I will share sometime.

My color version

I've been getting into colorizing photos. If a product name was legible, I looked up references of old packaging on google to try to get the colors as accurate as possible. Some of the hair care products and lotions I had to fudge on it because I couldn't find them, but most of the other stuff is accurate. I had a lot of fun doing it and I think the color really adds to the photo. It was my intention to get it as accurate as possible. Check it out:

https://www.shorpy.com/node/18065

Squibb

They were an official ER Squibb Vitamin Headquarters. Having grown up next to the factory in Brooklyn, I recognize the 3 column logo.

"Fling"?

Somebody is going to have to convince me that it's really for feet.

My High School Addiction --Wint-o-Greens

Ah LifeSavers. Through the early 60s. I went through roll after roll of that addictive goody.

Have a cold?

That Vicks Vapo Rub and Mentholatum were Moms favorites for a chest cold. First was the application to the chest just before going to bed so the vapors could work overnight. If that didn't work, the next step was to put a spoon or two of Vicks or Mentholatum in a large bowl, add hot water, and have me breath the vapors with a towel covering both my head and the bowl. It usually worked to clear out congestion.

There was a particular smell and a particular coolness

that hit you when you entered a drugstore of that era -- I can't describe it except that it was very clean smelling. Regardless of whether the store was a Rexall or a Walgreens or a local independent, the smell was the same -- very pleasant. I always associated it as a cross between the medicines that the druggists were compounding (always in white tunic like in the picture) and the soda fountain that was inevitably part of the store. There was also a coolness to drug stores when I was growing up (1950's). A lot of stores were still not air-conditioned at that time, especially if they were not a chain or franchise, but it seemed to me that drug stores always felt cool. When you sat at the fountain, the marble or the formica or tile of the counter was always cold to the touch. You go into a drugstore today and the smell and that coolness just isn't there.

Not in Kansas anymore

The article below is from page 3 of the Sunday, December 30, 1956 issue of the The Salina Journal. By the time Barbara returned to Hays, Kansas in 1961 for her mother's funeral (her father had died in 1954), she was known as Mrs. Barbara Constantin of San Francisco.

Barbara A. Constantin nee Warner

Wint-O-Green memories

Ah! The counter candy stand of my youth.

Separate comments here each touch on one part of the story, but marketing ad-speak nowadays has dropped the use of "breath-mints" as a catchall.

Yes, all those packs of cigarettes often got sold with strong breath masking mints, candies and gum.

Let me also make a nod toward the LifeSaver Sweet Story Book. At Christmas we each got one and could always identify it although wrapped. Opened last, its contents assisting in thoughtful appraisal of our acquired loot. We called Wint-O-Green "spark-in-the-dark." Chew some with your mouth open and lights out to understand why.

Neighborhood pharmacy!

I lived just a few blocks away from this pharmacy from birth to age 20! My folks undoubtedly knew the McCorkles! Very cool photo!

Old Time products!

Amazing how many of those items are still available and how many are gone. I was 11 years old when that picture was taken. If it didn't say where it was from it could have been from any Drugstore in America at that time. I know there was one across from the school I went to in Chicago at the time that had that same kind of goodie rack and one closer to my house same thing.

Looking for a certain product

I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the cold and flu products near the vapor rubs, to find 4 way cold tablets. My mother swore by them for any signs of a cold coming on. Take the 4 way pill, get under a heavy blanket, and sweat the cold right out of you. And believe it not, they actually worked! Does anyone else remember them?

Tough Town

Ah, Richmond. I grew up just south of there, in Albany. Always a tough place: factories, warehouses, oil refinery. Best part of Richmond for me was that it was where we got on the Ferry to San Rafael on the way to Stinson Beach most Sundays.

We were neighbors!

I lived in Richmond in November 1957 (I was 4 at the time). I wonder if my folks ever shopped here? Shoot, maybe my mom was standing just off to the side when this picture was taken (she was always kinda shy).

Clove Lifesavers and other flavors

I remember very well getting the Lifesavers Sweet Story Book every Christmas back in the 50s. It was a book-shaped box that opened and revealed 10 rolls of Lifesavers. They always included Clove, Wint-O-Green, Butter Rum and Butterscotch, 5-flavor, Orange, and others. Clove and Wint-O-Green were my favorites, and always saved until last.

Divinity candy

What was that? I don't remember them. If you eat it were you guaranteed to go to heaven or were they just sold to Priests?

[Divinity. -tterrace]

Repurposed

Appears the address still exists, but the building is now a Planned Parenthood office.

Clove

I remember clove gum, but not the Life Savers. The thing that strikes me is the great variety of 1950s cigarettes in the back--Camels, Kents, Cavaliers, Pall Malls, Marlboros, L&Ms, and Herbert Tareytons.

"Brusha, Brusha, Brusha

With the new Ipana."

Can't remember

the last time I saw a package of"Clorets"!

Coffee Time!

Am I the last living human who remembers the taste of coffee-flavored candy? It was pretty good, actually.
...and is there ANYBODY who ever ate Clove Life-Savers? They musta sold okay, but yikes!

Gone but not forgotten, until now.

Clove Life Savers I guess that flavor is not popular any longer, but I do remember purchasing them in the past but not really sure why?

For Your Health

Get your Myadec vitamins here! Only $85.50 for the economy size! That amount equates to $723.86 in today's dollars!

Why?

A very odd subject for an official Army photograph. Since Letterman Army Hospital had a complete pharmacy and all military personnel stationed at the Presidio would have had access thereto, I'm left to wonder why this shot was taken.

S&H

And they give out Green Stamps.

Top Gunk

I can't see any in the photo, but I bet they carry Dapper Dan pomade.

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