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My father in his store, the De Luxe Groceteria, at 494 14th St. in San Francisco, sometime during WWII circa 1947. This was a neighborhood grocery, but similar in size to the Skaggs Safeway stores he worked in and later managed in San Francisco during the 1920s-1930s. Here's a photo just after he opened in 1934. View full size.
There's a PET milk add poster in the back of the store featuring the Fultz quadruplets, born in 1946, so this photo had to be later than WWII.
[You're right; I'd since discovered that PET Milk ad myself but never got around to correcting this caption. We think it's 1947. -tterrace]
I commiserate with your late dad over the loss of not only space but light in his store. Couldn't have been easy. Thank you for the frankness and information, tterrace siblings.
Yes, it is the same store. There were three businesses in the building. One of them needed more room, and the landlord decided it would come out of our father's store. I remember Father being very angry about it. The new wall is where the columns were in the other photo. At the same time, Father had them cover or take out the windows high in the wall, because there had been some break ins. (In case you're wondering, not with a ladder but down from the roof.)
I do not understand how this store can be the same De Luxe Groceteria as in the 1934 photo, posted on 07/30/2008. The store in the earlier photo has two rows of lights, and the counter is in an entirely different place. Plus clerestory windows, noticeably absent in the WWII shot. Please illuminate, tterrace.
[There was a landlord-imposed reconfiguration sometime between the two dates, I believe to provide more room for one of the other businesses in the building. - tterrace]
You're right, I did type Guerrero instead of 14th; I fixed it.
(Long time avid reader, first time commenter...)
The address you give above is 494 Guerrero St, but the Google Street View link points to 494 14th St. (494 Guerrero is near 17th St.)
The neighborhood groceries that used to be such an SF fixture are a dying breed, with notable exceptions like Bi-Rite.
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