Wow, another great memory. Reading the list of stores, I had forgotten quite a few of them. Basically ALL of my clothes came from either Montgomery Wards or JC Penney. My first credit card was given to me at that JC Penney. My father worked at Roos Atkins for a time. We didn't go to Woolworth's too often, but occasionally. I recently came home to visit and my friend and I went to PF Chang's for dinner. It is so funny to think I was at the old CMC shopping center :).
1960's....among other things, I always had to check-out the hamsters, turtles, parakeets, aquarium fish & etc. in Woolworth's. (Soooo glad they don't sell live critters in "dime"stores anymore.) My clearest memories are probably of Littleman's - shopping with my mom every week for groceries. The parking lot carnival -- a peak experience for me was being the one who terrified my friends in the rock-o-plane (?) -- a ferris-wheel-like thing but with cages around the seats so you could go upside down -- I was into the upside-down part. A few years later I went on one ride, and threw up -- that was the end of my bomb-proof equilibrium.
1974-76, I lived at CMC on a skateboard or bicycle . I remember there was a record store where we would buy 45's. I also recall that there was never anybody in the Wards store, including employees! I think we rode a bike through there once. WHat was the name of the little grill that was kind of tucked behind it?
Louis George....... got my first Rightous Brother's/ Bobby Freeman threads there. collarless sweater and coat, imported soft loafers. cool threads.... early 60's.
More Swiss Watchmaker lore.--Before he had his shop at CMC, he was working out of his house at the corner of Pixley and Tamalpais Dr., now the site of the Corte Madera fire station. Early 20th century, two story, wood structure. Set back from the road and surrounded by large trees. Also I recall that where the post office is now, next to the fire station, on Pixley, was a small print shop. I think it was called Cunningham Litho.
"Got any Swiss Cheese" That's a good one. The Swiss watchmaker would actually stop work to go out of his shop and chase kids on bikes and yell at them. What a crank. There was also a Lady Baltimore Bakery, on the corner of the breezeway, looking East. It was normally staffed by two sweet, old Swedish grandma types, both with thick Scandinavian accents. The big joke for us, played over and over again, was to stick your head in the door and ask if they had any "yelly donuts".
I remember The Swiss Watchmaker, Butlers Magnavox, a barber shop, all located either in, or close to a 'breezeway' that ran east to west just a bit south of Woolworths. It was considered high comedy among some of the kids in my neighborhood to phone the Swiss Watchmaker & ask him if he had any Mickey Mouse watches, or Swiss cheese, he was known to try to chase down kids who rode bikes in the center (against the rules) & the phone pranks were a payback I guess.
Herbert's Sherbert Crocker Citizens Bank Littlemans\Cala Foods Zims W.T. Grant Thrifty Kramer Shoes A men's clothing store - Roos Atkins? Harmony Music A TV store... Louis George Lady Baltimore Bakery Woolworths Toy World GallenKamps J.C. Penny's Montgomery Wards
I used to ride my bike down to the CMC several times a week when I wasn't in school. In addition to the stores listed above, I remember...
Hobby Tree Skip Sports Radio Shack Warehouse records Hallmark Store (not a 100% sure on this one, I know ithere was a stationary and card store)
I remember the carnivals they used to have in the parking lot one a year. One of my big accomplishments as a kid was being brave enough (not to mention all enough) to ride the Zipper.
CMC was notable for having one of the first Self-Service Postal Units (SSPUs) in the country. It was in the parking lot on the freeway side, midway down. It had vending machines, a scale for weighing parcels and a direct phone line to the Corte Madera PO for customers who were confused or needed to report a malfunction. The phone had a distinctive ring up at the PO, and someone (or several of us) would merrily cry out, "HOT LINE!!!" when it went off and scurry to answer. Calls on the regular line we could answer in a more leisurely fashion if we felt like it or didn't get yelled at. For mailing packages, there were vending selections for high-denimination stamps: 25-centers, if you can believe that. Of course, I'm talking late-60s to 1970s, here.
Maybe he's done a good job managing the Town Center, but I, personally, am not at ALL happy about the debacle of Barnes and Noble mega-store vs. local and beloved Book Passage going into the center. That whole deal stunk to high heaven. First, kicking out Marshalls, whom everyone loved, and was the only affordable clothing store in the area, then, the, uh....mis-representations of how the deal went down with Book Passage.
I'm not happy at all, and I know a lot of locals who are not happy either.
I'm not happy that the only stores that I can afford to shop at regularly at that center now are Rite Aide, Safeway, McDonalds, Baja Fresh and the other Mexican place, and Payless Shoe Source. I don't count See's, I've gotta stay away from them.....
For clothes shopping.....forget it! I used to look for special baby presents at those cute, overpriced kid's stores, but the prices have gotten so out of hand I don't even do that now.
The majority of my shopping is now done in Northgate or up in Novato.
About the rec center being built, I'm sure a lot of that tax revenue will have to pay off the Park Madera center the town just bought. Also, seems they want to add more fields, I'm sure that will help produce revenue for the rec center, along with all the large events they will be able to host in the new gi-normous rec center they are envisioning.
Yet, they cannot make the skatepark larger for our local kids. Apparently a larger skatepark doesn't fit in with the "image" of the park.
We used to play down at the old Corte Madera Center in the mid 60's when I lived in Larkspur. Later when it became the Town Center developed by Reiniga Corp. and Solus Corte Madera they went belly up during the big S&L failure. Thats when the taxpayers bailed all those corporations out by creating the Resolution Trust Corp. a taxpayer bailout for private corporations. I think it was very kind of US to help out all the rich croooks that caused the problem. Then Farallon Real Estate services took over management of the center and did a fine job of turning around a troubled property. The old CMC was built on the garbage dump and was not engineered at all so there was a constant flooding problem . What they had to do was bring in more fill and build a storm drain system with catch basins , a well and a pump station located next to the Chevron station. Those 3 , 75 horsepower pumps can move a whole lot of water across the street to the drainage that runs under the freeway and the Town of Corte Madera pumps out to the bay. The Town Center and the Village Shopping Center pump a lot of money into Corte Madera's coffers , Corte Madera never cries poor. That's why the can afford to build a new rec center. And Stan , you've done a great job managing the Town Center.
I remember Butlers Magnavox which sold records too, during Beatlemania we would hop on our stingray bikes & race down to Butlers to buy the latest Beatle 45, somewhere I still have my copy of Twist And Shout which was the first record I bought with my own money. One cool thing I remember about the old CMC was that one year, probably about 1960 or so, they had a 'pingpong ball drop, it was a contest of sorts, a helicopter with one of those big clear bubble cockpits on front hovered over the east parking lot where a big crowd of people had gathered, suddenly a large amount of pingpong balls dropped from the hovering copter & fell towards the crowd, mixed in amongst the white balls were several colored (red I think) pingpong balls that were worth either money or prizes, I remember diving for a ball and having an adult push me aside & snatch the ball from my fingertips, scraping the skin on a finger, leaving me bloodied & without a ball.
Boy, I could go on for hours about that place, but for now, I'll limit myself to just one story. Montgomery Wards had freight docks on the NW corner of the building. Also in that area were their dumpsters. Unlocked, right out in the open, where you get at them. They used to throw away GOOD JUNK! I mean really GOOD JUNK. I scored a gas power mower that maybe had some surface scratches. Just pulled it out, and pushed it home. That engine became the power-plant for an early go-cart! Toys after Christmas. Plants from the nursery dept. You name it, and eventually, it'd show up in the dumpster. What a treasure trove! This was also a favorite source for big cardboard boxes. Always handy for 12 year olds.
The CARNIVAL at the original Town Center! Now those would be some cool pictures to see again! I have a FAINT memory of that carnival and, for some reason, I remember it being during 4th of July. Wasn't there a big fireworks display in that direction back in those days. I remember standing atop Ash avenue and seeing fireworks over the water looking out towards the original Town Center.
I can't say '65 but say '67 or '69 there was Smith's for men...and boys because I was about 10-12 and that's where my mom took me. It was on the back side and I believe the only thing besides Ward's. But I was talking recently to the son and now owner of Louis George (now Louis Thomas) and still there and he said there was something else back there...maybe a hobby shop, I forgot.
That guy is very friendly so if you really want to know drop in and ask. He also said at one time his store was two storys which I don't remember at all.
When I cleaned out mom's house I found a Smith's charge card so it was a chain store fyi.
Before it became the very hip Town Center, it was the very blue collar Corte Madera Center. Maybe someone can complete this list, but the stores I remember around 1965, starting from the south end: Herbert's Sherbert Crocker Citizens Bank Littlemans\Cala Foods Zims W.T. Grant Thrifty Kramer Shoes A men's clothing store - Roos Atkins? Harmony Music A TV store... Louis George Lady Baltimore Bakery Woolworths Toy World GallenKamps J.C. Penny's Montgomery Wards
The large empty dirt lot on the west side made the center look unfinished...
Also, there was a semi-annual carnival that used to set up shop in the back parking lot - not Disneyland, but not bad.
