JERRY PERSON -- A look back

There’s an old Huntington Beach Christmas story that goes as follows:

A lady who lived in Huntington Beach bought a 12-pound turkey hen from

Milbrat’s meat market for Christmas dinner in 1929. After Christmas, the

lady returned to Milbrat’s market and told Oscar Milbrat that she

wouldn’t be needing a turkey the following Christmas.

When asked if the turkey was OK, the lady said the turkey was fine,

but she had found an egg inside the bird and now she is trying to hatch

it and raise the turkey for next year’s Christmas dinner.

This week, I thought it would be nice to see what Christmas life in

Huntington Beach was like in 1929. That year, the festive holidays began

Dec. 14, when Santa Claus landed his airplane on our beach in the

afternoon. Santa had to use an airplane because Huntington Beach did not

allow animals on the beach and “Reindeer Beach” hadn’t been thought of

yet.

While flying around our city, Santa checked every chimney in town to

be sure he would fit down it on Christmas Eve. After he landed, a city

firetruck picked Santa up and brought him to Main Street, where hundreds

of youngsters were awaiting his arrival.

Local merchant Ralph Turner was placed in charge of making sure Santa

arrived on time and had gifts of candy for the kids. The two blocks were

decorated with lights, and each store window had its own Christmas

display. More than 600 kids and their parents filled Main Street that

afternoon. Remember, this was the year of the stock market crash and the

start of the Great Depression, which would last more then a decade.

But on this day, cares were cast aside and holiday fun was the order

of the day. Main Street merchants opened their doors to the large crowd,

with businesses such as Turner’s Department and Ward’s Five Cent to One

Dollar stores racking up their biggest sales day of the year.

McCoy Drug, Eader’s Bakery, Canady Jewelry, Mi Lady’s Shoppe and

Marion’s Pastry Shop did equally well that day. But Main Street was not

the only business area to celebrate the Christmas season in 1929.

The merchants on 11th Street at Orange Avenue held their own Christmas

party on Monday, Dec. 23, 1929. Santa was the guest of honor, and he

would give the children, who were good that year of course, candy and

small gifts.

Helping that afternoon were clerks from Steverson’s Drug Store, Howard

& Smith’s Market, Smith’s Barber Shop, the girls at the 11th Street

beauty parlor and Lillie Wisdom, who owned a dry goods store there.

Next week, we’ll look at how the rest of the town celebrated that

early 1929 Christmas season.

* JERRY PERSON is a local historian and longtime Huntington Beach

resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box

7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.