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Larry Michalak (1960)

Re the Corner Drug Store, I worked there part time for several years while at WHS and it was a wonderful experience.  We wore brown smocks (as opposed to the white smocks of the pharmacists).  At first I delivered prescriptions on my bicycle.  When I got my drivers license I delivered in the store's panel truck, parked in Dead Cat Alley.  We all loved the pharmacists--Jesse Vickey, Howard Gregg, Carl Hanke and others.  Carl Hanke later bought the store, and still later Carl's daughter took over.  There was great camaraderie among the brownsmocks and there were also WHS women students who worked at the cosmetics counter.  Leithold's Drug Store across the street, a couple of doors down from Traynham's record store also had brownsmock workers, including my best friend Bard Martin.  Leithhold's had a soda fountain, although my favorite soda fountain was the Round House.  I gather that with changes in the law, Corner Drug can no longer employ minors, which is a pity, because I think of it as an important part of my education.      

Greg Kareofelas (1962)

Thanks Larry for adding to the Memories of those times long ago :-)

Doyle Phillips (1961)

Was the underground from Corner Drug or the Rexall Drug west side of Corner Drug?  Didn't it go down to the Opera House or there abouts? Didn't the Rexall have the food counter also?  

Rick Gonzales (1964)

Craig

You have a bet. If the 49ers stay healthy, they cannot be stopped. The have all the horses to go all the way. They could tie for the most wins of the Super Bowl with a win in February. Go Niners!

There was another drug store near Corner Drug. It was R & J Family Pharmacy. Jim Wright & Roy Gessler were co-owners. The same thing that happened at Corner Drug happened at R & J. I worked there my Jr. and Sr. years of high school. It was the Latino version of the drug store business. We were hired because we spoke Spanish.  We did prescription deliveries especially to Alderson's Hospital with the brown smocks like at the other drug stores. I remember waiting on customers and sweeping the store before closing. My future wife also worked at R & J but not at the same time. Bill Hiddleson (the only Anglo I knew who could speak better Spanish that the rest of us), Rudy Robles, Annette Ocegueda, Rosie Zaragoza, Rudy Corrales, Erlinda Mendoza, Adele Gonzales, Manuel Areallano, etc. all worked there. We have our own particular family of fellow employees for life. I remember going to the Hong Kong Restaurant for lunch so many times. We had a blast sharing our stories and episodes while working there. Many others followed us there in subsquent years.Actually, that was a highlight of living in Woodland during that time.

Don Murdoch (1962)

Bill Griffith never did work at Corner Drug. Bill and his brother, Bob, were the pharmacists and owners of the 2 Leithholds Drug Stores. One was on Main St. between 1st and 2nd Sts. and the other was at the Southland Park near the old Raleys on College St. 

Greg Kareofelas (1962)

This not from the 1957 Book on Woodland, but this is a 1912 Postcard showing one of the Grand old Buildings that is still standing. On the corner of Third and Main Street, across the street from the Savory Restaurant :-) 

Larry Polete (Polete) (1964)

Craig maybe be thinking of Tom Vickery at the Corner Drug not Bill Griffith.  Don is correct about the Griffith brothers.

Gary Wegener (Wegener) (1966)

A lot of good memories (and job experience) of jobs around town when we were in high school.  Now it seems many of those jobs are filled be adults trying to support a family.   I remember projections in the 70s that the standard work week would soon be 35 hrs long because productivity was increasing so fast.  Instead, for a family, it essentially became an 80 hr work week (if both parents could find a job).  Oh and yes, high schoolers are losing out on the job experience in that school of hard knocks.

Greg Kareofelas (1962)

Back to the 1957 Woodland Book for this pic of LEITHOLD'S Drug Stores. I have only memoories of the one on Main Street. I can remember sitting at the counter and having either a milkshake or a Hot Fudge Sundae that had a sprinkle of Black Walnuts (Not english walnuts) on top

Greg Kareofelas (1962)

Here's a bigger pic of the Fountain at Leitholds Drug store, you can see the milkshake makers agains the back wall!!

Theresa Eve (1964)

Greg:  Thank you so much for the Leithold's Dug Store pictures.  Loved that old fashion Fountain.  We would always park in the back alley and entire through the back door.  Woolworth's also had an ice cream fountain.  We would treat ourselves to the  $.25 sundaes. 

Pam Wohlfrom (Johnson) (1969)

...back in the day....  My sister Judy Wohlfrom (67) worked at Leitholds.. I think it was her Jr yr.   She primarily worked the food counter.  My Jr-Sr yrs I worked at Emils Shoes 👞 👟 👠. I was not fond of having to go down into the basement to look for sizes... dim and musty.  Upstairs tho was always entertaining. Lots of regulars. Dennis Parrish was my counterpart  and Sue Corcoran and Mark Ulrich worked next door in the  competing shoe store. Sue had a car so she would drive us to work after 6th period of high school.  When Judy and I were little, papa Emil Schauderer would "construct" arch inserts for our white leather oxfords.  (Hated having to polish those shoes every Saturday). I enjoyed watching Emil and Ed repair shoes of all types.  True craftsmen. 

Jeff Johnson (1966)

Hi All ....Merry Christmas to everyone on the WHS page...I worked at Leitholds for two years and drove the delivery truck with home deliveries of pharmacy items and l occasionally  filled in behind the counter ..,,I also worked the floor two Christmas Eve nights 1965 and 1966 ....'Lots of friends came in to just chat on those pre Christmas shifts .... loved it there!!!!!!

Ron Blickle (1963)

It seems many people either worked at Leitholds or Corner Drug during High School. I had the good fortune of working for Bill Griffith at Leitholds as a driver and general flunky at the store.  The worst job was cleaning out the grease trap in the soda fountain.  My other jobs involved drafting for Bob Crippen at his architectureal office for all four years in High School.  I thought I wanted to become an architect until I had spent that much time working on a drafting board.  I lasted 1 whole year at Cal Poly studying architecture.  The other more fun job was working for Charlie Goggins at Stan's during the Christmas vacation rush.  At least I was able to find jobs that were inside and not out in the hot summers!

Theresa Eve (1964)

Merry, Merry Christmas to All!!   We cannot have memories of Woodland Christmas without thinking of Epperson's big showcase window with the newest Cadillace model and the  big silver Christmas tree dressed in lights.      

sh 

Greg Kareofelas (1962)

Thanks Theresa for the Christmas Wishes. I remember the tree at Eppersons (odd?, they diud not have a page in the Woodland 1957 book?) My Grandparents bought their Oldsmobiles from Eppersons and Pete Young (who worked in the paint and Body shop) is the person who taught me how to do Paint and body work on my Model A's. Fun times and fun memories!!

Theresa Eve (1964)

Greg:  What a shame that the Epperson's Showroom at Christmas was not captured in a photo.  That was one of my favorit memories after midnight mass and Dad would drive by the Epperson's window with the Christmas lights all on.  

Joel Childers (1966)

Ultimately we're all in God's hands, spiritual beings journeying through this brief human existence.  Nothing to worry about.

Greg Kareofelas (1962)

I loved the comments about having Summer Jobs somewhere in Downtown Woodland - Fun places like Drug Stores, Shoe Stores, etc :-) My Summers, and weekends when in Season were spent at Spreckles Sugar. I think over the span of working there, I got to do every nasty job there was. I remember the motto we had: "If it wasn't Hot, or Sticky, it was BROKEN". I spent many hours, with a Brass Pick, hammering stuck together Sugar in those tall Storage Silos :-(   Happy Holidays Everyone, Stay Healthy and Vertical!

JoAnn Kergel (Wirth) (1965)

In my junior year I worked at the Gift Tree wrapping gifts at Xmas.  My senior year I moved across the street to Foys.  Try wrapping a red wagon!  I still remember what a challenge many of the toys presented. It was a fun two weeks and I earned a bit for presents.  Never worked during the school year being a country girl ten miles out.  My parents wouldn't hear of it.  Jo Ann Kergel Wirth

Joel Childers (1966)

Go to the calm quiet place my child. Close your eyes, go deep, deeper. Peel away the pedals of the lotus flower in the center of your mind. Aha. There you are as clear as light.

I slipped a disc when I was carry a big old 4 gallon coffee brewer while working for the Coast Guard in Alameda. VERY painful. About 6 weeks of physical therapy cured it. The best exercise for a slipped disc or lower back pain is the ananda balasana - the happy baby pose. But see a therapist first.

Greg Kareofelas (1962)

Yep Craig, it was coal and it was at the "Lime Kiln" (One of the nasty jobs I got to do also :-) ) Train cars brought Limestone rocks and something else brought coal. A small loader on tracks took a certain amount of limestone rocks to which we added a certain percentage of coal, it was taken to the top and dropped into the kiln where the fire was continually burning. At the bottom of the kiln "lime came out and CO2 gas was captured". Both Lime and CO2 were used in the processing to make sugar out of beets! Probably the last place in Yolo county where coal was burned :-)

Janet Long (Levers) (1966)

Greg, thanks for the descriptive and detailed outline of the process in one part of sugar production.  Who would've thought you need trainloads of lime and coal for that. My great-aunt worked in the chem lab there, and felt it was really interesting at first, but I think it got repetitive. Another place that hired a lot of us high school kids was the Northup-King see company on Road 102 south of Knights Landing. Dr. Dale Grissom, Mikes' dad, was in charge of the research there and I believe hired temp workers for many years. I worked two summers, '66 &'67. Kathy Northrup and I ran chemical tests on sudan grass the 1st year, and Kathy Duckworth had the job the next year. The Zane bros., Jerry Reimer, Mike G., Larry Plumb, and I know I'm forgetting some others, would eat lunch on the lawn, tell jokes, and play hearts. I believe the starting wage was $1.25/ hr.

Also, jobs at Corner Drug were brought up; I won't mention names, but some of the guys who were delivering the meds had a side line of delivering liquor to their customer friends who were way under 21, especially right before weekends. In those days, Corner Drug had a large area specializing in cigars and pipe tobacco, as well as a hard liquor display area. There was also a camera and film sale area.

Joel Childers (1966)

Thanks for mentioning that Janet. I spent one summer working for Northup-King putting little baggies over the heads of safflower plants. We would go out in the back of a truck to fields around Woodland. And for two days we worked somewhere around Stockton or Lodi. I remember getting in a hassle with the forman/manager (?) because my last paycheck was for $1.25/hr and I had turned 16 that August and at the time the minimum wage for 16 and over was $1.35/hr. He finally paid up when I called the labor department. Afterall $.10 X 40 hrs is $4.00. That was a lot of trips to the movies and the pool. Yes, he "let me go" but it was the end of summer by then anyway.

Don Murdoch (1962)

My class also had 2 fellows work at Corner Drug my junior and senior years. They were good for a pint of whiskey and a certain pharmaceutical occasionally.  I also worked at Northrup-King in the summer of 1961.  We bagged alfalfa flowers but mostly hoed weeds. Ken Leathers and I lasted about 3 weeks. Hard work for $10 a day.