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Thursday, July 10, 2008

1950's Woolworth's Menu

Forget McDonalds, Burger King, and all of the other "fast food" joints. Lunch at the counter in any Woolworth was a treat.

If any of you have doubt about what we kids paid for a coke and a sandwich at Woolworth's in the 1950's, here's proof of the era we lived........and it was a GREAT ERA to grow up in !!!!

farm boy


Farm Boy,

Man, do I remember those days. Woolworths was one of my favorite places to go when I was a kid in NYC! Remember the fountain sodas? The Root Beer Floats! Thanks for bringing me back down memory lane!

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

THOSE WERE THE DAYS. THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES!

Anonymous said...

though it was in the 60s ans 70s i have fond memories of going to the "city" and having lunch at woolworths. thank you for brighting my day

Chimera said...

I remember shopping at the Woolworth downtown with my late grandmother as a kid in the late 70's-early 80's.The lunch counter was mothballed by then I think.I DO recall all the McCrorys stores had lunch counters!

Tim Chaney said...

I remember going with my Mom to the plaza when I was about 11 years old. Mom would drop off her prescriptions at Read's Drug Store. Early 70's.

Then we would go to Woolworth, Mom would look around, I'd check out the newest model cars and pets.

Then a grilled cheese sandwich and french fries from Woolworth lunch counter.

Unknown said...

As a kid I grew up in the lower Camden area and during grass cutting season us kids were regulars at the Woolworth's & the soda fountains adjacent to the old green metal drawbridge! Boy Salisbury could've been a great place even now!

Anonymous said...

man, my wife remembers woolworth as a bb, but i dont, i remeber McCRORIES, GOD IM GETTINOLD

Anonymous said...

Nothing better than a grilled cheese and a coke at the McCrory's in the old mall either. Or sipping an Orange Julius by one of the Fountains. Kids today don't have a clue!

Anonymous said...

WOW, where did you find that menu~ I remember it all well. We would eat lunch there sometimes as I worked downtown. Spice

Anonymous said...

MY LIFE WAS NORMAL BACK THEN, THEN I MESSED MYSELF UP A BIT, THEN I MARRIED MY WIFE AND GOT A FAMIIY AND ITS ALL BEEN GREAT SINCE... IM A LUCK GUY...

Anonymous said...

My grandma used to take me to McCrory's to shop and eat lunch when I was little...man that was fun!! Those places had great food, prices and service!

countrygirl@heart

Anonymous said...

I remember going to the Woolworth's in the old Mall and downtown. You got the best cheeseburgers and fries. And it was cheap. Plus you got to pop a balloon to see if you got a free ice cream, free soda or discount. It was great! This was back in the 70's though. I don't go back as far as the 50's.

Anonymous said...

I'll have a small cherry coke with ammonia, please.(yes, I said ammonia) Now that's from the '50's.

Living in a van down by the river said...

Wow!!!!!
What a nice addition!
It seems a long,long time ago.I wonder if the adults worried about how screwed up the world was then too?
Us kids were happy popping a balloon to get a free sundae.

Anonymous said...

Oh man - thanks a lot. I remember getting my first root beer float at Woolworth's in 1960 when I was 5 or 6.

Mom used to take us there as a treat for lunch too! No kiddy menus back then.

Anonymous said...

Wow! The thing I remember at our Woolworths in Akron, Oh was the destintive smell of that lunch counter....or was it the pet room right next to it...I dunno'

Anonymous said...

Wow real cheap. Forgot to mention that your dad was making $1.50/hour.

Anonymous said...

Oh MAN does that take me back to the late 50's when I was a kid.
I used to wait ALL WEEK for Mom
to take me down to Woolworths for
a grilled cheese with bacon and tomato and a Root Bear float for
lunch on Saturday.. EVERY bite was HEAVEN. I think it cost $.90 with tip.. Not that Mom couldn't make one but sitting up there on the swivel stools was Soooo Cooool....

Anonymous said...

I must of spent half of my childhood sitting at "Woolys" counter eating black-n-white sundaes and twirling on the stools.

What a fantastic surprise, then, last month when I started a new job in Quakertown PA and walked into Sines Hardware Store. The sights, the sounds the smells...a real functioning hardware store exactly as it was in the 50s. I immediately sat down and had a chocolate malt with locally made hard ice-cream. (And. yes, at 60 years old, I joined the neighborhood kids for a twirl on the stools)

Unknown said...

I recalled the Woolworth,s store in my hometown in the late 50, but was not allowed to served me. "Whites only"!

Anonymous said...

Oh man...those were the days. Cigarettes were $.25 a pack! My mom told me that prices that low surely wouldn't last forever and that all of us kids should take advantage of our good fortune...I liked PallMalls...my cousin was into Lucky Strikes.

Mom showed us both how to inhale...to really get the full tobacco flavor Whenever I see what people are paying for cigs today, I always think of dear ole mom, and her sage advice!

Anonymous said...

Fries and a cherry coke . Great lunch all through high school.

jus' sayin' said...

Wow! The 60s and 70s. What a wonderful time to grow up in the United States. I never ate at the Woolworth's counter. It was segregated. My fund memories are of Mr. Cunningham's drugstore in the colored neighborhood. Mr. Cunningham was the only pharmacist in the community and all the colored people, ate there. People born in the 50s have seen so much in our lifetimes, some things I am quite sure we thought we would never see, and somethings, we never wanted to see.

Anonymous said...

I used to go to Woolworth's twice a week for their liver dinner. My family had gotten the recipe for their famous Ice Box cheesecake- still the best i have ever tasted anywhere, and no baking!

at Xmas Woolworth's was pure magic- still have a beautiful set of wood hand painted tree ornamnents from there. so sad that they went under- really loved that place like a parent.

Gregory Williams said...

jus' sayin' said...

Wow! The 60s and 70s. What a wonderful time to grow up in the United States. I never ate at the Woolworth's counter. It was segregated. My fund memories are of Mr. Cunningham's drugstore in the colored neighborhood. Mr. Cunningham was the only pharmacist in the community and all the colored people, ate there. People born in the 50s have seen so much in our lifetimes, some things I am quite sure we thought we would never see, and somethings, we never wanted to see.

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I recalled the Woolworth,s store in my hometown in the late 50, but was not allowed to served me. "Whites only"!
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Ahhh memories!

Anonymous said...

Seattle, WA 1960: I worked at F.W. Woolworth downtown for $.90 an hour on a split shift, so no benefits and was happy to get the job. Lunched at the counter (no employee discount) and had a 4 hour break between shifts. Sometimes we were traitors, and went across the street to "Kress's" and ate lunch at their counter (Woolworth's was better. I lived 45 miles away so couldn't go home. On Christmas Eve we employees could shop, after work, and get a 15% discount on things for our loved ones. Not bad memories, we knew how to work. Folks today should have it so good.

AB5SY said...

awwwww 1955, lunch at woolsworth consisted of an open face roast beef sandwich, lots of brown grave poured over a mountan of roast beef and mashed taters and a fountian coke, all for under a $. What happen, where did we make a wrong turn?

Roadlesstraveled said...

My dad was a Woolworth manager so I grew up with the lunch counter food. My favorite was the apple turnovers and vanilla sauce. Working there was my first job. They had everything you could ever want. Customers could play records before they bought them, the store roasted its own nuts. The candy counter had vanilla chocolate creams, licorice, orange slices. The favorite cosmetic was Tangee lipstick that changed colors on each individual. We used to make and sell ice cream sandwiches out on the sidewalk in front of the store...no health inspection or restrictions but lots of customers. I didn't know at the time that working for F.W.W. wasn't as "good" as working at the fancy department stores. We had a great time!

Betty from Eugene

Anonymous said...

When I was a teenager I worked for Woolworths on Summit Ave. in Union City. We had a small fountain service and you could buy candy by the pound. At halloween they sold wax teeth, lips & whistles. What fun to chew them after we got tired of them. There was also costumes in individual boxes with cellophane see through tops, paper mache pumpkins and all kind of good things for the holiday. It brings back such good memories.

Anonymous said...

I wasn't allowed in our local Woolsworth. I lived in Jackson as a girl, and gosh darn I'd seen the white kids on hot summer days in there and be beat red with jealously.

Martha said...

I ate at the lunch counter many times during my year attending business school at Jefferson School of Commerce, and the following two years when I worked there. I always looked for the special days when you could pick a ballon and they popped it and whatever price was inside you paid for a banana split. Best price was 38 cents.

Unknown said...

In the late 40's my mom would take me downtown to window shop and also go to Woolworths. I would just stay in the toy aisle. Then came the mid 50's when I was in Junior high and two days a week would have lunch there. One day a BLT, coke and hot fudge sundae plus tip for under a dollar. the other day a tuna on toast coke & hot fudge sundae & tip still under a dollar. They had the best Christmas decor.

Unknown said...

Darn, forgot to say where I was from in my previous comment from the 40's and 50's. I was from Englewood, NJ.