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Published on 02/15/1999 All articles from this issue

Voices of the Past

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A new pharmacy opens in townSam Kahn, known as "Sammy" to his friends in Los Altos, began his career with 10 years as a pharmacist at the plush HLN Chemists in San Francisco. In 1939, HLN closed its doors. Sammy's wife, Annette, told him he was too good to work for someone else. So, they looked for a new place to began a business of their own. They moved to Los Altos, where they opened Kahn's Corner Pharmacy, which is still open for business on Main Street.

He told the following account about getting started in Los Altos, during a 1992 interview with Margaret Thompson and Pinkie Whelan at his home on Marvin Avenue in Los Altos.

Annette and I met in San Francisco. My mother and stepfather came to San Francisco from Russia. Annette was originally from Oregon. She studied nursing at the French Hospital in San Francisco. I wanted to become a doctor, but my family didn't have a lot of money. I figured I'd study pharmacy, and then jump over and study medicine. I got to like the pharmacy business, so I eventually forget about that.

We came all the way down here on the train. It was pretty, the hillsides were filled with blossoms. The train stopped where our first drug store would be, on First and Main streets. The store, G&S Pharmacy, had closed when the former pharmacist (Larry Nelson) left and opened his own store. The building was owned by Gregory and Jack Shoup. We leased it and called the store Kahn's Corner Pharmacy.

We were open every day from seven in the morning. Commuters would buy a newspaper from a big stack outside, and then get on the train to San Francisco. In the beginning, every time I saw that train go to San Francisco, I wanted to be on it. I was broken hearted about leaving San Francisco.

People would say, "Gee, Sammy, aren't you lucky. You came here and started this wonderful business." But, oh, what a struggle it was.

The winters seemed terrible. On stormy mornings the wind would whip the newspapers around. I'd be trying to move that stack of papers from here to there, and people would complain, "The papers are getting wet." Well, I tell you, it was a very picky community. At the start, people acted like they wondered if they could even trust me selling a little box of aspirin. You see, there was another drug store in town, Larry Nelson's (Los Altos Pharmacy). He was well-established, and people already knew him. I had a lot of plugging to do.

It was just so hard coming from a real swanky place in San Francisco. I'd earned one the best salaries you could get there. Here, I was moving stacks of newspapers, when before Annette and I would be dining at the St. Francis or at the Mark Hopkins. Oh, in San Francisco we had big times. Oh, but eventually we grew to love it here in Los Altos.

- Courtesy of Donna Shoemaker and the Oral History Program of History House of Los Altos.