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Published on 03/31/1999 All articles from this issue

Voice of the Past

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Silent movies at the G&S kept these local boys busy

Harry Dutton Junior's grandfather, Isaac, was a California Gold Rush '49er. Harry's father, Harry Senior, rode a one-wheel bicycle from Southern California to register to attend Stanford University. He graduated from Stanford in 1900.

Harry "Junior" Dutton arrived in California in 1918 when he was 4 years old. He brought with him a unique spirit of adventure and love of the outdoors. "Junior" first lived on Marvin Avenue in Los Altos and then Orange Avenue. When with his two lifelong friends, Alan Cranston and Ralph Raymond, young Junior Dutton left few stones in Los Altos unturned. Harry Dutton Jr. was interviewed in 1998 at his home in Portola Valley.

There was a motion picture theater in town called the G&S Theater. G&S stood for the owners, Gregory and Shoup. All the films were silent, so Mrs. Gregory played the piano while the picture ran. They only ran films on weekends. It was 15 cents for regular seats and 35 cents for loge seats. The loge seats weren't much of an improvement over the regular seats.

Across the street from the Gregory & Shoup Building was the Los Altos Bank. The president was Mr. Clemens, and the cashier was Mr. Garrett. Next to that was Gordon's Grocery. Mr. Kirby owned the meat market and hamburger was 33 cents a pound. A loaf of bread was a nickel.

Most of the local fruit wasn't sold here. It was picked up by the canneries next to the railroad tracks in Mountain View and in Cupertino. As far as your eyes could see, flatbed train cars were filled with prunes and apricots, dried apricots, and pears.

There were also orchards of almonds and walnuts. "all-munds" is the way you pronounced it if you lived in Los Altos. If you lived in Mountain View it was pronounced "am-munds." The kids used to chant, "I know where you're from, you're from Mountain View because you say 'Am-munds!'"

The hardware store owned by Roy Eschenbruecher had everything people needed. As far as I was concerned, all I needed was my fishing pole, my BB gun, my slingshot and a rifle. Most of the boys had them, but they didn't have trouble like they have today.

There was a large Japanese population in this area. The Japanese laundry building in town was recessed off the street, and there were two or three oak trees in front. I loved to go with my friends Alan Cranston and Ralph Raymond to an annual summer event under those trees. It was held on Sundays in July, or maybe it was August. The men would compete while the women cooked delicious food for everyone and the kids played. That was wonderful, just wonderful!

- Adapted by Donna Shoemaker, courtesy of the Oral History Program, History House of Los Altos.