Browse archives: 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995

Published on 09/15/1999 All articles from this issue

Wearing stripes with plaids and other thrifty '30s habits from the '30s

printer friendly version

Ruth Erichsen was interviewed at her home on Del Monte Avenue in Los Altos. She was a firsthand witness to qualities of thrift, charity and industry demonstrated by Los Altos residents during the Depression era of the l930s.

I started Los Altos Grammar School in the third grade in 1930. Mary Wible was the principal. I really liked her. She was a calm person.

The next principal was Howard Pease. He was an author of young boys' adventure books. He traveled a good deal, working on ships to get story ideas. He lived on Paso Robles Avenue, which was very close to where I lived on Del Monte. That put me a little bit above anybody else, living so close to the principal. He was a great fellow.

It was the time of the Great Depression, and everyone was thrifty. They didn't go flashing money around. It was evident that some families were struggling, but I don't recall very many children in school that I would really call poor. Our clothes didn't always match, you know. You might have a plaid skirt and a different-colored striped shirt, but you didn't whine, "Well, Mom, I can't wear this, it doesn't look good." You just wore it, and didn't think a thing of it.

We did have men we called "tramps." They came mostly from Oklahoma - the Dust Bowl. It was said that they marked our house because it was a good place to go for a meal. My brother and I looked for the mark, but we never found one.

Mother would have an hour of work for them, and then a good hot meal, served with a tablecloth and napkins. She would serve stew and vegetables and things like that; and a piece of cake or a slice of lemon pie. I think lots of other people did that during the Depression, and even after.

Mother was active in the San Antonio Club, the sewing club. They had sewing machines. I don't know how many, but enough. These garments were given to the Needlework Guild in San Jose, who would give them to local orphanages and needy people. The women in that sewing club were very faithful women. They met every Thursday until school was out. All the mothers would be home when the kids came home from school at 3:20 p.m.

In those days, ladies in town called on each other in the afternoon. It was just known that "Mrs. So-and-so" would be home on Tuesdays, and she would make a point to be there. Somebody else, it would be known that Friday was her day. Those were the days when not everyone here had telephones. You would visit in person. Those days are gone, and people hardly know their neighbors anymore.

- Adapted by Donna Shoemaker for History House of Los Altos.