Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

In 1930 you could buy four car tires for about $7.

Gasoline was 26 cents a gallon and Davis Square was a very successful retail destination.

I saw the picture of a newspaper circular advertising merchandise from stores in Davis Square in 1930. This is an account of some of those ads. Davis square boasted New England’s “fastest growing retail center.”

Davis Square Days was advertised as “an event planned for months by every merchant in Davis Square …. the biggest sales event in the history of Somerville.” The dates were May 23 and 24, 1930.

Parke Snow advertised corsets for $1.49. Jack Horn’s men shop sold Arrow and Imperial shirts also at $1.49.

White Furniture Co. offered a 5-piece unfinished breakfast kitchen set for just $11.75. The Sirloin Store had steak for 39 cents a pound. Joyce Brothers store featured women’s full fashion hose for 99 cents. At the Somerset Shop you’d find Gordon’s super rayon bloomers for 59 cents. Summerfields sold a 24-price silver set for $1.98. Wow, what a deal!

At Enterprise, Somerville’s most complete department store, you could purchase Pequot sheets for $1.19.

Bergman’s radio offered a Victor R22 for $155. At The Excel Shoe Store, women’s novelty shoes cost $2.95 while Quintons market had bantam corn at two for 23 cents.

If you needed women’s flat crepe slips for 57 cents, and Gorin’s sold sheets for 88 cents.

Corsets sold for $1.49 at Parke Snow and Betty Bright mops for 53 cents.

The Kiddie Shoppe sold sweaters for 88 cents. Summerfied’s had sturdy porch rockers at $2.68. Bokar coffee was featured at A&P. Joyce Brothers and company featured men’s Shantano Broadcloth shirts for $1.85. After shopping, you could grab lunch at The Superior Cafeteria on Elm St.

Somerville Trust Company and Highland Trust were financial institutions in Davis Square back then.

Parke Snow, Gorin’s and A &P are the stores still operating in the 60’s and 70’s. I still remember the smell of fresh ground coffee when you went to the A&P, and of course the concrete floors. I don’t remember too much about Parke Snow and Gorin’s except one of them had a shoe repair service downstairs.

And there you have it, the biggest sales event in Somerville’s history back when my dad was just 10 years old.