Crescent City (Del Norte County)-Grocery Stores-1960

[Jason B.]

The Del Norte Triplicate newspaper microfilm from 1960 sheds light on the state of the grocery business at California's northwest corner. In December 1960, the big news was that a "marina"-style Safeway store was preparing to open in Crescent City on 3rd street between K and L. I believe that Safeway was "new" to the area at that time; I have no idea if the store was affected by the 1964 tsunami that damaged part of the city.

The 11/17/60 issue reports that the big red “S” went up on Safeway's new store [as of 2005, the circle "S" mosaic signs were still hanging outside the two Safeway stores on Harris street in Eureka]. Fixtures were being installed inside. Completion was scheduled for completion in January 1961. The 11/24/60 edition reported that Ukiah Safeway manager Les Friesen was moving to Crescent city to manage the new store. He had been manager of the Ukiah Safeway since it opened on 4/17/57 (fans of this website may know the Ukiah store for its distinctive 1950s (?) sign that apparently was restored in recent years). Mr. Friesen had been with Safeway since 1937. He became manager of his first store in Portland, OR on 12/8/41, the Triplicate reported.

For a small county, Del Norte/Crescent City seemed to have many grocery stores in 1960 before the Safeway opened. The December 1960 Triplicate papers ran ads for:
(1) Bay City Super Market – 2nd & G - “PLENTY OF FREE PARKING” -“Country Store Friendliness in a Super Market”,
(2) Pacific Market – Pacific Ave – 13th anniversary sale,
(3) Big “R” Mkt,
(4) Piggly Wiggly and
(5) Ray’s Super Market (this possibly was a store in the Ray's chain which is today concentrated in Oregon).

[TheStranger]

The Safeway marina building is still there, but now a Grocery Outlet:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 2,,0,15.16

Current Safeway building is 2 blocks away at 5th and M.