Holman's and Flying A station,
circa 1950 and the Holman's building in 2007.
Historical photo courtesy The
Pat Hathaway Collection
Holman's building and old
gas station building that is now (2007) reused as a fruit market
and Goodies Deli. |
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Established in 1891, Holman’s was the largest department
store on the Peninsula. The concrete building which now stands
was built in 1924, and the fourth floor was added in the 1930s.
It now houses an antique mall.
While the original flagpole had been restored to its place at
the center front of the Holman building in the 1990s, it was
removed and replaced by a telecommunications antenna in the early
2000s. At the time (due to a change in the building's recorded
address), the Pacific Grove Community Development department
was advised by its support committees that the building was not
historical, and hence the flagpole removal was allowed. |
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The manuscript of Pastures of
Heaven was written in a 7½" x 12" commercial
ledger purchased here for 82¢. The first half of the manuscript
of To a God Unknown was written in green ink purchased
here (on sale) for two for 5¢. The ink held out until page
167, and Steinbeck wrote the remainder of the work in 10¢
blue ink. Steinbeck found a discarded papier maché turkey
behind the store, repaired it and used it as a festive disguise
for a pile of hamburgers.
The flagpole skater of Cannery
Row (Chapters XVII and XIX) was a real daredevil named
"The Mysterious Mr. X," who set out to break his own
record by staying aloft 120 feet above the street for more than
50 hours. |
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"Probably nothing in the way
of promotion Holman's Department Store ever did attracted so
much favorable comment as the engagement of the flag-pole skater.
Day after day, there he was up on his little round platform skating
around and around and at night he could be seen up there too,
dark against the sky so that everybody knew he didn't come down."
(Cannery Row, Chapter XIX).
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Both Mrs. Malloy (Cannery Row,
Chapter VIII) and Suzy (Sweet Thursday, Chapter
29) found the curtains at Holman’s irresistible. Ritchie
Lovejoy, who illustrated Ricketts’ Between Pacific
Tides, worked here as a copy writer. He resigned in 1940
to pursue his own writing career when Steinbeck gave him the
$1,000 Pulitzer Prize check for The Grapes of Wrath. |
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Continue up Grand Avenue to Lighthouse Avenue, and make a
left. While Holman’s is on your left, to the right is. .
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THE SCOTCH
BAKERY |
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