Historic Hood River
“Live Electrically and Enjoy the Difference!”
2-2-2024
Notes
Ah, good old “Reddy Kilowatt” telling us how wonderful our lives will be if we buy new electric appliances! This Alva Day image from 1948 shows a display window hawking new General Electric refrigerators as a money saving device. Apparently the refrigerators were available at Franz Furniture.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Reddy wearing a skirt before. Those ice cream sundaes remind me what a luxury it is to have ice cream available year round in the kitchen.
Category: Downtown Hood River
Tags: 1940s, Alva Day, electricity, Franz Hardware, Reddy Kilowatt, refrigerator
Tags: 1940s, Alva Day, electricity, Franz Hardware, Reddy Kilowatt, refrigerator
Arlen L sheldrake
For sure our lives have been “more wonderful” with electricity and how reliant we are for it to be there not to mention Internet and water……..a week without all like we just had in the west hills of Portland humbles one just a bit. And yes Franz Hardware was an absolute classic as were George and Gil, they and Pete had it all.
nails
1948 was part of the pent up energy of post war, with retired soldiers developing businesses and going for high education. As a small child in my parents’ hardware store, I watched as people came in to stare at the new fangled washer and dryer go round and round. And my mother demoed a ‘mangle iron’ which was a turning heated roller that you sat in front of, feeding clothing into it. She could even iron man’s shirt, which took me 15 minutes to iron by hand. This was pre synthetic so everything was cotton.
It was probably the height of American expansion and pent up energy. Electricity, autos, building dams, new antibiotics, and economic expansion.