Lockeford in the good ol' days...

My parents would roll their eyes at what I think were the good ol' days in Lockeford, California. But to my mind it was when I had just gotten my first car (a 1941 Chevrolet) and I could manage to drive to Lockeford on my own.

We lived nearby in Stockton- that's about 14 miles SSW of Lockeford. The Ross & Deveggio residences were in the west side of town and it was a very easy driving through farm land. Close enough that, after Standard Stations, Inc in Cordelia Junction and commuting about 110 mi round-trip every day, I took a job at a then brand-new Chevron Station in Lockeford until I was ready to leave in the fall to start college in Los Angeles. But time has marched on and that brand new Chevron Station is now a privately owned automotive repair shop...

This was once a brand new Chevron Station in the center of Lockeford ca. 1957.

Though he no longer owned it, right next door was a grocery store that was once named Ross Grocery- owned by my maternal grandparents Lewis and Mae Ross. They opened that store in the late 1920's as I recall (I think it was 1928). Lewis made the daily trip down the street from his house to the grocery story to sell food plus a little bit of everything to the residents...

Ross Grocery was on the right side of the old IOOF Hall (Independent Order of Odd Fellows). Yeah, Lewis Ross was a member.

That old Ross Grocery supplied goods and groceries to the town for decades before Lewis Ross retired and sold the business. Well- there was an alternative to Ross Grocery: a resident could drive the 14 miles NNW into Stockton for groceries. 

During the depression Lewis Ross extended credit to residents who had been hard hit by the bad economic times. His daughter Doris Ross Bowman served as executor for his estate after he died in 1968. She found then-current receipts from people still paying $5/month to pay off indebtedness accumulated during those dark times. 

The Great Depression hit the Central Valley of California particularly hard as families from many US states, but especially Kansas and Oklahoma during the dust bowl, migrated there looking for work. Fruit Tramps by Bertha Walling Walsh tells the story from the perspective of her Walling family. Published in 2007...

Fruit Tramps by Bertha (Walling) Walsh, 2007

There was also a meat market in the building. That separate business was located around the corner. At some point both owners agreed to create a clear passageway between the 2 businesses for the convenience of customers. Today it appears the meat market survived and took over both locations. It appears they expanded to selling meat and specialty sausage. And it appears they had a crowd out front when Google Maps drove by and collected the image above.

The grocery was nothing out of the ordinary for the times. Here are a few family photos from (I think!) about 1928...

Ross Grocery, right on Main St in Lockeford.

I may be mistaken but those look like Western boots on the top shelf.
Looks like Ross Grocery was a lot like shopping at WalMart!

And there in the background is the man himself, Lewis Ross,
helping a customer choose a new hat. Possibly the only time
I've seen him without a cigar stub in his mouth!

And yes, there were also groceries!

I've looked at these photos many, many times, but in creating these captions I found things I hadn't noticed before. A worthwhile trip down memory lane!