This picture and the accompanying history brought back a lot of great memories for me! Do people still by pickles from huge glass jars (“No, not that one… THAT one!”) while the patient store owner fishes for them with a giant fork? I remember Ben’s as a family business, with a tiny deli counter in back, an open “freezer” full of ice for bottled sodas, and a separate one for popsicles and such. It was kind of store and the kind of neighborhood where small kids would be sent with a scribbled note and a dollar bill from a harried parent — and come back with the bread or butter or whatever was needed for a meal — when there was no time to do the “real” shopping at Safeway. Ben’s was the first place I was allowed to go to on my own — when I was considered old enough to cross the alley — but not the street — so I have few specific memories of what we called “the store across the street”, because I only went there when ALL of the other stores on “our side” of the street were closed, or didn’t have what I’d been sent to purchase.
LOL! Seeing this picture has clearly sparked a LOT of fond childhood memories for me! Thanks PoP and Paul!!!!!

For more photos of District Grocery Stores, search the Prints & Photographs catalog. Sadly, I didn’t see any more of the Morris Miller store, but the warehouse operations and other stores (including interiors) are interesting: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=%22District+Grocery%22&st=gallery

Barry’s “dirty Asian stores” have succeeded because extended families are willing to work 10-12 hour days and live frugally while working toward the future.