Across the River
WINDOW SHOPPING: If you mention those two words together today, young people think you are looking for new windows for your home, like storm windows, double insulated windows or replacing one that was crashed through by a baseball. But to those of us who have a few more years in our memory file, window shopping was a wonderful experience. Dress shops, men’s stores and even the haberdashery had fully clothed and stylish mannequins in the window to show off their designer clothing, accessories and shoes. The displays in the window were a great way of enticing shoppers to go inside and take a closer look. I’m sure Weill’s in Gramercy had a window to show off their styles, as I think B. W. Store in Vacherie once had. These were smaller versions of the windows of the major stores of the time. People dressed up in their Sunday best to go window shopping on Canal Street in New Orleans. A nice dress, gloves, a hat and stilettos for the women and men in their suits walked the street of the state’s largest city to visit windows at Godchaux’s, Maison Blanche, Krauss, Werlein’s, Kreeger’s, D. H. Holmes, which all had extravagant windows, especially at Christmas. Other who may have preferred to look from a distance rumbled along in rocking street cars up and down Canal Street. Lunch was available on every block. There aren’t many local establishments with decorated window around, except for the local florists. When was the last time you went window shopping?
