From the Outside In--Window Shopping in the 60's

I just got done on the computer with helping my daughter choose an article of clothing she wants.  We researched it carefully and ordered it, all from the comfort of our own home.  Presto!  We paid with it with plastic, and it will arrive at our doorstep in a week or two.  We can't deny the convenience of online window shopping, but it sure takes away from the great fun of the real window shopping we enjoyed in earlier times.

We lived in a fairly large town in western Washington.  Christmas time was the best time to go window shopping, but we went whenever the mood struck us.  Downtown was a wonderful, magical place, full of stores with large windows with dazzling merchandise on display.  At Christmas, every surface of every street seemed to be decked out for Christmas--lights, candycanes, snowflakes, ornaments.  It was so exciting!  We'd go at night to get the full effect of the decorations.  We could go at night because there was no crime.  The worst thing we ever happened upon was a drunk on a street corner.  One.  My parents didn't have any second-thoughts about taking their two young daughters onto the downtown streets.  Not that they would have let us do it on our own, but as long as we were with them, we felt as secure as could be.

One of the special things I remember from the 60's was window shopping at Christmas in downtown Tacoma.  Tacoma was a larger city, and did have crime, especially at night.  But there was an escalator (known as The Escalade) that went from a higher area down to the lower area, where the great stores were located.  The escalator was inside buildings, and ran a couple of blocks or so.  It was such a novelty for us!  We never ran across any shady events, and only have great memories of the escalator.  It hasn't been in operation for years.  I heard it was shut down because of crime. 

When I think of window shopping in the 60's I think of the scene at the beginning of "A Christmas Story", with the train set in the window and the kids with their noses pressed up against the window.  What joy we got from seeing such things, and from dreaming about them!  That story took place in the 1940's, but it hadn't changed much twenty years later. 

What a shame we can't feel safe doing such things anymore.  A lot of people call it "progress", and think that society must go on.  But in my mind, we have taken a giant step backwards.  How do YOU feel about that?  Do you feel more safe now or less safe?  Do you still have great stores in your downtown area, with windows full of wonderful treats?  Or have they all closed up, only to be used as seedy "progressive" bars and nightclubs?  I'm glad I had those window shopping days, but I'm sad that my kids never really did.

Some day I may post about the fun department stores and five and dime stores that we loved to go to in the 60's, but not this time.  This one is looking from the outside in, rather than the inside out.