The Best of Everything

An art student’s journey to "find the best of everything at Hess's"

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The End of an Era

It would be impossible to cover every aspect of the incredible icon that was Hess’s Department Store. It captivated a city in a way that continues to this day. With this project, I present ten stories told to me by family or discovered along the way as I attempted to recreate them. 

I hope that through this blog, you’ve enjoyed discovering the history behind a very special icon just as much as I did. Please be sure to visit http://patrickhulse.com/The-Best-of-Everything-1 where you can find a condensed booklet version of this blog. 

"You'll find the best of everything...at Hess's!" Hess’s Department Store opened in 1876, had its heyday in the 1960’s, and was closed in 1996, two years after I was born. It was located at 9th and Hamilton Streets in Allentown, PA. I never saw the Hess’s building, demolished in 2000, but family stories of its magic have captivated me since I was little. In its 120 years of operation, Hess’s saw countless celebrities pass through its doors, dazzled visitors with its over-the-top marketing events, enchanted working-class customers with luxury European fashion, and introduced 1960’s Allentown to the topless bathing suit. After 20 years, the magic refuses to fade. Past employees hold reunions, Facebook groups are formed to share memories, and iconic patterned boxes hide perfectly preserved in basements. In a city driven by blue-collar industry, Hess’s represented an ideal: where the shopper going to the French Room and Bargain Basement could rub elbows entering through the same door and dine at the same restaurant. It represents a golden era for Allentown, which saw economic decline beginning in the late 1970’s. “It was the right people at the right time,” my mom told me, “it couldn’t have happened anywhere else and it was magical.” The Best of Everything presents a celebration of the past, an attempt to preserve it, and a longing to know it.

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Everything & More

Hess’s truly offered the best of everything. The fifth floor featured a variety of interesting departments and shops. Located on the top floor were an Optical Shop, Beauty Salon, Barber Shop, Travel Bureau, Credit Office, as well as the Furniture Department. Max Hess believed that shopping should be an experience, and so Hess’s offered everything imaginable. “To go to Hess’s was a big deal,” my mom told me, “It was something that took a half a day.”

The children’s department featured magical displays and toys to create, as one ad from the 1960’s writes, “a fantasyland.” Fashions from Europe as well as gigantic toys, such as an eleven-foot high elephant that wiggled his ears, waved his trunk, and flapped his tail for $4,895. Clothing was located on the third floor, while Hess Brothers Toyland could be found on fourth. Many of the toys, featured at Christmas time, as well as the iconic Pip the Mouse puppet show became the property of the Liberty Bell Museum once the store closed.

My sculpture inspired by the above photograph of the children’s department at Hess’s:

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The Flower Show

Ask any Allentown native about Hess’s and they are guaranteed to mention the flower show. Hess’s President, Max Hess, made the store famous for over-the-top marketing events (such as converting the entire first floor into a garden). “Hess’s main floor blossoms into an exotic garden of beauty the third week in May for Hess’s award-winning International Flower Show, seen by hundreds of thousands annually,” writes an ad from 1968.

The show was one of the most famous events Hess’s promoted and was even televised to attract out of town visitors. “And just imagine the thrill for children, to see bananas actually growing!” exclaims the video. Check out the previously mentioned PBS Documentary for some wonderful shots of the show (skip to the 28 minute mark). The weeklong event was first held in 1961 and featured over 70 varieties of flowers. Customers described the novelty of the event, explaining how they had never heard of a flower show before, yet were completely taken by its beauty upon arrival. Employees would close the store early the Saturday before and work straight through Monday to set up the show, arranging thousands of flowers. Director of Public Relations, Wayne Holben, recalled an employee even being bitten by a spider found inside one of the more exotic flowers!

My sculpture representing the Flower show:

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Memories Shared

The magnetic pull of Hess’s on the community that once shopped there is strong. Online, past customers and employees share memories of the store. In one post, a woman writes about her memory as a little girl:

“I think it was in the men’s department that there was a stuffed alligator head on the wall. One of the salesmen was a friend of my mother’s, and he used to lift me up and I’d reach between the teeth of the alligator to get a piece of wrapped candy! I was so terrified of that alligator, but it never stopped me from reaching into its jaws for sweets!”

Max Hess famously decorated the store with a large collection of art, antiques, and other oddities. Hess’s 1968 ad shares that “masculine décor graces spacious men’s departments.”

My sculpture depicting one woman’s memory. The alligator features a movable jaw with handle.

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How We Remember

Of the interviews I conducted for this project, every one mentioned holding onto one Hess’s shirt or hatbox.

Leave it to my grandmother to one-up everybody. In Nana’s basement is a set of gigantic drawers that used to hold the extra stock of lingerie at Hess’s. They are blue and gold and I always thought they must have belonged to Cinderella. “Yes they were behind the counter,” my mom told me, “but this was Hess’s. They couldn’t just be plain.” Nana got the drawers when the store closed down and today they store blankets and cookie sheets.

My grandmother was not the only one to acquire items from the store when it closed. Carolyn mentioned to me a woman who purchased the large toy soldiers that decorated the front doors during Christmas time to display outside her furniture store. This prompted further research which proved there were multiples that may have changed hands a few times: from the Liberty Bell Museum, a museum exhibit, as well as Kids Castle Family Fun Center in Allentown. One man in Virginia Beach even has a set permanently anchored outside his home.

My sculpture, made from memory, of Nana’s set of drawers in the basement:

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The French Room

“It was something you wanted to be able to attain,” my mom explained to me, “you wanted to be able to buy a dress in the French Room.” Her sentiments are echoed by countless others who describe one of the most famous aspects of the store ("You dreamed you would be able to one day afford a dress from the French Room for $1000" says one woman in a documentary from PBS). Hess’s French Room sold high-end luxury fashion from Europe. Customers could book an appointment and meet with a consultant who would have models present looks specific to what the customer was looking for. Imagine peering through the doorway, just over the blue satin ropes, as you try to catch a glimpse of who might be buying that $3000 dress from Paris. Dresses hung on fat, pink, padded hangers around the room. Inside each garment: a special label with Hess’s French Room embroidered in script. 

I was fascinated by the details my mom described when I interviewed her. There are very few images of the French Room online, but I was able to gather a very vivid image based on her description. She emphasized the pastel colors, the presence of gold, and the fancy pink padded hangers all of the clothing hung on.

From a 1968 advertisement:

In a city driven by blue-collar industry, Hess’s represented an ideal: where the shopper going to the French Room and Bargain Basement could rub elbows entering through the same door and dine at the same restaurant. It represents a golden era for Allentown, which saw economic decline beginning in the late 1970’s. “It was the right people at the right time,” my mom told me, “it couldn’t have happened anywhere else and it was magical.”   

My sculpture of The French Room, featuring dresses inspired by actual French Room fashions. It’s worth noting that my grandmother obtained the dream and owned one dress from The French Room.

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Time to Eat!

Almost more famous than the store itself was Hess’s Patio Restaurant located in the basement of the building. Fascinatingly, despite its popularity, the restaurant never broke even financially. Max Hess considered it a worthwhile promotional tool because of the number of customers it brought to the store. My mom’s friend Carolyn described her memory of arriving at The Patio when she was little:

“You’d walk in and go down the escalator and to the right was this big open restaurant. You could see everything! All this food on people’s plates...huge portions!”

Famous for its gigantic portions and strawberry pie, the restaurant featured a number of touches that made eating at Hess’s extra magical. One of my favorite Hess’s stories is of the toy ovens children’s meals were delivered in. The waitress would bring the tin oven to your table, open it, and present you with your meal! This is one of the first stories my mom ever told me about Hess’s and I always wondered what the ovens would have looked like. Luckily, a documentary by PBS offered an incredible glimpse!

Dinner was not all that was served inside a tiny toy. Children who ordered an ice cream clown would receive their dessert in a miniature aqua refrigerator. The children’s menu included section for items “Served from the Toy Stove or Refrigerator.” 

In addition to the tin toys, the restaurant also featured colored rock candy for sugar and models who would display fashions from the store by walking between the tables. “I remember a blue and white summer outfit,” Anna, who modeled in the store when she was 16, shared with me, “You just weaved between the tables and smiled. It was a nice atmosphere, just walking through the tables.”

When Hess’s closed in 1996, their famous strawberry pie was featured in The Morning Call, Allentown’s local newspaper. The pie is perhaps the most famous Hess icon. “I can only remember the pie,” shared Carolyn, “I remember it vividly because as a child it stands out because it’s the biggest thing you’ve ever seen. Just huge mounds of whipped cream!” The pies were massive and rotated in a gold case outside the Patio Restaurant along with other cakes and coconut crème pies. “My family couldn’t afford to eat dinner, but every so often I had just the pie because it was so famous,” Carolyn told me. At the end of a long day of shopping, what better way to end the than with dessert?

My sculptures depicting the toy ovens, strawberry pie, and ice cream clown:

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New research material thanks to Max Hess!

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A look at my revolving door sculpture in motion

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An Entry Point to the Past

One of my favorite Hess’s stories is of the revolving door that sprays perfume.

I heard about it first from my mom, but have also seen it mentioned in the PBS documentary linked in my last post. This past week I was fortunate to interview a few of my mom’s friends about their memories of the store and found out just how special the doors apparently were.

Entering Hess’s was a special experience. “That’s a vivid memory of Nana yelling, ‘cover your eyes!’” my mom recalled about rushing to push through the door without getting sprayed as it released the latest fragrance from Paris. “When you think about it, it’s ridiculous. You could never do that today, but nobody complained.”

My mom’s friend Anna was a model in the Patio restaurant when she was in high school and recalled her experience encountering the infamous door at a young age. “When I was little, what I thought was so cool was the revolving doors,” she shared, “I thought that was so out of the ordinary. I remember them being kind of scary. They were so heavy. Then it opened up and there was a huge chandelier.”

The chandeliers at Hess’s were famous, and are mentioned to me by every person I ask about the store. In his interview for PBS, former President and CEO of Hess’s, Irwin Greenberg, described the morning Max Hess installed the store’s first chandelier:

“It was about 6:00 in the morning, I got there and he was waiting there at the side door and he had all the lights out on the first floor except this huge chandelier. And I walked in, I said ‘my god what…’I had no idea what it was. He said, ‘Do you like it?’ I said, ‘Oh it’s magnificent,’ he said, ‘Oh I’m glad you like it, there’s sixty more on the way.’”

“Going to Hess’s was an experience,” my mom told me. “It was a big deal. When you went, it took up half the day.” Hess’s captivated people from the moment they entered. What I’m discovering, and find so fascinating, is that nobody talks about what they bought when they went to Hess’s. They remember what they did and what they saw. It captivated people in a way that wasn’t just marketing. The magnetic pull of Hess’s has remained long after the shelves or merchandise are gone. Past customers and employees hold reunions and share memories online and just about everyone has held on to at least one shirt or hat box with the famous Hess’s print on it. “Or maybe we all found them later in life,” Anna told me about the boxes “so we could remember.”

A miniature revolving perfume door presented on top of an old door knob:

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Opening Day

Anemoia: a fake word made up by somebody else to mean “nostalgia for a time you’ve never known.”

Hess’s department store opened in 1876, had its heyday in the 1960’s, and was closed in 1996, two years after I was born. It was located at 9th and Hamilton Streets in Allentown, PA where a Google search tells me there’s now a big, shiny office-type building. I never saw the Hess’s building, demolished in 2000, but descriptions of its magic have captivated me since I was little.

My mother grew up in Allentown and my grandparents still live there (in the same house!). Because of this, I have always felt incredibly connected to the city. However, I’ve recently realized how little I actually know about it. What I know of one of its greatest landmarks comes only from a few family stories: the revolving door that spritzes perfume, the talking elevator, meals delivered in tiny tin toy ovens. Setting out to learn more, I’ve already discovered a wealth of information, books, newspaper articles, ads, and even a PBS documentary. The history and imagery are fascinating, and the research ahead is exciting. What I’ll do with all of this I’m currently unsure of, but the goal is to make something.  To start off the journey, a miniature diorama of Hess’s 5th floor hair salon: