Cash Shot Through the Ceiling: 30 Things 1960s Department Stores Lost

Cash Shot Through the Ceiling: 30 Things 1960s Department Stores Lost You hand the clerk a five dollar bill. She rolls it into a little canister, pushes it into a brass tube, and with a whoosh it shoots up through the ceiling. A minute later there is a thump, and your change drops back down. That was a Saturday downtown in the nineteen sixties. This is a walk through thirty things the big department stores had and lost. The floorwalker with a carnation in his lapel. The ladies' lounge. The elevator operator in white gloves calling out the floors. A bargain basement that gave clothes away after thirty days, a monkey that got loose in the walls, and a pink pig that flew children over the toys. Along the way you will hear how a shopkeeper in Lowell, Massachusetts, and a hollow wooden ball started it all. And at the end, what is still standing: a few wooden escalators that still clack, a giant organ that still plays, and a clock in Pittsburgh where people still meet. Subscribe for more stories of the American places you remember, and tell me which store you miss in the comments. Tags: 1960s department stores, pneumatic cash tubes, downtown shopping, Lamson cash carrier, Sears, Rich's Pink Pig