Photography courtesy of Scott Rose

Crider's Department Store, now home to the Opera House shops and banquet facilities, used to host an annual turkey fling from its roof.

Best of Picture from the Past

Turkey Fling brought crowds to Crider's Department Store

By John S. Baggerly

The popular department store once run by the late J. Walter Crider may come to some old-timers' minds with Thanksgiving Day approaching.

Crider, a merchant with an eye for publicity, took over the former Ford's Opera House about 1918 and sold furniture, dry goods for the entire family, and white lines for the kitchen, such as stoves and refrigerators.

Promotion-minded Crider saw the appeal of an old American custom humorously known as the Turkey Fling--tossing a live turkey from a high building into a mob of men in the street below. History does not tell us how many turkeys he tossed over the years, but we do know Crider's last bird sought haven in the back seat of an open touring car with a convertible top.

The results were predictable. Vigorous young men tore into the car in quest of the bird and the top was torn asunder. Crider paid for the damaged auto and that ended the local turkey fling sometime in the 1920s. In the 1970s, the United Press service claimed the country's last turkey fling had been held in a Midwestern town.

Crider followed more modern practices inside his store, which included a mighty cash register with information-storing capacity, which caught the eye of young Bill Wulf--Los Gatos' well-known historian--and started him on a career studying history, Wulf recalls.

Like Holman's Department Store in Pacific Grove, Crider's drew customers from beyond municipal borders. Unlike many merchants, Crider was a buy-and-hold guy. He had enough capital to buy in large quantities and store much of his stock in a warehouse, thus avoiding bank loans and paying interest when buying for the four seasons.

Crider also took advantage of co-op advertising. When he took out newspaper advertisements, major lines such as Arrow Shirts, Florsheim shoes and Cannon sheets would partially reimburse him when he mentioned their brands. His newspaper ads were always a full page or even double pages.

During World War II, while most merchants were rationing sales, Crider was known for selling in any amount--at least for a while. "Near the end of the war, I realized I might sell out on bed sheets and men's white shirts, so I rationed sales," Crider once told this writer.

The Crider home on Glenridge Avenue was as obvious as the store itself. There he resided, behind classic three-story pillars, with wife Lydia, daughter Lydiabelle and son Jim. Marnya Phelps, now Marnya Phelps Campbell, recalls dances in the home's empty top-floor ballroom and being well-dressed in one of Lydiabelle's cast-off gowns. She particularly remembers a black net dress with rosebuds.

After World War II, Lydiabelle married Frank Baker, a longtime hunter and rifleman in the U.S. Army and the son of a San Jose newspaperman. Baker managed the Crider's furniture department.

In the 1960s, Crider bought Hotel Lyndon and replaced its Filipino waiters with African Americans who had served on railroad dining cars. Crider later sold off the southwest corner of the Lyndon property at S. Santa Cruz Avenue and Broadway. A series of owners followed before the hotel was torn down in that same decade.

Crider's son Jim and his wife, famous for their silver-mounted horse pair and the blue ribbons they won in California parades, moved to the Gilroy area, where the horses had spacious living.

The Bakers later opened a furniture store in Laguna Beach, then retired to Goleta, between San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara. Both have passed on.

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