The Pavey Candy Company, 1930 - 1939, A Depression-era child remembers how kids made money, by Alex Latta

Date: 1930 - 1939

During the depression years of 1930 to 1939, the small weekly allowance many of us kids got was not always reliable. We found several ways to supplement this. One way was to save the empty cardboard cartons from groceries and other merchandise. They had to be in good shape, clean and have never been used to ship soap products.


Pavey Candy Company at 96 th Street and 105 th Avenue would buy them from us. The foreman had a nose like a blood-hound, and never let any "soap" boxes pass his inspection. We had to accept either all candy, or half candy and half money, for payment. We usually took the fifty-fifty deal, as we wanted to go to the movies.


Another method to save money was to get our hair cut at Mr. Nakamura's barber shop on 95 th Street. I would get 25 cents for a hair-cut and 10 cents for the movies. Mr. Nakamura only charged 15 cents for a hair-cut, so I had an extra 10 cents for treats. Ten cents went a long way in those days. There were two sizes of paper bags at Griffith's store, across from Alex Taylor School. The small one could be filled for 5 cents, and the larger one for 10 cents.


We could get a "baker's dozen" donuts from Mrs. Johnson's Bakery at 102A Avenue and 95 th Street. The extra donut never got home.


Those were the days!