Historic Holiday Window Display in a MCM building on K Street!

Sacramento County Historical Society is working to construct a full-sized animated circa 1910 holiday display. The display will be at the Roos-Atkins building, 1001 K Street, in downtown Sacramento (next door to the Crest Theatre). This building was designed by noted Sacramento architect Harry J. Devine, Sr. in 1946.



The premiere for the display is November 26 at noon. The display will remain operational until January 8, 2011. Detailed information can be found here.

The display will use the Gaffney Display Company animated figures used in the windows of Breuner's department stores for decades -- in a new display created by local artists. Here are some vintage scenes of the Bruener's displays via my Flickr pals (and real-life friends):

Breuner's 12th old-fashioned, musical, moving Christmas display

Breuner's 16th old-fashioned, musical, moving Christmas display

1946 display

1955 display

1956 display

K Street was once the epicenter of shopping and nightlife in Sacramento. Here are some scenes from its heyday from my postcard collection:

10th and K Streets - Roos-Atkins can be seen in the far left of this picture


K Street

K Street

K Street, near 10th Street

K Street

K Street, Night View

Be there to support local historians and people who love Sacramento! You can also help out by donating here.

2 comments:

Matías Bombal said...

Roos Bros. "construction" photo on this site was taken in Sept. 1946 for a much sadder purpose than to document the erection of the new building. The Hippodrome Theatre, next door at 1013 K street, had a disaster the moring the photo was taken. Sypathetic vibrations from the construction next door caused the Hip's horizontal marquee supports to give way, and the marquee, while remaining attached to the facade of the Hip, just under the tower, slammed down like a door, killing a woman underneath. The theatre was then closed for more than two years and remodeled into The Crest Theatre, which then opened on October 6, 1949. This image appeared in the Sacramento Union and was also used for insurance purposes to show the tremendous damage to the Hip's marquee.

Gretchen said...

Thank you for putting the photograph into perspective, Matias. I recently did a post about the Crest Theatre and mentioned the tragic accident that injured three people and killed Mrs. R.S. Potter from Alta in Placer County http://www.eichlerific.com/2011/05/1949-crest-theatres-gala-premiere.html