Our friend Paul from Tulsa just emailed to inform us of an exhibit, currently on display at The Tulsa Historical Society. Its focus is Seidenbach's, started by Siegmund Harzfeld's nephew, Joseph Leslie Seidenbach. After learning the ropes of retail at Harzfeld's, Joseph moved to Tulsa and opened his store after a visit in 1916. "Seidenbach's New Store", an impressive Gothic style building was erected at 413-415 South Main in 1927 . Sadly, it was raised after the store closed in the mid-1960s.Image courtesy of Beryl Ford Collection, Tulsa City-County Library.
The exhibit runs now through January 31, 2010 at the Tulsa Historical Society, 2445 South Peoria. Visit their facebook site, while their permanent site is under construction.
Tulsa World review of exhibit
Garfinckel, Brooks Brothers, Miller & Rhoads took over Harzfeld's in 1972 and Gus Meyer locations in Tulsa and Oklahoma City in 1973. The Gus Meyer locations were converted to Harzfeld's in 1974 and were kept in operation until the closing of the Harzfeld's stores by Allied in '84. We know very little about the two Oklahoma locations. We welcome any information you may have.
I'm really excited to have found your website as I recently bought a dress in a vintage store in the UK (I live in London) with a Harzfeld's label in it. It's a full length black gown (open in the front of the skirt), with cream collar and sash detail, with a pink lining to the top. I'm going to wear it to an important party I've been invited to, but I'm really happy to have been able to put some provenance to it.
ReplyDeleteEve Delves.
in your blog about the seidenbach store, when you say "Sadly, it was raised after the store close....", do you mean demolished?
ReplyDeleteplease let me know if the building is still standing.
thanks :) stephanie
Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteSorry to say that yes, we believe the building was demolished. We appreciate your post. We haven't been able to make it to Tulsa to see the exhibit, so it was a nice reminder that we still have a week left if we somehow were able.