We recently visited the Gere-A-Deli in Annacortes and in addition to a delicious lunch they served up a big side of nostalgia. He peaked before I was old enough to follow him (really!) but Hopalong Cassidy was a huge cultural icon, first through books, then via movies in the 1930s and 1940s. By the early 1950s Hopalong was on television and became an early branding franchise as his image was the first produced on children’s lunchboxes and 100 companies eventually producing products with his image. (I do remember Butternut bread.)
I don’t remember either of these brands; the big size of the cans makes me wonder if they were for restaurant use. But around our house we often had tins from various purchases or gifts that had second lives holding collections of sewing bits, nuts and bolts, small toys and the like. Tomorrow we’ll head back to Gere-A-Deli for a couple more – uhm, am I really that old? – artifacts.
