Even in the hard times, the great American spirit shone brightly.
The street vendor (called “peddler” back then) came into his own during the Great Depression of the 30’s. A few of the streets in Houston were paved with bricks, but in those days, most were made of shell or gravel. Some were just dirt, clay or black land. After a big rain, when I was a little preschooler, I lost my boots in the black goo of a neighborhood street. But the vendors didn’t let a little thing like muddy streets keep them from making their rounds.
What I remember most of all as a little boy was the ice cream man. The one that came by our house pedaled a big tricycle with a loud bell. His freezer was under the seat and between the rear wheels. Dry ice kept the ice cream frozen. I loved every kind he sold. I guess one of my favorites was the fudgesicle. My mother would occasionally ask me to bring her an eskimo pie. My sisters loved the popsicles, any flavor.
There were others on the street, like the ice man, who drove a horse-drawn wagon. The blocks of ice were covered with a very thick tarpaulin to slow melting, and kept in as large blocks as possible until sold in smaller blocks. He mostly had regular customers, so he could move the ice along from wagon to ice box without delay. He carried the ice with tongs. (After I got a little older, and we lived down the street from a store that sold ice, I would occasionally go to the store to buy a 25 pound block of ice, tied with a large twine).
Someone else you would see on the street was the milkman. The one that came down our street drove a horse-drawn vehicle. But you had to get up early to see him, as he went to the homes of regular customers at the crack of dawn, and left their standard order on the porch. The milk was in glass bottles, almost always quart size.
The vendor who made the most noise was the tamale man. He pushed a cart down the street, yelling (almost singing) at the top of his voice, “H-0-T T-A-M-A-L-E-S!!” He had different customers each day, and the next day would push his cart down a different street, calling out the magic words.
Sometimes the vendor was a truck farmer, who brought his crops to town and sold them from his wagon. Real bargains could be found in fruits and vegetables.
Other vendors on the streets would go from door to door trying to sell products like brushes or vacuum cleaners. Some were insurance salesmen. Some brought handmade products and others offered handyman services of various kinds. Many others knocked on the doors or called out from the streets in those days.
All these people had one thing in common; they were willing to work, and they thought up a way to earn money.
Ah, the streets of the Great Depression. Those were the days. In the hard times, the great American spirit shone brightly.
