A look back at Santa Rosa’s Montgomery Village in the 1970s, 1980s

Customers in 1950 were drawn to the newly built Montgomery Village for its 19 shops and farmer’s market. Another attraction during its opening weekend was developer Hugh Codding’s $1,500 bet that a house could be built in a day.

Doubters were proven wrong when Codding’s team of 120 workers built a two-bedroom house with a garage in a mere six and a half hours near the shopping center. Crowds swarmed around Magowan and Hahman drives to watch the home building in action during Montgomery Village’s opening in June 1950.

“We’ll give it all we’ve got,” Codding told The Press Democrat then.

About 15,000 people — some coming in from chartered buses — cheered and crowded around the carpenters and plumbers at the newly constructed home. The stunt was a grand kickoff to the open air shopping center, which grew substantially over the next few decades.

By the late 1980s Montgomery Village had 85 specialty shops, services and restaurants, according to a 1988 Press Democrat advertising supplement.

Although there are still plenty of storefronts at Montgomery Village today, several popular local eateries, home goods, clothing, gift and toy shops from the 1970s and 1980s are now gone.

There was Benjelmo’s Delicatessen, a popular joint opened by Elmo Barbieri and Benjamin Pedrotti in 1971 that served sandwiches, pasta and meats and stayed in business until 1993.

The Owl and The Pussycat specialized in handcrafted gifts from local artisans. Michael Lewis Gifts, which expanded in 1988, sold porcelains, figurines and Tom Clark gnomes. Brides registered for gifts like teapots and table linens at Company’s Coming’.

Montgomery High School students stopped in after school to order hot dogs and frozen yogurt from Village Court Yogurt. Families rented popular films on VHS tape from The Video Store next to Lucky’s grocery store.

Women’s “clothing with an attitude” was sold at Felicity. Suede and leather shoes were sold at Sheque & Chic Shoes. Men’s clothing was sold at King’s Closet.

Montgomery Village was purchased this year from David and Melissa Codding by WS Development, a Boston-based developer that operates several outdoor shopping centers across the country.

See the gallery above for photos of Montgomery Village from the 1970s and 1980s.