I don’t know what was happening on this day in 1944, but whatever See’s Candies were offering at the store at 301 Santa Monica Blvd in Santa Monica, people were willing to line up for it. WWII was still happening, which means sugar was rationed. Maybe someone found 10 extra bags of it in the basement of See’s factory on La Cienega Blvd (See’s started in LA in 1921) and these Angelenos were the first to hear of it. But I do like the juxtaposition of a candy store on the ground floor and the dentist office right above it.
Bix on Twitter supplied this explanation for the long lines:
That building is still there, but See’s and the Dr. Campbell are long gone – as are all the tenants. This is how that building looked in June 2024.
From the See’s website:
Even the Second World War didn’t shake See’s newfound reputation as a household name. While rationing made finding ingredients difficult, we remained committed to Quality Without Compromise. Never a company to lower our standards, we turned to making smaller amounts of candy daily, using the same fresh ingredients.
https://www.sees.com/newsandchews/the-history-of-sees-candies
Perhaps See’s had scored a bunch of sugar (or cacao) and shipped more product to their stores.
Thanks for that, PDQ!
During rationing they never changed their recipes. They only produced what they could with the ingredient amounts rationing allowed them. So, people could only buy what was available, and once sold out they were out of luck until the next batch was made. People lined up to get their fix!