Hanford Insider

Hanford Insider: How A Beloved Storefront Became A City Tradition

• Rob Bentley • Season 3 • Episode 18

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A storefront can hold a city’s memory. We head to the corner of Seventh and Douty to explore how a 19th-century hotel became Hanford Furniture and, ultimately, the canvas for a holiday tradition that still stops families on the sidewalk: the Christmas windows. With guest Rusty Robinson, grandson of Gordon and Pat Blue, we dig into the origin story—why the Blues looked to San Francisco for big-city inspiration, how a 1976 fire reshaped the building, and what it took to stage animated polar bears, Mylar walls, painted manzanita, and thousands of lights for generations to enjoy.

We also spotlight the stewardship of the Griswold LaSalle Community Foundation, now caretakers of the building and champions of the tradition. From ribbon-cutting plans to modern touches like upstairs projections and a social-driven Santa’s list, the windows feel both familiar and new. That blend of heritage and refresh is more than decor—it fuels downtown vibrancy alongside Winter Wonderland, Wine and Chocolate night, library open houses, craft fairs, and holiday galas. The windows become the meeting point where visitors, alumni, and locals trade memories, hunt for their names, and create a ritual worth returning for.

To round out the week, we offer a clear community calendar and a sports update featuring Sierra Pacific, Hanford West, and Hanford High—who’s winning, who’s traveling, and where to cheer. Whether you’re planning a weekend route or reliving childhood moments with family, this guide puts you at the center of Hanford’s holiday season. If the episode made you smile, tap follow, share it with a friend who loves small-town magic, and leave a quick review so more neighbors can find us.

You can find the Hanford Insider at www.hanfordinsider.com and on social media at @hanfordinsider
Thank you for supporting the show!

SPEAKER_03:

On this episode of The Hanford Insider, we'll get a fascinating look into the history of the old Hanford furniture windows and hear how the Griswold LaSalle Community Foundation is honoring this time honored holiday tradition. Rob will highlight some of this week's community events, and I'll be back with your sports report. This is the Hanford Insider for Monday, december first.

SPEAKER_04:

I'm your host, Rob Bentley, and each week we dive into the heart of Hanford, from hometown history to the voices shaping our city today. Whether you're a lifelong resident or discovering Hanford for the first time, this is your front row seat to what's happening right here at home. In community news this week, I had a great time announcing the entries at the Hanford Christmas Parade on Friday night. It was so great to see the thousands that turned out for this annual event. Thank you to the City of Hanford and all of the volunteers and sponsors that made it such an amazing night. Not only did I announce, but I also made a nice video. You can check it out on my YouTube channel at Hanford Insider. If you enjoy Christmas parades, you might want to check out the Lamore Christmas parade coming up this Saturday night, December 6th at 6 p.m. I won't be announcing this one, but my marching band from Liberty Middle School will be performing, as well as Lamore High School. Come out and celebrate a cowboy Christmas with the Lamore Chamber of Commerce. Back in Hanford, the City Council will be meeting on Tuesday, December 2nd, with a study session at 4 p.m. with a regular session to follow at 7 p.m. For a full agenda packet, visit the city website. The meeting is also streamed live on the city website if you'd like to watch the proceedings live. If available, Mayor Travis Payton's Wednesday update will be posted on my website following the meeting. Don't forget, Hanford Winter Wonderland is open through the beginning of January. Weekday sessions begin at 4 p.m. and end at 9 p.m. Weekend sessions begin at 2 and will end at 9.15. Visit Hanford Winter Wonderland.com for information and tickets. Now let's take a look at this week's community calendar. The Kings County Library Hanford Branch will be holding an open house from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, December 3rd in their temporary location, which is located at 110 South 11th Avenue. This Friday night, December 5th, is a big night in downtown Hanford with the Main Street Hanford Wine and Chocolate Event as well as the Griswold LaSalle Community Foundation Christmas window display unveiling. You'll need tickets for the wine and chocolate event, but the window unveiling at 6.30 is free. You'll hear more about that event in just a minute. Here's a rundown of Saturday's big day in Hanford. There's breakfast with Santa in the Civic Auditorium from 7.30 until 11:30. The Kings County Sheriff's Office is holding their annual stuff the SWAT truck toy drive at Walmart from 9 to 12. The Remington is hosting a craft fair from 1.30 to 3. The 11th annual Sierra Pacific Christmas Tree Pre-Gala is in the Civic Auditorium at 7. Disney's Princess Diaries is showing at the Hanford Fox Theater at 7. And then on Sunday, the Sierra Pacific High School Booster Club is holding their annual Green and Gold Christmas Tree Gala beginning at 11.45 a.m. On Monday, December 7th, it's one more big day at the Civic Auditorium for Sierra Pacific as the Golden Bear Band holds their annual Chill Out with Santa featuring the never-ending Postable. You can purchase tickets at spband.org. Finally, there are two Christmas light pages that are gearing up for the festive season. Hanford Holiday on Facebook provides a list of decorated homes, and Kings County Let It Glow is getting started up. It's a countywide contest where the best homes go for a prize. You can visit their website for updates at KingsCounty Let It Glow.com. Wow, that's certainly a lot of great events. If you have an event coming up, large or small, and you'd like some help getting the word out, let's work together. Send your information to HanfordInsider at gmail.com. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get a complete calendar of events. It's the most comprehensive community calendar available. Well, as we've heard in a recent episode, uh Hanford certainly loves the holiday season, and one of those beloved traditions that is being brought back is the decorated windows in the old Hanford Furniture Building, which is now occupied by the Griswold LaSalle law firm. I'm so excited to have with me today Mr. Rusty Robinson, who is the grandson of Gordon and Pat Blue, who owned the Hanford Furniture Building and were the ones responsible for the wonderful Christmas displays for many years. Welcome to the show, Rusty.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you, Rob. Thank you for having me. It's it's a true pleasure. It uh really it's on behalf of my grandparents, but I'm grateful to uh to Bob Dowd and Mario Zamora for carrying on the tradition.

SPEAKER_04:

You know, Hanford really cherishes these traditions. We have, you know, we think of one Winter Wonderland now and all of these wonderful Christmas decorations in town and uh decorating contests, but it all kind of comes back to the Hanford furniture windows. So can you give us a little bit of background on the building and how your grandparents got the windows started?

SPEAKER_02:

Sure. So the building came about somewhere around 1893, and it was originally called the Avorn Hotel, uh, and that transferred into the Hanford Hotel. So my my grandfather, well, the Levy family, uh, Mr. and Mrs. Levy used to own it, and then uh Myron was their son, and Myron didn't want to go into the furniture business because um they had a furniture store called Hanford Furniture, and so he sold it in about 1968 to my grandparents, and my grandparents at that time also had partners, uh Dan and Vera, uh as a veto. And I think my my grandparents then bought them out a couple years later, so in 1970. Um, somewhere around 1976, there was a big fire. And so the way it used to work was Hanford furniture was downstairs, but in the lobby, uh, that was the entryway to the hotel and the upper floors. But in 1976, the upstairs burned down and it was all renovated uh and incorporated into the furniture store. So my grandparents uh owned the furniture store from from that point all the way. Uh we uh we sold it to uh to Bob Down in uh about 2007. Yep. And so um, yeah, it's this this was my childhood. Most of these rooms I played in as a kid. Um they've reoriented the staircase and everything. Remember falling down that many times. And so um we would uh some of my first dates with my wife were in the Christmas windows. Uh we we uh I think one time we uh we got takeout from the Imperial dynasty, and we came in the Christmas windows and and had one of our first dates. The history of the building basically it it hasn't had very many owners over the years. Uh, like I say, it started with the Levy family. Myron Levy was was a part of it also. Avorn Hotel, Hanford Hotel, Hanford Furniture, and then Hanford Furniture, for many of the people that knew the the furniture store, uh evolved into Thomasville by Hanford Furniture, and later became a Thomasville uh gallery store because it also had Lazy Boy and so forth. And so, and that's that's what it remained until 2007. And then uh and then at that point, um Bob Dowd and Dave Bush purchased the building from my grandparents, and um my grand grandmother was so grateful that uh that Bob purchased the building. Honestly, I had others that were interested in it, but um, had I have sold it to them, my grandmother would have never driven down the street again. Uh, she knew that Bob would be a good steward and take great care of the building, which he has. She never would have dreamt that he would have not only made a prestigious law firm out of it, but also a museum for Hanford. And so um, yes, he's he's done a phenomenal job maintaining uh Hanford's history.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So we're yeah, we're grateful.

SPEAKER_04:

Certainly, and uh from our last interview, we talked about some uh improvements and enhancements to the building, including building up that third floor. So I know we're really excited to see what can be done next with the building.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, so we were just speaking about that, and I was inquiring as to where the law firm was with that, and uh I think the answer is they're just about ready to expand into the third floor. So that's kind of a the fun thing from my perspective because for so long it's been vacant. And honestly, as it ties into the Christmas windows, that's always where Christmas storage was. Christmas storage was always on the third floor, and it took a lot of huffing and puffing to get it down. Uh, Christmas windows took about six weeks for setup and about three weeks to uh to put away. And staff were always worn out and tired, and later on when I had to manage labor, I was a bit frustrated. But my grandmother was uh the ultimate Santa Claus, and Christmas came before everything. So um no, she was uh she she wanted the windows, she wanted them complete. We started with the corner window, which was um the polar bear window, and all the bears were white, some of them were motorized. I know one of them was putting lights on a tree with like a little ladder, and he would teeter a bit, and and there were a couple that would swing around in the snow, and basically it's just kind of a playful display. Everything was white. The walls were done in a mylar, which is like a reflective material, a mirror-like material to kind of give depth to the windows. And uh, they used manzanita that was all spray painted white for some of the uh for the trees, and then of course we had the the regular Christmas trees that were in there, and thousands upon thousands of of twinkle lights. So it was a real gem, and it all started with that. But the impetus for that was that my grandfather was in the Hanford Improvement Association. At one time, he was the president of that association, and so um that combined with my grandmother was a native Hanfordian, and and she loved Christmas and she loved Hanford. So when you paired the two of them together, you ended up with the Christmas windows. Uh and it started with that window, and then maybe the next one would have been Santa's workshop, which I think might have been the kids' favorite. Um, Santa had a list, and the list started off rather small, but after every kid in town and some from far communities uh got on that list, even if the spelling wasn't right, we made sure we we fixed it. It became something. Everybody wanted to be on Santa's list. And uh and my grandmother was very good to me. My grandmother was the best to me, and so she always made sure that my name was on the top, even if I was not on the naughty list that year.

SPEAKER_04:

So, yeah, and I understand they're continuing that tradition uh with names being put on there, and they've advertised on their social media that you can uh make a donation to the Griswold LaSalle Community Foundation, and they will put uh Child's name there if it's not there. And uh, we can't wait to see those windows on December 5th at the grand opening, the ribbon cutting, which is coincidentally also the uh Main Street Hanford wine and chocolate event. But down here at the corner of Seventh and Doughty, we have the Griswold LaSalle Community Foundation annual Christmas windows display. And uh, Rusty, thank you so much for joining us and giving us some background on the history of the windows. And uh, we owe a debt of gratitude to your family for uh starting that uh in the 1970s and continuing it on.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you so much. And once again, we're appreciative to Mr. Dowd, Mr. Zamora for carrying along the tradition. Uh, it's something that uh honestly, you know, after all these years, it's been 17 years since we've been out of out of Hanford. And if you ask them about furniture, I think their memory is a bit vague. But if you ask them about the Christmas windows, they all have a short a story to share. And uh the nice thing is, it usually happened when the kids came home. Uh, we always unveiled them the night before Thanksgiving. And so um, so everybody has family stories, and really that's that's what it's about. And I think Mr. Mr. Doubt has always been aware of that. So thank you. Did you did you ever have a chance to see the windows?

SPEAKER_04:

I did, and uh coming up here in just a moment, um my family's actually going to join me, and we're going to share some memories of coming to downtown Hanford and spending some time uh looking at the windows, and we even have a video that's been uh circulating around the social media, so uh we're gonna share a little bit about that. So thank you for joining us.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you. Thanks for memorializing this too. I I I appreciate it. I think the history is uh something that we have to share with the kids. Otherwise, uh unfortunately it's gonna be lost if we don't keep that up. So appreciate your efforts there.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, joining me now on the show, believe it or not, is my entire family. Uh it's great to have uh Lois, Eric, and Sarah on with me. And we have some special memories to share of the Hanford furniture windows and going Christmas light looking in Hanford. That's always been a big part of our family tradition. And uh Lois, can you tell um the listeners kind of what light looking and Hanford furniture windows looked like in the early 90s when the kids were growing up?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, you know, we didn't have when I was a kid growing up, my dad was not, he never put Christmas lights up on our house. That was something that we just didn't do, and it was something I always wish we did. So in fact, the first time we had him on our house was when we were dating, you came and put Christmas lights on my family's house because you know, we wanted you, I think you did it for me, but we'll say we did it for our family. So when we started our family, it was important to have to start that kind of tradition because I know for me that stemmed out of something that I missed growing up. And so before we had kids, we were coming down here looking at, you know, the Christmas lights and the window display. That's not something we had where I grew up. So it was special to us, and it was just easy to segue that into when we had our kids, bringing them from a very young age, even before they were old enough to appreciate or really understand what was happening.

SPEAKER_03:

Obviously, you know, when you you live in Hanford and you grow up in Hanford, it's a small town and it has its small town quirks. But, you know, one of the things every year was, you know, you come down and see the windows and always having the you know the windows there, even you know, whether it be, you know, from a little kid watching the polar bears, you know, spinning around or reading Santa's list to through the years, even you know, growing up where it's okay, you know, I was a kid walking with my parents past the window, and then it's oh, it's the Christmas parade, and I'm marching past it, you know, in high school. And then, you know, I'm moved to Fresno for school and I've been up there for a while, but you know, you I can go to Christmas Tree Lane. That doesn't hold the same feel that, you know, the windows in downtown Hanford do, because, you know, just like every town, it has that, it just got has that special feel that, you know, even when you go away, you can come back and you you have those memories of walking with your family, you know, your grandparents down and looking through those windows. And it it feels like it was yesterday, even though it was, you know, so many years ago.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, you know, I remember going to the stores growing up, doing Christmas light looking, and we would always bring my grandma with us too. And it was sort of an energy generational family thing that we would do together to bring everyone together. My favorite part was always the toy trains. Um, but we would always also go get ice cream afterwards, no matter how cold it was. But I think that's part of the fun about the uh windows is that you get kind of that cold, snowy Christmas experience that you don't always get in California.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, for sure. Um, we visited the Robert Chevrolet trains a lot, and I remember, you know, it's like going on half an hour, 40 minutes. There we're trying to, Eric, we need to go see something else.

SPEAKER_03:

I remember it even though I was little. Yeah, you you gotta stay and watch the trains for until you get dragged out of there.

SPEAKER_04:

And the cutouts that they had downtown too. I remember he he had made plywood cutouts and attached them to the uh to the light poles in town, and that was uh pretty cool too.

SPEAKER_01:

And thankfully, dude, you guys giving us common names, our names were not hard to find on the goodness every year.

SPEAKER_00:

There you go. Yeah, you were always good. Yeah. Always. But I know you all looked for it too. Yes, yeah, yeah. Make sure your name was on there. Yeah, yeah. That it hadn't been erased or taken away.

SPEAKER_04:

We're trying to figure out how they got those bears to go down um and spin around, blow the bubbles and all that stuff. Working on the mechanics, you guys were just in awe of everything, and I was more like, okay, the mechanics of putting that together.

SPEAKER_00:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

I think it also it kind of gives you that sort of big city experience that you'd always have growing up in a small town because it's a tradition you see a lot more often in, you know, bigger city department stores. So it's kind of cool to have that experience as someone growing up in a more rural area.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, because like I said, I didn't have that. We didn't have that where I grew up, and so you know, it was very special. I'm glad it's back. I mean, you know, it's it's slightly reimagined because the building and such are different, it's not a furniture store anymore, but it's been reimagined, and so with a lot of the same characteristics of the old window that made it so near and dear. And so I'm glad that now other generations are getting to have that same tradition we had in a new way, in the same place.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, my understanding of it um in talking to Rusty and doing some research is that the blues actually went up to San Francisco for inspiration. Uh, Hanford did not have something like this, and they drove up there and visited different department stores because uh early in the 18 or in the late 1800s, that became a big thing for big stuff, like you were saying, sir, big city department stores and everything. You think of the movie Elf, you know, how they how they decorate the stores. And that became an inspiration uh for them to do that, and it hadn't been done in this area, so it was a lot of trial and error and you know, uh building it one piece at a time. And I'm just amazed. One of the things that I noticed, um, I think it was two years ago when they were do were doing this down here, is that they actually now have projection in the upstairs windows uh that looks really cool. So make sure you uh watch for that this year too. But uh um I'm excited about the windows, and I'm excited for December 5th on the unveiling. I think my brass caroling group is going to make an appearance. Um, it's it's a wonderful tradition, and I'm so glad that Hanford has this annual um annual event. And I'd like to thank the Griswold LaSalle Community Foundation for putting it on each year and drawing more visitors to town. We think of all the visitors that are coming to town through Winter Wonderland, and now that there's something else that they can visit while they're in town too. So uh what an awesome experience. Yeah, I'm very excited. Well, I hope you enjoyed that interview with Rusty and my family. Who knew that an old family video from 1995 would get so much interest thirty years later? I want to thank Jared Johnson from the Griswold LaSalle law firm for coming up with the idea for this feature. If you want to see some clips from our interview, follow their Instagram and Facebook pages as they'll use them to promote Friday night's event. One of the perks of being a subscriber to the Hanford Insider this week is receiving the link to the entire three-minute video from the Robert Chevrolet and Hanford Furniture window decorations trip that my family took in 1995. Consider it my gift to you this Christmas season. Now let's bring back Eric for a recap of high school sports last week.

SPEAKER_00:

And now it's time for Hanford Insider Sports with Eric Bentley.

SPEAKER_03:

The Sierra Pacific girls have been busy competing against some really strong competition early this season. After an 0-6 start falling to teams like Clovis West, Sierra Canyon, and Modern Day in tournament play, the Golden Bears were finally able to notch one in the win column, taking down Bishop Montgomery 68-53 on Friday to get their first victory of the year. No games on the schedule this week for the girls in preparation of a trip to Honolulu for a three-game tournament in Hawaii next week. The Hanford West boys fell in their only game last week as Golden West got the better of the Huskies in a low-scoring 45-38 game. The Hanford West boys now sit at 1-2 on the year, with a road game at Menachee on Monday and a home game with Mission Oak this Thursday. The Hanford West girls also fell in a low-scoring game in their only action last week, suffering a 32-21 defeat to Lamore. They'll host Dainuba at home on Monday before traveling to Mission Oak on Thursday. And both Hanford High basketball teams are still looking for their first victories of the season. The 0-3 boys fell last week to Sanger, while the O-3 girls fell to Arvin. The boys will get plenty of opportunities this week at the Kingsburg Lions Tournament, while the girls will only see the floor once, hosting Kerman on Tuesday night. As always, we like to cover as many sports as we can, but we can only do so much without you. Any sport, any team, any level, if you have a score report, a story idea, or a team update, please let us know at HanfordInsider at gmail.com. I'm Eric Bentley, and this has been your Hanford Insider Sports Report.

SPEAKER_04:

That's all the time we have for this week's show. If you enjoy this podcast and you'd like to show your support, you can go to buymeacoffee.com forward slash Hanford Insider to make a donation. If you'd like to join the Hanford Insider email list, stop on my website at HanfordInsider.com to sign up for updates. You'll also get an exclusive copy of my newsletter in your inbox each week. I also need your help getting the word out about the show by liking and sharing on social media, or like most people, just telling a friend. For more information about the show, you can find this podcast on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, and YouTube at Hanford Insider. If you have a show idea, be sure to email me at HanfordInsider Gmail.com and I'll look into it. Thanks for listening. Have a great week.

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Rob Bentley

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