Former owner of historic business talks about his family's legacy

By Ellen S. Jamieson, Special to the Town Crier

Rich Douglas talks about the early days of sewing machines during last week’s event at the Los Altos History Museum.

The Los Altos History Museum sponsored “A Thread of History,” a lecture by Richard “Rich” Douglas, Thursday at the museum. The full audience sat amid vintage sewing machines that are part of the current exhibit, “Stitches in Time - 100 Years of Machines and Sewing,” scheduled to run through May 21.

The 74-year-old Douglas is the former owner of the family-run Douglas Sewing Machines and Fabrics, a landmark retail institution in downtown Palo Alto for seven decades.

Douglas said he cleaned and polished all the machines on display.

“It’s been a little over 11 years since ‘retirement.’ But, a lot of ladies that we sold machines to won’t let me retire,” he said. “They say, ‘Rich, will you please service my machine?’ Or, ‘Can you find the problem with it?’ So, I work from my home garage to help them out.”

Allyn Feldman, collections and exhibits manager for the museum, introduced Douglas as a veteran of the bygone era of sewing machines and a chronicler of his family enterprise. Douglas wove an absorbing tale about selling sewing machines and the store’s evolution during the past century.

His parents, Louise and John Douglas, already involved in the retail sewing business for more than 10 years, took over Harrods Sewing Machines in downtown Palo Alto in 1937.

It became The Sewing Machine Shop and featured Singer models. By then, Singer had introduced the electric Featherweight model, regarded by Douglas as “one of the best, sweetest-running machines Singer ever made,” because of its smooth movement, quality and $88 affordability. This invention thrust the business into full gear, throttled by the advent of dress patterns and the introduction of notions and fabrics into department stores.

It was difficult to obtain sewing machines and fabrics during World War II, according to Douglas. Despite the shortages, “Mother and Dad did the best they could, making buttonholes for 20 cents apiece and renting sewing machines for $5 a month,” he said.

After the war, two opportunities - an option to buy commercial property on Hamilton Avenue in Palo Alto and a windfall of fabric supplies secured by Douglas’ Aunt Gertrude - made it possible to add The Fabric Store.

By 1950, brothers Rich and Don joined the fabric and sewing businesses. The stores merged and moved to University Avenue, where they were renamed Douglas Fabrics and Sewing Machines.

“It became one of the first privately owned fabric and sewing machine shops in the United States,” Douglas said. “The Singer Sewing Company saw its success and started to copy it all over the country.”

The Douglas brothers had to close the store in 1995. Rich thinks that Proposition 13 eliminated many schools’ home-economics sewing courses. This fact, coupled with rising prices, decreased the interest and demand for sewing machines.

Some local Palo Alto middle schools have revived sewing courses, and Douglas works as their repairman.

Reflecting on his family business legacy, Douglas said, “My brother and I miss it to an extent. But … from 1926 to 1995, that’s a long time business in Palo Alto.”

The Los History Museum is located at 51 S. San Antonio Road. It is free and open Thursdays through Sundays noon to 4 p.m.

For more information, call 948-4191 or visit www.losaltoshistory.org.