Arlington Pharmacy (Closed)
Kensington, CA Photo courtesy Devil Doll
The old Rexall sign outside Arlington Pharmacy still looks ready to point the way to a prescription. Above it hangs an even older blade sign, giving this Kensington corner two layers of drugstore history to look up at. The storefront was sometimes called Kensington Drugs, though Arlington Pharmacy was the name locals knew.
The pharmacy served the neighborhood for decades before owner Wing Gee filled its final prescription in 2013. Country Cheese Company moved in the following year, bringing an entirely different reason to stop at the corner. Thankfully, the old signs stayed with the building.
UPDATE: Country Cheese Company now occupies the former pharmacy, and both vintage signs remain above the storefront. 09-26
Ben's Drugs (Closed)
Walnut Grove, CA Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
The old Ben’s Drugs sign still hangs over Market Street in Walnut Grove, its big “Rx” recalling the pharmacy that once served the town’s Japanese American community.
Ben and Mitsu Kato ran the store for decades. During World War II, their family was forcibly incarcerated at Amache in Colorado. They returned to Walnut Grove after the war and reopened the drugstore.
UPDATE: Ben’s Drugs has closed, but its vintage sign remains on the building. 09-26
DiSernia Drugs (Gone)
San Francisco, CA Photo courtesy Scott Strickland
The old Rexall sign for DiSernia Drugs still hangs over Mission Street, even though the drugstore beneath it is long gone. Its stacked “DRUGS” letters and orange and blue Rexall panel look like they belong to an earlier San Francisco, when a neighborhood pharmacy could be recognized from down the block. 11-09
Julia and Michael DiSernia opened the shop at Mission and Precita in 1927. It remained a family business through the Depression, World War II, and decades of changes in the neighborhood. Their son Leland and his wife Sylvia later took over, keeping the pharmacy going until Leland retired in August 1998.
DiSernia Drugs (Gone)
San Francisco, CA Photo courtesy Scott Strickland
For a while, the former drugstore sat empty. Then Baby Blues BBQ moved in, and the corner began serving ribs instead of prescriptions. The Rexall sign stayed above the storefront, an old advertisement for a business that had already finished its last day.
UPDATE: Baby Blues BBQ also left and the sign has been gone for many years. 09-26
Castro Drugs (Gone)
San Francisco, CA Photo courtesy Scott Strickland
The old Castro Drugs marquee once hung over the corner of Castro and 24th Streets in Noe Valley. By the time of this photo, the drugstore was already gone and the neon tubing appeared to be missing. The sign stayed up anyway, still pointing out a place where neighbors had once stopped to fill a prescription or pick up a few things on the way home. 11-09
Signs can outlast the businesses they advertise, and this one had become a little leftover piece of the corner. Its letters still said “Drugs,” even though there was no longer a drugstore below. Anyone familiar with the old shop could recognize it; someone passing through might have wondered how long it had been hanging there.
The unlit marquee gave the building a look that newer storefront signs rarely manage. It did not need to be glowing to catch the eye. For a while, it was enough that it was still there.
UPDATE: The Castro Drugs sign was removed by April 2012. 09-26
Arlington Pharmacy (Closed)
Ben's Drugs (Closed)
DiSernia Drugs (Gone)
DiSernia Drugs (Gone)
Castro Drugs (Gone)
