Whoa Podcast About Horses Horsemanship

The early days at the Emporium. Emporium Western Store On today’s show, we talk to someone in our own backyard, Bakersfield California.  Stephen Goldwater’s Emporium Western Store has been a downtown fixture for over 100 years. While it’s not exactly certain who initially established the store in 1909 - let’s face it, those records are hard to find -my research discovered Abraham Chain and Samuel Cohen owned the store in 1926.   Arnold Rojas in his books about the early Vaqueros talked about the how the early cowhands got paid on a monthly basis and frequently bought a pair of new jeans around payday.  Many of the hard working vaqueros couldn’t afford to have their jeans washed and cleaned.  At the time, denim would shrink when washed and the vaqueros bought the size that fit them.  Then, at the end of the month, they came in for a new pair and threw the old ones away.  If you are not familiar with the Vaquero books, they tell the story of the early cowhands in the central valley.  If you are familiar, y