When was VONS first used? I have a pat. date of 1916 on bake

[cindasplace]

I have an old bakery saw used for bread. It has Better VONS Baked on one side and Genral _____? Products Co. Lancaster Pa Pat. 7-4-1916. I did not think VONS was in use back then. The item is old and primitive in style and fits the time frame of the item paten date. But the VONS name on the item has me confused. Any help would would be great. I have photos but not sue how to post on this site. Thanking you in advance for your time.....Cinda

[Dave]

Cinda, you can add up to 17 years to a patent date to determine when it might have been manufactured, so your saw could conceivably been made anywhere between 1916 and 1933 or so, after Vons began operating, which was before 1920.

The patent date of July 4th points out an interesting bit of trivia - all U.S. patenets used to be issued on Tuesdays, regardless of whether or not the Patent Office was actually open for business that day. The most famous example of this is the December 25, 1923 patent date on some Coca-Cola bottles.

[cindasplace]

Hi, Thanks so much. It will be on Ebay tonight for sale. Just check me out Cindasplace. And again thank you.....Cinda

[bigbubby]

I believe Vons began in 1906. However, old Los Angeles Polk Directories list Charles Von der Ahe (the founder) associated with a store with a different name in some early years. The name "Von's" showed up around 1918 IIRC. It could have been around in 1916, I don't remember.

[Dean]

I believe Vons began in 1906. However, old Los Angeles Polk Directories list Charles Von der Ahe (the founder) associated with a store with a different name in some early years. The name "Von's" showed up around 1918 IIRC. It could have been around in 1916, I don't remember.

As mentioned...VON'S...with the apostrophe.

Over time, the apostrophe was dropped.

The last time I was in the large Corona VONS (off the 91), in the hall by the restrooms, they had cool old framed pix of VONS exteriors on the wall. One in particular had VON'S.

[runchadrun]

There were two different versions of Vons. The original started in 1906 by Charles von der Ahe at 7th and Figueroa in downtown LA. By 1928 there were 87 stores and Von der Ahe sold out to Mac Marr Stores, later to be bought by Safeway (I sense a theme...), in 1929. The current version started in 1932 by Charles' sons Tom and Wil.

The apostrophe was dropped in the late 1960s around the time of the Shopping Bag divestiture.