JOSKE'S DEPARTMENT STORE IN THE 1960s

Back in the 1960s, during Christmas, my family would hit the road and travel from Mexico City to San Antonio, Texas with the express purpose of doing some gift shopping and to spend Christmas there as well. We usually returned home on the 26th to celebrate the New Year back at home. Joske's was the main destination of our shopping days and visiting the toy department was a dream come true for us young tykes. I can still remember the toys I found there and the many hours we spent browsing through the aisles in wonderment.

The wonderful toy department at Joske's!

I bought these two at Joske's Toy Department around 1963.

Starting in 1960, kids at the Joske's store downtown would wait for their turn with Santa Claus in Fantasy Land, a 16,000-square-foot holiday-themed maze.

Santa's Fantasy Land!

The huge Christmas Santa at Joske's.

We stopped traveling to San Antonio by 1970 as we all grew older and pursued other holiday destinations but I never forgot those nostalgic days when I looked forward to the great San Antonio adventure at Christmas time!

In 1987, Joske’s was sold to Dillard’s, which occupied the building until 2008 when it was purchased and later occupied by the Rivercenter shopping mall. The building is part of the National Register of Historic Places-listed and City of San Antonio Alamo Plaza Historic District and is an individual City of San Antonio local landmark.