Opened in 1920, Wisser Sporting Goods operated at 169 Lincoln Ave. for more than 75 years until closing in 1981. The store became an Anaheim icon and was a favorite gathering place for local businessmen and neighboring farmers who came to town to tell tall tales of their fishing and hunting adventures. One such adventure took place right in the store when one of the mounted taxidermy specimens, a stuffed bobcat, was jarred loose by the 1933 Long Beach earthquake and landed on a startled proprietor.
The store’s connection to the community and to Anaheim High was also realized through other family members, including Marion Wisser Harvey, Class of 1938, and her daughters, Norma Harvey Brown, 1960, and Barbara Harvey, 1968. Other family graduates include: Al’s wife, Jean Allen Wisser, Class of 1948; and Al’s brother Edwin Wisser, Class of 1940.
The popular store evolved from the business dealings of family patriarch Roman Wisser (pronounced Weeser), who first opened a restaurant on Los Angeles Street in Anaheim in 1886. When his cook proved unreliable, Roman sent to San Antonio for Miss Emily Meyers, a young woman he had met while living there. Emily became his bride and helper in the restaurant. They had a son, Lucien “Pete” Wisser, Class of 1907; and three daughters, Mary, Emma (Class of 1917) and Alice (Class of 1921). (Al is Pete’s son.)
Roman and Emily tried opening a saloon in Fullerton, but returned to Anaheim to stay in 1898. They next opened a new saloon in the building at 144 W. Lincoln Ave., a property that later housed Lind Rexall Pharmacy. They called their establishment“Favorite Saloon”and advertised Schlitz beer on draught. The family liquor trade prospered and, in 1906, Roman built a new “Favorite Saloon” across the street at 169 W. Center Street (now Lincoln Avenue).
When Roman died in 1913, Pete took over the business until 1917, then left to serve with the U.S. Army in Europe. Emily ran the saloon until Prohibition in 1918.
Pete returned to Anaheim following World War I and was reunited with his sweetheart, Edna Nichols, a Santa Ana school teacher, whom he married in 1920.
The significant changes in Anaheim during the 1950s, including the arrival of Walt Disney, occurred while Pete Wisser sat on the City Council from 1950 to 1958.
In 1958, blindness caused by a diabetes condition led to his retirement from the Council and the store. Sons Edwin and Allan, who both served in the Navy during World War II, returned in 1946 to join their father in the sporting goods store and, with their sister Marion, continued running the store until downtown redevelopment ended their long run as Anaheim’s favorite sporting goods store.
Check out the following links for more history and photos of the Wisser Family:
Wisser’s Favorite Saloon: http://www.anaheimcolony.com/EarlyAnaheim/saloon.htm
Wisser Sporting Goods: http://www.anaheimcolony.com/Newspaper/Post1950/wisserhistory.htm
Wisser Family Pictures and Documents: http://www.anaheimcolony.com/web/wissers/wisserpictures.htm
