”Towns change; they grow or diminish, but hometowns remain as we left them.”
The day is sunny but breezy making it feel colder than it is. Rain is a possibility starting around two. I have no plans for today except maybe a little cleaning. The cobwebs are back. I can see them in the sun.
When I was a kid, my town was an amazing place. Uptown, in the square, was a Woolworth’s and a Grant’s. Hank’s Bakery had the best smells especially when bread was baking. The aroma wafted from the store to the sidewalk. If I had money, I’d buy a hot loaf straight from the oven. I’d pull off pieces to eat as I walked. The worst smells came from the fish market. I remember the men behind the counter wore full white aprons with stains on the front. The case inside was filled with ice. Fish were laid on top of the ice. The lobsters swam in a container in the front window. Back then there seemed to a drug store every few stores. They varied in size. I used to love to go to the biggest drug store where the counter was marble and always felt cold. That was where I drank my vanilla Coke made with real vanilla. It was served in a thick glass with a paper straw. Another drug store had the smallest counter, only 4 stools. Kennedy’s had a pickle barrel out front. I remember the cheese and soda biscuits you could buy. Children’s corner sold pouffy dresses and books for 49 cents. I spent my allowance there many times. These were more stores, but I remember these the most.
If I could go back in time for one day, I’d go back to when I was about ten, and I’d roam my town. First, I’d check out the store windows. I’d watch the cobbler in his narrow store behind his counter filled with shoes, filled with pairs of shoes tied together by their laces. I’d have that Vanilla Coke. I’d watch the lobsters swim. I’d look at all the pastries in Hank’s window. I’d walk by the fire station as I was leaving the square. Sometimes the firemen were sitting outside in chairs. I’d say hi. They’d say hi back. I’d go behind town hall and stop at the town’s stable to see the horses. I’d walk along the tracks. I’d be gone all day.
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March 1, 2025 at 4:07 pm
That sounds like a great town. Austin was like four towns in a little town.
A town of big creeks and woods to explore. Now it’s all Condos.
My mother was a communist activist so when I was five we bought a house on the white side of town. It’s called Block Busting. But the people in the neighborhood didn’t move out like the group had predicted. So I lived there amongst some of the oldest people in the whole city. Retired University professors and blue collar immigrants from Sweden. Mrs Olsen lived across the street. I wrote her an Ode. You liked that one very much.
My Mexican Grandmother lived in the Mexican part of town by the river. She had a big house for that neighborhood. With a proper porch, sitting room, and living room in addition to the two bedrooms. Across the big avenue were shotgun shacks. One big room with a kitchen in one corner.
In the evenings on warm days we’d go down the hill to the river and wade in the shallow parts. The deep parts were too swift to swim in. You could see the Milky Way down in the river channel back then. It blocked out all the light on moonless nights. My Mother studied and caucused with her communist friends the University so there was that iteration of a town in itself to explore. I met people from all over the world and was exposed to wonderful world class museums and libraries. My Black cousins lived in the Black side of town. Another iteration of a town in itself. That was were I went to school.
That made a situation where I’d have to walk through one ethnic neighborhood to another. You learn to make friends….
March 1, 2025 at 4:48 pm
Beto,
I always think of Austin as a huge city so I am glad to read about your Austin. I always think we grew up in a golden age when we were free range kids.
I have never heard of block busting. Boston, though, had its share of segregated neighborhoods and segregated schools. Busing to break up those segregated schools was a disgrace for the city as whites were hateful with riots and protests. Now, though, Boston is a sanctuary city and has been threatened because of it.
I would have loved your Austin and all the different neighborhoods. I have seen those shotgun houses being rehabbed on HGTV.
I envy you those evenings. I would have enjoyed the river.
My town had only a couple of black families back then. I never met a variety of people, but I did go to so many museums in Boston. We couldn’t afford a leave home for vacations, but we did do day trips to museums, beaches and historical spots of which there are many here in Massachusetts.
March 2, 2025 at 12:07 am
Hi Kat,
Today was partly cloudy with a high temperature of 80°. I sat out on my patio reading an actual book that my better half bought me a book on the history of major league baseball parks. This is the time of the year when it’s nice enough to sit outside. In winter it’s too cold and in the summer it’s too darn hot.
When I was a kid in Dallas we had a huge bakery factory, “Mrs Baird’s”, that sold packaged baked goods to grocery stores. When you drove by during the baking times, the aroma of freshly baked bread would waft over the entire neighborhood. They had a competitor who sold bread from step vans all over town. These bread men would go door to door hawking bread.
There are two small towns surrounded on all sides by Dallas. They have their own governments, police, and fire departments. A few years ago the famous Highland Park pharmacy closed forever. I took my daughter there to have a real, handmade, chocolate malted. We sat at a cold marble counter top with revolving stools exactly as you described.
March 2, 2025 at 10:46 am
Hi Bob,
One of the best video series was Baseball, a Ken burns series. It showed parks which no longer exist and what several looked like back in the day. I found out stuff I didn’t know about Fenway.
I love real books. I love holding them in my hands and turning the pages. I travel with my iPad filled with books and use it to read in bed.
We are back to winter. It will be in the 20’s today and even lower tonight, and the rest of the week looks the same.
Bread baking is right up there on my list of favorite smells. I would buy a loaf each time, can’t resist.
I loved those stools at the Middlesex Drug store.