Timing, and the times, is everything

Taking a sort of different tact this time, and talking more in terms of the times, as opposed to the place. Yes, the events and general attitudes took place in South Toledo, but really they could have taken place anywhere.

I am about to become a father for the first time, apparently next September, yes Karly is pregnant. As I let my mind wander a bit, and dwell on all that that means, I, like probably most everybody else that has ever been in that position, wondered what the world that was waiting for my soon to be child would be like. My mind went back and forth between how my childhood (and have I mentioned that I had an awesome childhood? Oh, I have?) was, and then to how the world is today.

There have been some changes over the years.

One of my earliest memories, is of walking down the street one morning, with my (probably) fisher-price toy in hand, I think it had some kind of motion built into it so that when you pushed it, and made it’s wheels turn, part of it would regularly pop up and make a noise or something. I took that toy, and on my hands and knees pushed it down the block, stopping every so often as I hit a section of sidewalk that wasn’t level with the next (why was it always a bump, and never a drop-off, I never could figure that one out) and would try a few different ways to get that toy over it, maybe I would run it along the edge of that section, sometimes I would head it up a gently sloping hill of somebody’s front yard, like Mrs. Braun’s immaculately kept one. Then back down the hill and on to the next piece of interesting terrain. Sounds pretty boring right now, but I bet it was pretty entertaining at the time! I would say I was probably around 5 or 6 years old at the time. That’s right, 5 or 6 years old, just going down the sidewalk, not a care in the world. Flash forward to today. Would I want my child going off by themselves at that age? Not on your life. But as I look back, it was totally normal in that place, and at that time.

It really does amaze me now as I look back on it, how much freedom we actually had back then. As I think of that day, and then to the years that followed, I remember rising early, making my own breakfast, maybe Honeycomb, Captain Crunch, Rice Krispies or Cocoa Krispies, and then heading out to see what adventure would develop in front of me that day. That was what it was like, no real plans but the day and it’s activities would take care of themselves. We might end up prowling the alleys between the grid-like streets of the neighborhood, or maybe spend all day down at Highland Park doing who knows what. Maybe it was spending all day at a friend’s house who had a new Hot Wheels set, or the setting was my house playing G.I. Joes in the basement because it was raining. The possibilities were endless it seemed, and although I am sure that at some point, the words “I’m bored” did leave my lips, I honestly can’t remember ever saying it, and if I was bored, and did say it, that state of boredom was quickly forgotten. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that we knew how to entertain ourselves. And we didn’t need computers or video games to do it. Just our own imagination.

So I wonder if I can instill the same sort of fertile mind in my kids. Or is the deck stacked too much against them already, in this “cyber learning/playing” world? Is their idea of fun going to be staring at a TV or computer screen, or looking over a grassy hill, or down a lazy creek? I think and hope that I will be able to show them both, because as I am learning as I pursue my Elementary Education degree, modern technology can be a wonderful tool to assist in learning. And I don’t want to cheat them of those benefits, or else they will be passed up by the times, I just hope to not let that take over their lives, as it can easily do. I hope to be able to find that balance, the balance of nurturing their mind, and at the same time letting them bloom the old fashioned way, with a lot of good old fashioned dirty/sweating/ watermelon juice running down their chins playing outdoors kind of fun.

Now if it just wasn’t so hot down here in Florida.

(Edited to add new info on Jan 25, 2008)

Gulf Gas Stations and Monkee Cards.

Once again a call from my sister Becky took me down memory lane ...... Woodsdale Avenue, to be more precise. Apparantly a few weeks ago, with a heads up from her friend Penny, (who somehow seems to be able to keep track of happenings in the old South End even though she now lives in Defiance) my Sister went to a "store with all of the 'old style candy' like Seeligs Drug Store (Arlinton and Geneva) used to sell." She went on to say that this new store selling old style candy was located where the old barbershop was, the one behind the Tiger Tavern, which if you will remember, was at the corner of Arlinton and Woodsdale. This of course made a bunch of memories come flooding back to me, of trips to Seeligs, which I seemed to make almost daily, probably more. The time I swiped some money out of my Mom's purse, I can't remember if it was just one dollar or more, all I remember was that I tried to "get rid of the evidence" by spending it all. I remember buying myself and whoever I was with, I can't remember exactly who it was, John, Tim, Mark, Phil.... a milkshake, there were candy bars purchased, comic books I am sure, it was like Brewsters Millions, I couldn't find enough things to spend it on! It didn't matter though, bercause one of the older ladies who worked there either overheard where I got it from, or just basically knew that I wouldn't have that kind of money back in those days, because sure enough, when I walked in the door at home, Mom was there waiting, and she wasn't too happy with me after that phone call she got!

After we got Beckys email about the candy store, Karly and I went Googling for "old style candy" and we found all kinds of samples of stuff that they still make, and of course we pretty much both agreed on ones that were either great: "I love those" we'd say in unison, or not great: "ewwwwwwww", we'd say, again in unison.

But there was one thing that I remember collecting like crazy one year, that Seeligs didn't carry I guess because my only memory of getting them was from the Gulf Station, and that was Monkee Cards. If you don't know what those are, they are similar to baseball cards, you would get five little cards with pictures from the TV series, in a pack along with a stick of gum (that was usually the consistancy of bamboo) for a nickel. I had to get my supply from the candy counter of the Gulf Station that was then located at the corner of Arlington and Woodsdale. Hmmm, near as I can figure this would have been in the summer of 1967, maybe as a seven year old I wasn't allowed to cross Woodsdale, which in turn would have kept Seeligs off of my list of places to go. Or maybe they simply didn't carry them, I really don't know the reason. But regardless, I remember making many, many trips down to the Gulf station, with a hopeful gleam in my eye I'm sure, just waiting to get a look at some new scenes of those four guys who had such wild adventures. A close second in the thrill category was hopefully being able to get another piece to complete the puzzle-like poster of the Monkees that the backs of the cards would make if you were able to complete the whole set of forty four cards. I never was able to complete the poster, of course I had more than enough Monkee cards in number, I just didn't have the right ones, and I had many duplicates. We bought the Gulf Station totally out of the cards occasionally, I remember one time we bugged them so much that the guy working there finally told us what day and time the candy guys delivery truck would show up, just to make us leave him alone. Big mistake on his part, because he had an angry mob of seven year olds on his hands when the truck didn't show up on time!

Another thought struck me a few days ago. Back then we (myself and whoever) would pretty much ride our bikes everywhere we went, well, as long as there wasn't snow on the ground or it was pouring down rain. Going to Seeligs? We rode our bikes. Running an errand for Mom, she needed something from Saveway? (Arlington and Toronto, still a small store there today I believe) we rode our bikes. And when we got there, we parked them near the entrance, out of the way. And then we went in. Did you notice what we didn't do? As in "lock" them? We didn't have to. Naive as it seems these days, things like that just didn't happen. Well, at least not in "our" neighborhood back then. Of course, I wouldn't recommend doing that today. But since Seeligs and the Gulf Station are shuttered up/closed, it's not a consideration.

Seeligs, the Gulf Station, Saveway, Bobs Carryout on Spencer, later the Sterling Store on South Street, it seemed like between those places, we could find just about everything we needed as a kid. All in our own neighborhood, and all just a few minutes away.

It was a really wonderful time.

Oh ya, the event that got me moving on this....

Well, for what seems like forever, (but is probably closer to 4 or 5 years), I have been hearing and reading the stories about how they wanted to knock down that building at 700 Toronto Ave that was the epicenter of all things in my younger years, Arlington Elementary School. It was more than a school to me, with all that that entails, learning, discovering, a place where all of my friends were, it was literally my neighbor.

The block that Arlington was on dominated the view from our house, and depending on where you were seated in our living room, you had a clear view of the building itself. We climbed the crab apple trees in between the street and the teachers parking lot, we weaved between the parking bumpers on our bikes (or skateboards, the old style, with the slow, metal wheeels) we played baseball on the lawn, we shot buckets on the playground, we practiced our tennis serve and bounced superballs against the building, (could we slam one hard enough on the ground to make it land on the roof? No, but we sure tried!) We rode our bikes what must have been 500 miles a summer on the whole school block, and we hid in the bushes by the corner of the building as we played hide and seek.

Well, that 3 story giant (4 if you count the basement that was only half in the ground) is going to be knocked down this summer I hear, I got the word that that was officially gonna happen late last week from my sister, who spent her lunch hour there that week taking one last tour with Russ, the janitor there for many years giving the tour. A few years ago Russ took me through there too, when I was up in Toledo on leave, it was good to walk those old halls again. So many memories came back. But I am sure I will elaborate more on those in later posts.

I'm going to miss you my old friend, you helped me become the person I am, and you gave me a safe place to grow up.

You can't go back. Well, you can in your mind....

Well, it finally happened. I guess I am now officially in the 21st century. I have a blog. Now to make it interesting, to people other than myself. Actually, I guess that doesn't matter, as long as I enjoy it that is all that is important.

I have long thought about setting up a site on the web where others like me (there have to be others, right?) who grew up in the 1960's and 1970's in the south end of Toledo in general, and the Arlington Elementary school district in particular could view, contribute and share stories, recollections, pictures and whatever else they had. What I have quick access to I will post in the near future, and hopefully I will be able to add more later.

I really don't know why I have this fascination with those years, probably just human nature, looking back on fondness to a simpler time. Like Don Henley says so well in the very beginning of the song "End of the Innocence"

Remember when the days were long
And rolled beneath a deep blue sky
Didn’t have a care in the world
With Mommy and Daddy standing by

Yep, not a (real) care in the world. A simpler time. Now that I am (and have been for way too long it seems) an adult, I often look back fondly on my youth. My parents really sheltered my sister Becky and I, I didn't realize it then, but I see it now. And I am very thankful for that. I was able to be a kid. I don't think many kids these days can say that, well, not for as long as they should be able to. But that is a thought to be expanded on in a later entry maybe.

The way I see this blog evolving is, I plan on trying to put into words what it was like growing up then (60's, 70's) and there. (South End of Toledo) I will be telling short stories, and as I do, I may, in my cloudy recollection, accidentally combine two or more episodes into one, so if I do, please excuse me, I wasn't busy taking notes at the time. I was way too busy being a kid.

I hope to add pictures and other items too, but if this blog is to really have life breathed into it, I will hopefully be getting others recollections and contributions to add to it. I plan on posting (among other things) class pictures from back then, so who knows, if you drop by here, you may spot a face or two you recognize, maybe even your own.

So if you stumble upon this, tell a friend from back then if you are still in touch. Spread the word!

More to come.........