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.
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.
