Let me start by saying that this post will be different from the usual memories that you'll find here weekly. I've often shared with you the things that bring joy, that may make you laugh, and are sometimes a bit unusual. I've posted about holiday family dinners, family traditions at Christmas and other things that either interest or bore readers. But as time goes on, the memories for some are just that: memories.
We've all seen as we've aged that things often aren't what they used to be. The events of life change us, especially when there has been more loss than there is gain, or when that special someone is no longer there to share in those special holidays and events with us. We want to hit the brakes and slow down the calendar. But unless we find some sort of miracle way of doing that, things will surely keep changing.
I'm writing this because almost every year we're told that many people deal with depression during the holidays and there are many who consider, attempt, or sadly succeed at suicide or harming themselves. It often happens when someone looks back at Christmas and can't deal with some sort of loss. The loss of family, a career, abilities, health, or many things we can't even fathom would cause someone to lose the will to live. We may know someone who fits the description and we can often make a difference between whether someone has the will to live or to surrender it; or who will make the decision to make the most of things or simply exist. If there is someone that you know who displays that they're having a difficult time, reach out to them. Be a friend and help them through a season that brings joy to most. It may be an elderly neighbor who will have yet another Christmas alone, a co-worker who has difficulty making friends, or a church member who comes and goes and doesn't have much interaction with people. It could be someone with no family at all, whether young or old. We all have the potential to make a difference if we're willing to.
And for those who are able to cope with such things, thank God for getting you through it all. Take advantage of it when He puts someone in your path or gives you the strength to overcome it. When you see what He can do, you'll find it easier to lean on Him. The holiday seasons come and go, but we don't have to suffer through them or watch someone else struggle with them.
To all who take the time to read these posts: Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or whatever holiday you celebrate. May you all find happiness in the season and beyond.
Monday, December 23, 2019
Sunday, December 15, 2019
A Season of Lights
Here we are, just ten days before Christmas 2019. This year went by quickly. The month sped by like a meteor entering earth's atmosphere. It's amazing how time goes by, especially as you get older. When we were kids the days dragged on. Especially true during the school year but someone seemed to kick the calendar into overdrive during the summer months as though they couldn't wait for us to get back to class. Then adulthood came and things slowed until we found our way.
Clip-art courtesy of clkr.com
One of those things that have always made the Christmas season special is the lights that illuminate the neighborhoods slowly starting a day after Thanksgiving picking up from there, going through "Little Christmas" in January. Being we have to deal with the shortest of days in December, it's great that the Christmas lights make those days a little brighter. Some folks make neighborhoods brighter than others. Their electric bills must make them curse the season but they'll do it again next year, maybe adding even more lumens to the block.
While the lights we have today are nice, but it's my opinion that things were brighter back in the day. At least we've returned to color. A decade or so ago it was a sea of white light from small bulbs, making the blocks look almost like Las Vegas pre-1980s. What happened to color? It's like someone stole it and everyone was competing with the same pale strings around the perimeters of their rowhomes. It was really "production" looking and detracted from the Christmas feel.
Thankfully, color made a comeback and everyone was back to their own individual style. There are still many who make their decorating jobs look special. But the grand-daddy of them all around here was a man named Frank DeAntonio. It was said that Frank was one of the main decorators at the old John Wanamaker store in Center City, and if so, his work was a testimony to that. Every year, we waited for him to put up his lights and decorations and the block really shined because of it. There were others who did it up brightly and well too, but nothing like he did. I remember Mr. DeAntonio had a small n-gauge train layout in his basement window, totally crafted it himself. A nice winter snow scene with Disney characters and two sets of tracks with the trains going in opposite directions. All the kids loved it, and we would go to his window often to watch.
Mr DeAntonio also had a large snowman between his bedroom windows, just like you'd see at the Christmas Light Show at what was Wanamakers (now Macy's). It's arms would wave up and down in lights, a really nice piece of work. To finish the job, he used large colored bulbs for his lights, nicer than what we were used to around here. This guy knew how to decorate, and his work is missed. Frank DeAntonio is gone now and so are his talents. He was a great guy and always seemed to get a charge in seeing the kids watch his creations. It was said that when he retired the train layout when he got older, he donated it to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. If this is so, I hope they still have it, those kids there would love it as much as we did.
Anthony Stella and his family also brightened up the block with their long streams of large bulbs. He and his brother George who lived next door also brightened the block up. Later on, the neighbors pooled together to string lights over the street for a few years like on many blocks in South Philly. That is until one day a neighbor was cutting the strands when we were coming out the door. He said that no one was pitching in to maintain the lights each year or pay for the power. Nor did anyone help maintain them. If the men of the block worked together, maybe the lights would remain today. But lo, they're now gone and a short-lived tradition died.
SOME THINGS ARE STILL NICE...
...The folks on Smedley and Colorado Streets (2700) still do a fantastic job with their lighting. Do they compete? I don't know. Only about a block apart, I guess it's easy to believe that one of the blocks could do a better job than the other. Competition or not, who cares? Both do Christmas lighthing right, and it's really great for the neighborhood. I still see car and van loads of folks slowly driving around Smedley to have a look. The traffic pattern of Colorado makes it a quick trip up and out.
AND YOU MAY REMEMBER...
...When kids used to steal the outdoor Christmas bulbs from outside of homes. This was back in the seventies and prior to when twinkle bulbs became the norm. No one ever had a good reason for taking the bulbs. Some would take them for their own homes while others just did it to be mischievous. A few friends and I did it once in our pre-teens and had battles with them, much like we did with the acorns that fell in the autumn from the ancient trees on Oregon Avenue. We wisened-up but it still wan't right. But when you're young and stupid, it was anything goes. Thankfully for most people, stupid doesn't last.
Clip-art courtesy of clkr.com
One of those things that have always made the Christmas season special is the lights that illuminate the neighborhoods slowly starting a day after Thanksgiving picking up from there, going through "Little Christmas" in January. Being we have to deal with the shortest of days in December, it's great that the Christmas lights make those days a little brighter. Some folks make neighborhoods brighter than others. Their electric bills must make them curse the season but they'll do it again next year, maybe adding even more lumens to the block.
While the lights we have today are nice, but it's my opinion that things were brighter back in the day. At least we've returned to color. A decade or so ago it was a sea of white light from small bulbs, making the blocks look almost like Las Vegas pre-1980s. What happened to color? It's like someone stole it and everyone was competing with the same pale strings around the perimeters of their rowhomes. It was really "production" looking and detracted from the Christmas feel.
Thankfully, color made a comeback and everyone was back to their own individual style. There are still many who make their decorating jobs look special. But the grand-daddy of them all around here was a man named Frank DeAntonio. It was said that Frank was one of the main decorators at the old John Wanamaker store in Center City, and if so, his work was a testimony to that. Every year, we waited for him to put up his lights and decorations and the block really shined because of it. There were others who did it up brightly and well too, but nothing like he did. I remember Mr. DeAntonio had a small n-gauge train layout in his basement window, totally crafted it himself. A nice winter snow scene with Disney characters and two sets of tracks with the trains going in opposite directions. All the kids loved it, and we would go to his window often to watch.
Mr DeAntonio also had a large snowman between his bedroom windows, just like you'd see at the Christmas Light Show at what was Wanamakers (now Macy's). It's arms would wave up and down in lights, a really nice piece of work. To finish the job, he used large colored bulbs for his lights, nicer than what we were used to around here. This guy knew how to decorate, and his work is missed. Frank DeAntonio is gone now and so are his talents. He was a great guy and always seemed to get a charge in seeing the kids watch his creations. It was said that when he retired the train layout when he got older, he donated it to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. If this is so, I hope they still have it, those kids there would love it as much as we did.
Anthony Stella and his family also brightened up the block with their long streams of large bulbs. He and his brother George who lived next door also brightened the block up. Later on, the neighbors pooled together to string lights over the street for a few years like on many blocks in South Philly. That is until one day a neighbor was cutting the strands when we were coming out the door. He said that no one was pitching in to maintain the lights each year or pay for the power. Nor did anyone help maintain them. If the men of the block worked together, maybe the lights would remain today. But lo, they're now gone and a short-lived tradition died.
SOME THINGS ARE STILL NICE...
...The folks on Smedley and Colorado Streets (2700) still do a fantastic job with their lighting. Do they compete? I don't know. Only about a block apart, I guess it's easy to believe that one of the blocks could do a better job than the other. Competition or not, who cares? Both do Christmas lighthing right, and it's really great for the neighborhood. I still see car and van loads of folks slowly driving around Smedley to have a look. The traffic pattern of Colorado makes it a quick trip up and out.
AND YOU MAY REMEMBER...
...When kids used to steal the outdoor Christmas bulbs from outside of homes. This was back in the seventies and prior to when twinkle bulbs became the norm. No one ever had a good reason for taking the bulbs. Some would take them for their own homes while others just did it to be mischievous. A few friends and I did it once in our pre-teens and had battles with them, much like we did with the acorns that fell in the autumn from the ancient trees on Oregon Avenue. We wisened-up but it still wan't right. But when you're young and stupid, it was anything goes. Thankfully for most people, stupid doesn't last.
Saturday, December 07, 2019
A Kid's Day on the Town
The date December 8th was one of those days: a date that my brother, sister, and I looked forward to for almost an entire year. No, it wasn't as important a day as say, Christmas or maybe your birthday if it's a big deal to you. But December 8th was important to us for two reasons: It was a day off from school for us being a Catholic holiday known as the Immaculate Conception, and it was also a day that was fully-spent in Center City (we called it "going uptown" back then) visiting the department stores and their Christmas attractions.
The day always started with us sleeping in a little later than usual. After all, it was a day off, so you had to put it to good use and get yourself a little extra sleep. It was just a little, maybe an hour or two more, but then our feet hit the floor and we started to get ready.
We always took the Route 2 bus north on 16th street into town. My mom and her friends didn't trust the subway, they believed too many bad things happened down there. When we were old enough to ride it ourselves, we would on boring days take a ride northbound into either Walnut-Locust or City Hall stations with friends; go up the stairs, and cross over to go southbound again, riding in front so we could watch as we rode down the tracks.
Anyhow, when we went with the adults, we stayed on the surface. The first stop once hitting Market Street was a short walk to John Wanamaker's department store to see the Christmas light show, which was a must-see and still should be for families today, even if it's now Macy's and the booming voice of John Facenda has been long-gone. Afterward, we'd head up to the 8th floor via elevator (which still had operators) to the toy department where there were two things a kid had to do: ride the monorail around the department and go shopping for your parents at the Little Santa shop that the store set up for kids to shop for family members. The doorway into the shop was really low, giving kids the impression that only they could enter; no adults allowed. We were so into it that we didn't even think about how the adult cashiers and sales helpers got into the room. I think it's safe to say they weren't shrunken momentarily to allow them entrance, but we didn't care. There was also the mandatory stop to get your picture taken with Santa until reality set in and he became just another tall tale. We finished our trip to Wanamaker's with a stop for lunch in the fancy dining room they had there, The Crystal Tea Room. It was a lot fancier than places kids go most times of the year like Gino's or the lunch counter at your favorite five-and-dime.
After lunch, we'd trek east on Market to Lit Brothers department store at 8th Street. This was before the pit of an urban mall they called The Gallery was built down the street. Lit's had an attraction called The Enchanted Village, an animated Christmas town that was enjoyed by kids and adults alike. We'd sometimes line up through the length of the store to wait to get to see it and at other times, breeze through. The trip through the village took only maybe fifteen minutes, but we got to clown around with each other while waiting and the time wasn't wasted, the adults loved that more than the kids. The Enchanted Village survived until Lit's closed in 1975, it was revived until recently at the Please Touch Museum at Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park. It may still be there. City tourism sites hint at it, but the museum's website makes no mention of it.
There were two other department stores on Market St. East in those days - Strawbridge & Clothier and Gimbels - but to our knowledge, neither had anything like the other stores did. Either that, or the moms had their preferences. The only thing we can remember is that on Thanksgiving Day, they were the sponsors of the parade, and Santa Claus would ascend the ladder of a Philadelphia Fire Department ladder truck and enter the window of one of the store's upper floors to usher in the Christmas season. After that, I don't know of anything other than a department store Santa. It's a shame really because they missed out on drawing in the kids with their parents and what could have been some tradition for some families.
The common thread in all this were the big department stores. Now, only Macy's survives Wanamaker's once had nine floors in Center City, whittled down to three or four with office space on the higher ones. Retail is a different animal than it was back in the day, and that's sad because generations of kids and entire families will miss out on what attractions we remember from just forty years ago. It wasn't just competition either. Years ago, men like John Wanamaker were known as outstanding citizens as well as businessmen; with Wanamaker being known to be extremely generous to others and to his church.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanamaker%27s for detailed info.
Sure, we did the same thing every year, but it was quality time together, Moms and Dads, when you have the opportunity to build on a Christmas tradition, go ahead and do it. Four decades from now, your kids will remember that you cared about them and have great memories of those days.
The day always started with us sleeping in a little later than usual. After all, it was a day off, so you had to put it to good use and get yourself a little extra sleep. It was just a little, maybe an hour or two more, but then our feet hit the floor and we started to get ready.
We always took the Route 2 bus north on 16th street into town. My mom and her friends didn't trust the subway, they believed too many bad things happened down there. When we were old enough to ride it ourselves, we would on boring days take a ride northbound into either Walnut-Locust or City Hall stations with friends; go up the stairs, and cross over to go southbound again, riding in front so we could watch as we rode down the tracks.
Anyhow, when we went with the adults, we stayed on the surface. The first stop once hitting Market Street was a short walk to John Wanamaker's department store to see the Christmas light show, which was a must-see and still should be for families today, even if it's now Macy's and the booming voice of John Facenda has been long-gone. Afterward, we'd head up to the 8th floor via elevator (which still had operators) to the toy department where there were two things a kid had to do: ride the monorail around the department and go shopping for your parents at the Little Santa shop that the store set up for kids to shop for family members. The doorway into the shop was really low, giving kids the impression that only they could enter; no adults allowed. We were so into it that we didn't even think about how the adult cashiers and sales helpers got into the room. I think it's safe to say they weren't shrunken momentarily to allow them entrance, but we didn't care. There was also the mandatory stop to get your picture taken with Santa until reality set in and he became just another tall tale. We finished our trip to Wanamaker's with a stop for lunch in the fancy dining room they had there, The Crystal Tea Room. It was a lot fancier than places kids go most times of the year like Gino's or the lunch counter at your favorite five-and-dime.
After lunch, we'd trek east on Market to Lit Brothers department store at 8th Street. This was before the pit of an urban mall they called The Gallery was built down the street. Lit's had an attraction called The Enchanted Village, an animated Christmas town that was enjoyed by kids and adults alike. We'd sometimes line up through the length of the store to wait to get to see it and at other times, breeze through. The trip through the village took only maybe fifteen minutes, but we got to clown around with each other while waiting and the time wasn't wasted, the adults loved that more than the kids. The Enchanted Village survived until Lit's closed in 1975, it was revived until recently at the Please Touch Museum at Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park. It may still be there. City tourism sites hint at it, but the museum's website makes no mention of it.
There were two other department stores on Market St. East in those days - Strawbridge & Clothier and Gimbels - but to our knowledge, neither had anything like the other stores did. Either that, or the moms had their preferences. The only thing we can remember is that on Thanksgiving Day, they were the sponsors of the parade, and Santa Claus would ascend the ladder of a Philadelphia Fire Department ladder truck and enter the window of one of the store's upper floors to usher in the Christmas season. After that, I don't know of anything other than a department store Santa. It's a shame really because they missed out on drawing in the kids with their parents and what could have been some tradition for some families.
The common thread in all this were the big department stores. Now, only Macy's survives Wanamaker's once had nine floors in Center City, whittled down to three or four with office space on the higher ones. Retail is a different animal than it was back in the day, and that's sad because generations of kids and entire families will miss out on what attractions we remember from just forty years ago. It wasn't just competition either. Years ago, men like John Wanamaker were known as outstanding citizens as well as businessmen; with Wanamaker being known to be extremely generous to others and to his church.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanamaker%27s for detailed info.
Sure, we did the same thing every year, but it was quality time together, Moms and Dads, when you have the opportunity to build on a Christmas tradition, go ahead and do it. Four decades from now, your kids will remember that you cared about them and have great memories of those days.
Monday, December 02, 2019
Fire Alarm Call Boxes
Remember the old fire call boxes that you found on just about every other corner of the larger streets to call the Fire Department back in the day? They were hard to miss, painted red to catch your eye with the word FIRE on each side and shaped to look like a house. You could find stand-alone boxes on pedestals or on telephone poles. In today's high-tech world, they just don't make sense. But even before the cell phone became popular those boxes started to disappear from the streets of Philadelphia. Even the payphone made them less-needed, being it didn't cost anything for an emergency call, especially once the 911 system became active.
.
The call boxes made perfect sense back in the days when many or most homes didn't have telephones. But in the early 1980s, the Philadelphia Fire Department figured they had become obsolete. And they were right, those call boxes got way more activity with false alarms than for actual working fires. Wanted to shake things up on the street a bit? All you had to do was go over to the corner, break the glass on the box face, and pull down on the handle and run. Firefighters would be there in just a few minutes, hoping to find a citizen to direct them to the site of the actual fire. I remember reading in one book that an FDNY firefighter was killed when reponding to a false alarm, losing his grip just as the truck swiftly turned a corner. Those were the days when they rode on the trucks standing. That's another thing that's dissapperared for reasons just like this. In the later years, the citizens beat feet and didn't stick around after pulling the box, sometimes even for legitimate calls. So the PFD pulled them from the corners before we could zip halfway through the 1980s. A bit of nostalgia, but they're not useful at all today.
Fire Call-Box In Front Of Fairfax Drugstore.
(Click for a larger photo)
AND YOU MAY REMEMBER...
...that some boxes were painted black. I never could find out why. The legend was that the box was painted black when a firefighter died when responding to a fire there. But there were many boxes painted black that had no fatalities attached to them. Being they started to go black near the end of their effective lives, I would think it was done to show that they were no longer active.
...the days when you had to call 231-3131 for the police, or dial "0" to reach the Operator to connect to be connected with the fire department. I wonder today if there are even operators on duty today, or if it's an automated system. Nor do I want to check. What do you do if you find a warm-body (live person) on the other end? "Oh-uh, hey...just checking..."
...the old police call boxes. I never saw an active one, but I remember numerous abandoned boxes around South Philly through the end of the 70s. Useful for cops on patrol before two-way radios became widespread.
Now the average citizen can't even listen to the police on their analog obsolete scanners since they went digital a few years back. So a few of us have somewhat expensive paperweights with speakers and digital displays. You have to buy a digital scanner to listen to public service radio. Or, save a good bit of cash and go to https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/ctid/2291/?rl=rr
You'll find live feeds to police and fire frequencies for all police districts and citywide frequencies as well as the North and South dispatch frequencies for the Philadelphia Fire Department.
.
The call boxes made perfect sense back in the days when many or most homes didn't have telephones. But in the early 1980s, the Philadelphia Fire Department figured they had become obsolete. And they were right, those call boxes got way more activity with false alarms than for actual working fires. Wanted to shake things up on the street a bit? All you had to do was go over to the corner, break the glass on the box face, and pull down on the handle and run. Firefighters would be there in just a few minutes, hoping to find a citizen to direct them to the site of the actual fire. I remember reading in one book that an FDNY firefighter was killed when reponding to a false alarm, losing his grip just as the truck swiftly turned a corner. Those were the days when they rode on the trucks standing. That's another thing that's dissapperared for reasons just like this. In the later years, the citizens beat feet and didn't stick around after pulling the box, sometimes even for legitimate calls. So the PFD pulled them from the corners before we could zip halfway through the 1980s. A bit of nostalgia, but they're not useful at all today.
(Click for a larger photo)
AND YOU MAY REMEMBER...
...that some boxes were painted black. I never could find out why. The legend was that the box was painted black when a firefighter died when responding to a fire there. But there were many boxes painted black that had no fatalities attached to them. Being they started to go black near the end of their effective lives, I would think it was done to show that they were no longer active.
...the days when you had to call 231-3131 for the police, or dial "0" to reach the Operator to connect to be connected with the fire department. I wonder today if there are even operators on duty today, or if it's an automated system. Nor do I want to check. What do you do if you find a warm-body (live person) on the other end? "Oh-uh, hey...just checking..."
...the old police call boxes. I never saw an active one, but I remember numerous abandoned boxes around South Philly through the end of the 70s. Useful for cops on patrol before two-way radios became widespread.
Now the average citizen can't even listen to the police on their analog obsolete scanners since they went digital a few years back. So a few of us have somewhat expensive paperweights with speakers and digital displays. You have to buy a digital scanner to listen to public service radio. Or, save a good bit of cash and go to https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/ctid/2291/?rl=rr
You'll find live feeds to police and fire frequencies for all police districts and citywide frequencies as well as the North and South dispatch frequencies for the Philadelphia Fire Department.
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