Hi Rose,
I just received this fabulous piece. Wow! Did it ever bring me
back to the “good old days”! I think that our classmates will remember it well!
Joanne Struz
Boston nostalgia WORTH REPEATING FOR ALL
US OLDTIMERS.
Dear Santa,
This year all I want for Christmas is for you to take me back in time
about 50 years so I can once again experience the thrill of the sights,
sounds, gaiety, and hustle and bustle of downtown Boston as it was in the 1950's and 1960s.
I don't need any money, I just need for you to re-wind time so I can
run into S.S. Pierce to buy a few jellies or jams, visit Raymond's basement
for that little extra gift - walk through R.H. Stearn's or was it
R.H. White's? And take a moment to stop to buy flowers from the vendor
outside of the subway stop on Winter Street. I always meant to do
that, but never did.
I'd also like to go to the original Windsor Button Shop on Chauncey Street to
find a replacement button for my favorite coat and resist the urge to buy
a new one at either Morton's or Conrad & Chandler's instead. Also,
having the opportunity to buy something at the Jordan Marsh basement store on
"Dollar Day," or a visit with my aunt as she sat perched on her
little seat operating the store's elevator.
Once shutting the gate
with a twist of her white gloved hand would send us bouncing
from floor to floor as she called out each department's offerings.
Two rides up and down was always a special treat around the holidays. We would
stand ready listening for the sounds of the the metal canister as it
shot up the recent sales to wherever.
Please, Santa, if only for a moment it would be fun to return to the
afternoon I met my girlfriends, where else but under the clock at
Filene's on the corner of Washington and Summer Streets, or inside by the
Revlon cosmetic counter if weather was bad. To laugh with them as
heartily as we did when we invaded I.J. Fox to try on fur coats that none of us
could afford to buy. At the time we barely had enough money to go to the
lunch counter at Kresge's, Neisner's or Woolworth's for a hot dog, let alone to
buy a mink.
It would be nice, too
Santa, if I could walk into Filene's, get on the escalator and as the scent of
the perfumes on the street floor fade away, have one more chance to look down
at the breathtaking view below. The twinkling white lights wrapped around
shimmering garland hanging in perfect loops from the tin ceiling and the
decorated Christmas trees at every counter were so beautiful. You were
there, Santa. Do you remember that sight?
Taking my youngest to walk about the sidewalks visiting the wonderful windows
that told of Christmases gone by then on inside to visit the Enchanted Village
before our walk through the lighted Boston Common trying to decide
where to have dinner.
Would it be Dini's or Cafe Marliave on Bromfield
Street or how about the restaurant in Filene's for the chicken shaped Ice Cream
and vanilla wedge cookie desert. No it would be ending our evening at
Bailey's to devour ice cream and hot fudge from not only an overflowing sundae
cup but from the silver tray underneath it as well.
I know for certain that we didn't go to Locke-Ober's because, as you must
remember, Santa, in those days unless Harvard won a home game against Yale, women
were excluded from the main dining room.
If
you can pull any of this off, I promise I won't leave the past without bringing
home either a blueberry muffin from Jordan Marsh or a couple of the famous
almond macaroon cookies baked on-site at Gilchrist's.
Further, while I'm back in time I swear to you that when I drop a
coin into the slot to release the latch holding the shopping bags at the
entrances to most of the stores, and as tempting as it may be, I'll be nice and
not naughty and pull only one.
Realistically, if I'm asking for too much, perhaps the next time I see you at a
mall you could give me a wink and a nod just to confirm that you got my letter
and that you too believe it was a wonderful life!
Merry Christmas and
Enjoy, Joanne Struz
