Great Shares from Joanne Struz

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