I recently watched a program about Bruce Springsteen where he sang about his home town which got me thinking about my home town. I was born and grew up in Palmer Massachusetts and specifically the village of Thorndike. It's a typical small mill town. The mill in Thorndike was Diamond National which manufactured egg cartons. It was also the place where my dad worked for over 35 years. This might be a boring post to some but the following is a description of how Thorndike was in the 60's.
I'll start with a tour of Commercial Street. It really was commercial at that time. The first place we come to is the dairy bar. Entering it there was a magazine rack to the right where we would browse the magazines until we heard the familiar call "This isn't a library!". So then we would go to the counter where there were several stools. We might order an ice cream cone that cost ten cents (fifteen if you wanted a large cone). Or maybe we'll have a frappe which costs thirty cents. There was also a selection of sodas for ten cents. It was a true soda fountain where you could order the flavor of soda you liked best, from a coke or a vanilla coke, or a cherry coke. If you felt brave, you could order a zombie, which was a squirt of all the flavors. There was so much to choose from there and we would hang out until the owner had enough of us and threw us out.
Next on the street was a laundry mat which I didn't frequent. After that was a store call Charlies Variety. This store had quite the variety of things but it was famous for it's candy. It was a favorite stop for kids after school. The owner was Charlie of course. He seemed gruff behind the counter usually with an unlit cigar in his mouth but he had a heart of gold. Outside of the store was a coke machine where you could get a bottle of coke for ten cents. You always had to check the bottom of the bottle. If it was red, you would get a free coke and if it was gold you would get twenty five cents.
The next place up the street was the post office. Thorndike didn't have mail delivery (it still doesn't) so everyone would come to the post office to get their mail. It was a great place to meet people and get the latest gossip. Inside were a couple of walls of post office boxes, each with it's own combination to open it. I can still remember the number of our box, 217, though I don't remember the combination. The post office has since moved to a newer building on Church Street.
Moving up the street there was Bob's barber shop, one of two barber shops that were on Commercial Street. We never went to his shop. Crossing the street from there was Topor's grocery store. I don't know much about is since we didn't do much shopping there.
Down the street was a place called the Thorndike Cafe, or commonly known as Salomons. It was a small white building (it's still there) and inside was a bar and several tables. Inside also was a bowling game that used a disk that would slide down to "knock down" the pins. We would go in there to play every now and then. It also had a Jukebox for music. One of the things I can remember was the pizza. It was the best pizza in Thorndike. It was also the only pizza in Thorndike but it was good. It was a thin crust pizza and I can remember my mom would always get one on Thursday night. Next to the cafe were horseshoe pits that anyone could use for free. I spent many an afternoon playing horseshoes there.
The next place on the street was/is St Joe's club. It's a Polish American club but anyone can go there. It's the one bar on the street that is still open. When I was growing up it was the bar that many of the factory workers went to for a drink after their shift at the mills. By 3:15 on most days the bar would be full. It's still a popular place but not quite as busy as when the mills were open. Growing up, we used to sneak upstairs from the bar to where there was a pool table. Most bartenders didn't say anything but we were kicked out a few times. Attached to the bar is a hall where many weddings and other occasions were held including the wedding ceremony of two of my sisters.
Next stop on the street is a building that used to house two businesses. The first was Quink's market. It was a small grocery store where we did most of our shopping. It didn't have everything but it had the necessitates. Mr Quink was also a butcher and he had a good selection of meats. My mom would send me down to pick up a few things and I never needed money. We would always "put it on the tab" and then pay it at the end of the week. The other business was Art's barber shop. It's where I always went for my haircuts. Art was known to have coughing spells while cutting your hair. It's a wonder that I still have both my ears!
The last place on Commercial Street was the Citgo gas station. It was part owned by my grandfather and it's the place where I think I had my first job pumping gas. Back then it was always a job finding where the filler on cars was. Sometimes it was behind the license plate and on some cars it was behind the rear tail light. Gas at that time was about 30 cents. You could easily fill your tank for $5.
Thorndike also had it's own grammer school which was on the corner of Main Street and Commercial Street. It's where I spent my first eight years of school. Back then we had double classes which meant that two grades would be in the same classroom, like first and second grades. The teacher would teach to one grade and then give them work to do while she taught the othe grade. I remember we could walk home for lunch before returning to school by one o'clock. That would never be allowed now!
I have fond memories "hanging out" on Commercial Street. There was no internet or cell phones back then. We would usually sit on the grass near St. Joe's club just talking or maybe playing cards. It was a much simpler time back then. Sometimes I wish we could have a reunion of the "Thorndike boys" but I don't think that will ever happen.
