SUNY at Oswego - Ontarian Yearbook (Oswego, NY)

Page 14 text:

I like to recall those week-day nights we spent downtown in the Strand Theater, the one with those hard, spring balcony seats and the popcorn sold downstairs. It seemed as if the first ten rows in the orchestra were always filled with kids, hooting and whistling and cheering. We were always sure of meeting some of the gang sitting up under the projector's light rays. Then, for weekend shows, I'd splurge and take you to the Oswego Theater . . . remember the plush seats and the soft lights, the ceiling paintings and the handsome lounge. It was all swell except the hour's wait for Sunday evening seats. Dear Diane, I was glad to hear from you again, for awhile I'd almost given up hope, Last week when I drove through Oswego on my way back to the His- tory department at Northampton High, those old memories came back to me, those of ten years ago when we came to Oswego, green from the farm. It was a big place to us then . . . everything was confused and we were homesick for the first time. It was Mom Kent, my landlady, who babied me through those Hrst two weeks. Do you remember stopping over at Savas' at night after the show, and how we made a mistake our first night in Oswego by walking into the bar instead of the cafeteria? IfI hadn't been so naive myself, I would have laughed at that look of horror on your face. Perhaps mine was just as red, I don't know. Those few steps down the length of the bar to the cafeteria door were like the last mile. You were practically running when you went through it. Times have surely chang- ed since those days . . . 10

Page 13 text:

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Page 15 text:

againg ' l'1Opc. irough ie His- mpton e back n Vk'l'1Cn vm the s then ind we me. lt 7, Whg St two ' ev. over at iw, and st night the bar hadn't ld have on your is red, I s down afeteria ou were vu went f chang- l passed Herby's. lt's closed now. The white paint has crackled and warped, the windows are dusty and broken, the air is one of forlorn lone- liness. Not so ten years ago, was it? The place was always jumping, we'd sit there half the evening over coffee and hamburgers, watching kids come and leave, throwing wisecracks back and forth across the boothtops, and occasionally making a trip to the back room where a large new section I l l l l make a scene of myself on that two by four dance Hoor, waddling like a duck. I don't know, Di, whether our as- sociationsn benefitted me or not . . . you kept me moving all the time, window shopping in the five and ten, or nursing hot chocolate in Whelan's Drug, hauling your week's food sup- ply from the A 81 P out to the hill or bowling down at the Capitol Alleys . . . remember the day that brat ran 11 of tables and chairs were built to ac- commodate the increased patronage. l don't know how Herby kept him- self in cigars on the nickels and dimes he made from us . . . The dinner brought back recol- lections of those swell spaghetti sup- pers at Conzone's and Diment's. lVla's meat balls always tasted like more. Those evenings were fine too, until yould make me get out and