Ever since my friend Nadine posted a photo of her cleaned out fridge with it's container of Halo Farms Iced Tea, I've been thinking alot about places we'd go and things we'd do when I was a kid.
Unless you grew up near or live near Trenton, NJ, you've probably never heard of Halo Farms. I haven't been in years, but when I was a kid, it was this big barn like store where you could buy regular milk, the best chocolate milk, iced tea (delicious!), lemonade and other drinks. You could also watch the drinks be packaged in thier paper cartons and my brother and I loved that. They also had an area with farm animals...goats, sheep, ducks...that you could go see. We even went there on a field trip once for school.
There were lots of places we went to when we were in that area, around Olden Avenue. There was Jay's toy store, where mom and dad got my frst bike. I can still remember all the bikes they had and seeing the plastic pools stacked and ready for sale in the summer. Another place we went to alot was the Parfait House, also on Olden Ave. That was usually a stop for sundaes served in the fancy tall glasses with lots of hot fudge sauce and my my mom would get creme de menthe parfaits. She'd always let me have a taste...yum!! Sometimes when we'd go, we'd pick up coke syrup for my great Uncle John; it helped settle his stomach.
On Saturdays, we might go with my dad to get his haircut at Joe's Barbershop. Joe was great! He always had lollipops for us or candy cigarettes and the kept then under the register...we knew exactly where they were. There was a little slide door in the wall, just above the back of the chair near the register. There was an auto place on the other side and they'd make coffee in thier office and leave a cup there for Joe so he could get it. Afterwards, dad would take us to Burger King, which was a huge treat since we never went out for fast food. Guess that's why I love burgers with mayo and katchup. Those onion rings were my favorite and they don't taste the same anymore. Sad. Of course the love of mayo on a burger could have been from Wendy's too. I remember when I had broken my arm and Dad went to the barber with Dave, they stopped on the way back at Wendy's and brought a burger home to me. Square burger with mayo...what? Who knew it would be so good.
We spent a few New Year's Eves at the Ground Round on Olden Ave, before going to the Lavery's party. They always had a TV on playing "classic" cartoons for the kids and you could go to the popcorn machine and get a basket of popcorn for your table while you waited for the food. They had party hats and noise makers and did an early count down to the new year. Then we'd head to Lavery's and spend the rest of the night with a bunch of families of school friends and bring in the new year.
I remember trips to Sears in Trenton and to Dunham's in Lawerenceville. My dad would take us to Dunham's to get birthday/Christmas/Mother's Day gifts for mom. Usually slippers, a robe, a nightgown, a wallett or Jean Natte perfume. My mom would take us there to get things for Gram (my mom's mother)...again, nightgowns, robes, slippers, and Emeraude perfume. I still rmember that green bottle.
My dad's mother, my Nona, and my Aunt and Uncle lived in the Chambersburg area of Trenton...that was the Italian section. 19 Tyler Street. They had a cool house, with a spooky basement. In one corner, there was this little cave like place where they used to keep thier coal for the furnace. We always thought there was a monster in there and Uncle Dave never told us any different. In the back, he kept all his blacksmith tools. Upstairs in the living room, the couch was always covered in plastic and my Uncle had his spot between the fancy living room and the dining room where he'd watch TV in his chair. My Aunt used to have this fancy whtie and gold phone in her bedroom, which I always thought was so great as a little girl.
Other trips to Chambersburg took us to Barbero's Bakery for birthday cakes and italian pasteries. Since my birthday and my brother's were so close, we'd have one big party, but mom and dad would take us to Barbero's and let us look through the book and each order a cake decorated the way we wanted. Oh, and when we'd have picnics, dad would go down the morning of, to Colonial Bakery in Trenton, and pick up rolls he ordered. Loved going with him because it smelled SO wonderful and they always gave me and Dave a small, fresh rolls for the ride home. Picnics were always fun for us because it was the only time we got soda too. Dave and I would go shopping with mom and she'd let us pick out the flavors...always the store brand and they were loose cans so you could mix and match.
Many times when we'd visit my Nona, we'd take her to the cemetary to visit Grandpop William's gravesite. I loved going to that cemetary...still do. His grave, and now my Nona's too, is right by the carrilon, that plays music with bells. I can remember helping dad clean up the grave and the markers at the foot of it that have Z's on them; planting flowers in the spring and taking wreaths or grave blankets at Christmas. There are some pretty inpressive graves in that cemetary. One of my favortives is the one a mother had made for her son who was a soldier. She saved and collected money and had a statue made of him to mark the grave. Dad would also drive us by where our little cousin was buried, out by the fence. I really want to take JD out there sometime before my dad is gone, so that he can go with us too. I also need to take JD to where Gram and Grandpop Otto are buried in Lambertville....maybe take some flowers to each one. To this day, I love going to a cemetary, especially little old ones you find off on the side of the road.
There's so much more I could add here, but I'll stop for now. I hope that we make memories for JD like the ones my parents helped make for me. It seems harder now since things aren't the same as just 30-40 years ago. We get bread and cakes from the grocery store bakery; fast food stops are normal now, especially when we travel (mom and dad always packed a cooler of sandwiches and drinks...and there were always pepper and egg sandwiches, which I didn't like back then, but do now); we buy toys at Walmart, Target or online. At least we've found a great pizza place that makes "tomato pie" like the kind I grew up with...none of this dominos or papa john's stuff and also an Italian Ice place, well truck, that gets it's ice from NJ and is just like what my brother and I got at the pizzaria's when we were kids. JD likes his Rita's but if it's mine or Reece's choice, we head to Victor's Italian Ice truck. In fact we bought a quarter bucket of thier strawberry ice to help us get through the off season. LOL Good times!! Oh, and we're gonna have to take JD to Halo Farms now...maybe during our Thanksgiving visit.
