GONE From My Life

GONE

Things/Place/Events That No Longer Exist

• My grade school, Our Lady of Lourdes: it is now a charter school for the Philadelphia School District
• Valley Forge Music Tent- (PA)- I don't know what happened to it but when I was a kid, I went to a family show every summer.  And then the tent just disappeared.
• My stereo system: my turn table, my speakers, my cassette player, my receiver, my 8-track system, my vinyl collection are all gone.  Slowly, pieces of this collection slipped away until I had nothing left.
• Gentle Thursday- one day, each spring, Penn State shut down classes and held its on little Woodstock.  There was music on the lawn of Old Main and everyone huddled in small packs and shared their beer and pot.
• The Brick House Bar (PA)- I was here when the announcement was made that John Lennon died.  It was a small bar, tucked away in an alley.  One day, it was torn down and three parking spaces were added to the adjacent parking lot.
• The Turkey Day Game- Stroudsburg High School vs East Stroudsburg high School-  it was a great tradition between neighboring schools. A couple thousand people would come to this game every year. But the PIAA state organization changed the rules on when high school football teams had to finish their season.  We had to finish by the second week in November.  And that was the end of a wonderful tradition.
• Wanamakers (Philadelphia)- This was a high end department store in center city and the frequent meeting place for friends.  "Meet me at the eagle"
• Wida's restaurant- Long Beach Island, NJ-  This restraint was a holdout form the 1940s and I don't think it had a moment of restoration since then.  It was big and ugly.  the food was standard and predictable.  Someone bought it five years ago and renovated it and made it a high end bar, restaurant and hotel. Another old, ugly historical place is now gone.
• Jack-in-the-Box Fast Food restaurant (PA)- when I was in high school, it was the cheapest place to eat lunch.  A buck went a long way in this place.
• Horn and Hardaart Cafeteria- Philadelphia- This was a self-serve restaurant that had food stored in individual dispensing units. You got a tray, grabbed your food and paid.  It was noting fancy but the food, particularly the pies, was good.
• Overbrook Steam Heat Company- Philadelphia- this company heated our house and the radiators hissed at us for years.  Sometimes, there would be a pipe leak in the middle of the street and the company would pit an 8' pipe in the  middle of the street to funnel the steam up and away from the cars.
• Penny Candy- inflation made this sweet treat too expensive.
• Powered Milk- maybe this is still around  but I think no one would admit to using this dreadful alternative to milk.  When I was growing up, families were large so many families would cut their milk with powdered milk.  It was awful.
• No meat on Fridays- I was raised as a catholic at a time when we could not eat meat on Fridays. That meant that the turkey from Thanksgiving sat in the refrigerator the next day and no one could have a turkey sandwich until Saturday.
• Brandywine Junior College- Wilmington, DE- I started college here and transferred to Drexel University for my sophomore year.  This college lasted another three years and then was sold off to Widener Law School.
• Chapel Veils- Again, as catholics, we had some crazy rules.  females had to cover their heads when they were in church.  If we forgot our hates or veils, we had to put a napkin or a tissue on our heads.  Then, women just stopped wearing them and no one said anything.
• Clogs- I loved wearing clogs.  They were in style and then they went out of style.  But I didn't care; i still wore mine.  Then they came back in style.  But now I don't wear them because I can't find any place that sells them.
• Penny Loafers- I still have a pair that I wear rarely. In 1993, one of my students died suddenly. Her mother had just bought her a pair of loafers.  We wore the same size so her mother gave me the new shoes. Every time I wear them, I think of my student, Donna.
• Dressing up to go into the city- Philadelphia- my mother made us wear a skirt and white gloves when we went in to the city on Saturdays. We were dorks.
• Green Hill Movie Theatre- Philadelphia- the Saturday after Christmas, they showed an afternoon of cartoons for the kids in the neigh hood.  It was free and everyone got a box of awful hard candy.
• May Procession- every Mother's Day, my grade school had a May Procession to honor Mary, the mother of God.  An 8th grade girl was picked as the May Queen and this was a huge honor.  My sister-in-law was a May Queen.
• The Main Point- Bryn Mawr, PA- This music venue was small and jump started many careers. Tom Rush, Livingston Taylor, James Taylor and many others got their start here. The Point was always on the verge of bankruptcy.  Then someone would make a generous donation and new life would be pumped in to the theatre.  But like so many great things, it finally died.
• Springfield High School- I was the principal here from 1999 - 2007.  The building has been completely demolished and a new buidling was erected. The campus is no longer recognizeable.

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