Don’t’ know what it is – Eartha Kitt asking for a ’54 convertible, too, light blue, or, Perry Como claiming he met a man from Tennessee going to Pennsylvania for some home made pumpkin pie.
Whatever the tune, when I hear it my mind goes in fast reverse, landing somewhere in late December between 1956 and ’60.
Suddenly I am in elementary school, standing in the downtown Lima Public Square on the final Saturday before Christmas. The place is packed; the word “mall” is not yet in our vocabulary.
This trip occurs often this time of year, thanks to Eartha, Perry and other Christmas vocalists from the pre-Beatle era.
There was usually no place to park in the Square, so we’d often end up in the Memorial Hall parking lot. The parking there was free. (Anything to save those nickels.) On our list of stores to hit was Porter’s Music on South Main. There you could select a 33-rpm, take it in a small room with an actual monophonic record player and listen to the album to see if you really wanted it.
In the Square, Montgomery Ward stood where the Civic Center is today. There were lots of small shops all the way up to The Leader, Three Sisters and Kresgee’s (I thought it had the longest counter I’d ever seen).
On the other side of the street stood Greg’s Department Store. It had two elevators. One had a person as the operator and the other was automatic. We always took the one with the person. J.C. Penney was about a block over from the Square on the west side. It had elevators, too.
The Leader may have had an escalator, can’t really recall. Oh, well, someone reading this who knows, will straighten me out.
There were a couple candy stores sprinkled around these larger multi-story stores. Some movie theaters also. The Ranger showed cowboy movies. The Ohio Theater on High Street had a balcony and the most incredibly ornate ceiling. The Quilna was in the neighborhood of the West Ohio Gas building on Market. There was another on the Square that we never attended because of the type of movies shown there. Can’t remember the name.
High up in the air, on the north side of the Square was a life-size Santa in a sleigh pulled by equally life-sized reindeer. And of course, there was angle parking on all four sides of the Square. You could pack lots of vehicles in it.
On the other side of Main was Basinger Jewelry and a couple shoe stores - can’t recall their names. One had a basement and a shoe cobbler. There were a couple drug stores, several men’s and women’s clothing stores. Over on the west side was Lima Central Junior High, who some people still thought of as a high school.
Somewhere there were chimes, maybe even noting the quarter hour. Could have been the courthouse, that bank on the corner of Main and Market with the large green clock (the clock’s still there, but it doesn’t work) or the Market Street Methodist Church.
With our shopping complete, we’d head for Big Boy, on Wayne Street – where there was a waitress and a waiting line for a double-decker, fries and cole slaw. Finally, a slow drive down the residential area of Market Street for the most amazing Christmas lights anywhere. Usually, we’d listen to Christmas music from WIMA AM or WOWO AM, Fort Wayne, during this cruise.
On, no, here comes Eartha Kitt’s song and, there I go….back in time.
Merry Christmas from a guy hopelessly stuck in the 1950s every December about this time.
By the way, where do you usual end up in the Christmas mind of your youth? Maybe I’ll see you in the Lima Public Square.
