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Apr. 7th, 2004
Random Childhood Memory time!
Apr. 7th, 2004 11:47 pmWhen I was quite small, there was no Walmart in Hudson. In fact, Greenport hadn't quite become a commercial mecca yet. There were a couple of strip malls, but all they really held were the grocery store, Ames, Jamesway and the bookstore. (Only the first and last of those are still in operation, and they've both moved to new locations since. In fact, the Jamesway was in the spot Staples now inhabits; the cash office is where the electronics department used to be). Mom never liked Ames, because that store was always dirty (Ameses in other towns were fine, it's only the Hudson one that was dirty, and it remained so until the day it went out of business), and she didn't prefer Jamesway's selection of clothing, so she would take tiny Jeffie - then under 5 - downtown, to Warren Street in Hudson.
Warren Street in Hudson was once a lovely place. There is still a hardware store and a toy store and a lovely 1920s bank (which was a bank, and then something else entirely, and is now a bank again) and an opera house and oh, all sorts of lovely DOWNTOWN things. One thing that used to be there and isn't anymore is the store Mom took me to: Newberry's.
I don't remember what the Newberry's building looked like, so I don't know what's in it today (although I do know it's still standing - nothing is ever knocked down in downtown Hudson). I remember Mom taking me there, and me trailing behind her, watching my feet on the sidewalks. The "step on a crack, break your mother's back" rhyme was considerably vexing here - the sidewalk was made of tan hexagonal bricks instead of big rectangular slabs. A lot of the bricks were loose and sometimes they were missing entirely. Last time I was in Hudson I looked for the sidewalks - they've been redone in the past 20 years. :(
Newberry's was a department store, or maybe just a five and dime. I don't recall there being a lunch counter or fountain service like there were in some stores (Kmart in East Greenbush had a lunch counter that served yummy hot dogs with a dinosaur toy; that I remember quite clearly). I do remember it being three stories. The ground floor was clothing, and I hated shopping for clothes. I got an Easter dress there one year. It was pink and frilly and it itched. The upstairs must have been housewares - I don't remember clearly. But you went downstairs through this big rectangular hole in the floor, and the basement was where the toys were. If I'd been good on the ride up, Mom would let me go downstairs all by myself and look at the toys while she shopped.
They didn't have any "good" toys, like Legos or My Little Ponies. They had puzzles and hula hoops and hobby horses and things for making model rockets. They also had teddy bears and bicycle tires. It smelled funny down there, and I think the floors were brown linoleum.
I don't remember when they went out of business. I don't remember when Jamesway did, either. And I've never heard about either one since.
/random ramble
Warren Street in Hudson was once a lovely place. There is still a hardware store and a toy store and a lovely 1920s bank (which was a bank, and then something else entirely, and is now a bank again) and an opera house and oh, all sorts of lovely DOWNTOWN things. One thing that used to be there and isn't anymore is the store Mom took me to: Newberry's.
I don't remember what the Newberry's building looked like, so I don't know what's in it today (although I do know it's still standing - nothing is ever knocked down in downtown Hudson). I remember Mom taking me there, and me trailing behind her, watching my feet on the sidewalks. The "step on a crack, break your mother's back" rhyme was considerably vexing here - the sidewalk was made of tan hexagonal bricks instead of big rectangular slabs. A lot of the bricks were loose and sometimes they were missing entirely. Last time I was in Hudson I looked for the sidewalks - they've been redone in the past 20 years. :(
Newberry's was a department store, or maybe just a five and dime. I don't recall there being a lunch counter or fountain service like there were in some stores (Kmart in East Greenbush had a lunch counter that served yummy hot dogs with a dinosaur toy; that I remember quite clearly). I do remember it being three stories. The ground floor was clothing, and I hated shopping for clothes. I got an Easter dress there one year. It was pink and frilly and it itched. The upstairs must have been housewares - I don't remember clearly. But you went downstairs through this big rectangular hole in the floor, and the basement was where the toys were. If I'd been good on the ride up, Mom would let me go downstairs all by myself and look at the toys while she shopped.
They didn't have any "good" toys, like Legos or My Little Ponies. They had puzzles and hula hoops and hobby horses and things for making model rockets. They also had teddy bears and bicycle tires. It smelled funny down there, and I think the floors were brown linoleum.
I don't remember when they went out of business. I don't remember when Jamesway did, either. And I've never heard about either one since.
/random ramble