Hugo's Blog

A friend from my high school days forwarded to me some essays written by a schoolmate who graduated a year after we did. They are delightful! I graduated in 1963 so most of his memories that I’ve read are from the late 50’s and 60’s before shopping malls. The setting is a small Kentucky town; I think the population was approximately 5,000. Our graduating class consisted of 40 or so students.

One of the essays describes “Downtown” with its J. J. Newberry and Ben Franklin dime stores. I think every small southern town had one, or both, of these stores. I bought my first lipstick at one. They were wondrous places. You could purchase notions, clothing, cosmetics, toys, candy from the candy counter scooped into small bags, and just about anything else you could need. He describes the hardware store where he bought a BB gun on layaway when he was eleven years old. I remember J.C. Penney with vacuum tubes that magically whooshed your money to some unseen place and returned your receipt and change. I remember “window shopping” at the M & R Shoppe and Barnes Mercantile because we couldn’t afford to buy anything in those stores. We did most of our clothing shopping at Penney’s and Belk; they were a bit cheaper.

He also writes of cruising, drive-in movies, and local bootleggers. He brought back memories of the Dairy Maid and the Kentucky Grill, our favorite hang-outs. I must have driven around the Dairy Maid thousands of times and spent countless hours there taking up a parking place and purchasing no more than a coke. Our little town was a combination of Mayberry and "Happy Days." It was a simpler time of innocence that has been lost forever.

When I asked if he had a blog, he explained that he didn’t. He simply sends his “blog” posts to 75 or so of his friends by email. He is going to add my name to his mailing list. I thought about quoting some of his material here, but he is planning to compile them into a book. I hope he reserves an autographed copy for me!