Take a Journey with me along High Street

When Beth and I grew up in Clintonville back in the 1960's few families had more than one car......hence the preponderance of one-car garages in our neighborhood. Not many moms worked outside the home and dads either took the car to work or rode the ubiquitous High Street #2 bus downtown or to the University. Every 2-3 miles along High Street there was a "village", i.e. a cluster of stores providing the essential goods and services that our families needed to get by..........a small grocery, hardware store, drugstore, post office, library, beauty shop, barber shop, movie theatre, tavern and restaurant, church, and occasionally a jewelry store and funeral home. Importantly, these shops were within walking distance of most of their patrons and our moms did.......walk.

These days, in the winter, I often use High Street to ride to and from my downtown office......unlike the bike path, HIgh Street is usually clear of snow and ice and is well lighted after dark. Although most of the shops of my childhood are long gone, superceded by the everyday low prices offered at the big box superstores, a few vestiges remain...........somehow hanging on.

And the "bones" of the villages are still there.........the buildings and structures......many have been adapted to other uses............dollar stores, coffee shops, plasma centers and antique shops.

Over the next several months, I'm going to take you for a journey along High Street and introduce you to some of the old and new shops and proprietors there..........and some of the memories. I hope to have photos to share with you, too. There are stories along HIgh Street that need to be shared and passed down.........stories of a community that was once connected. And there are new stories being created along High Street...........stories of the new immigrants to our community, stories of reinvention. As a community, I think we need to know these stories............and, in some ways, we need to go backwards before we can go forward.

Look for the first High Street story in the next week or so.   

Comments

[PLL]

Oh, I'm really looking forward to this. Especially with the new CS bank in Clintonville, the strip saddens by the month.