The Yellow Kitchen
When I think back to what my earliest memories are, there are only snapshots in my mind - sort of like a picture with no dialog to go with it. I seem to have a very foggy memory of being in a yellow kitchen. I don't think our kitchen on Tully was ever yellow. I think I asked mom about this once and I _think_ she said that the kitchen on Federal St. was yellow. Since we moved from there onto Tully in June, 1950, I was only about a year old when this foggy memory was created.
My parents were married October 26, 1946 at Park Church. They moved in with dad's parents for a few months until the apartment on the east side became available. Post-war housing was tight and there was just nothing available for the deluge of men coming back from the war. My great grandmother passed away, supposedly from over-anesthetization for a cholescystectomy (gall bladder removal). Anesthesiology wasn't the science then that it is now. She was a big woman and they probably weren't sure how much to give her. She was living in the east side apartment.
My grandma, mom's mom, inherited the house after great grandma's death along with her two siblings. She bought them out and that's how south enders ended up on the east side. It was a duplex. Grandma and Grandpa lived downstairs and mom and dad lived upstairs. My mother has told me a few things about their life in that apartment. They used to entertain and have parties. Their friends Ty and Doris came over. Mom had a pretty little coffee table with some sort of flowers on the top. Apparently Doris left her cigarette in an ashtray and it fell off and burned a spot on the top of this table, which was then there forever. The table came over to Tully and mom fumed about it every time she saw it.
They were one of the first ones in the neighborhood to get a television set. Dad had to have it to watch baseball games. Please remember that not much was ON TV in 1947-48. It was very expensive but mom sucked it up and dad got his television. Anyone that actually knew my dad would NOT be surprised at this revelation, as he really liked new electronic things.
Mom cooked her first chicken in the oven there. Apparently she took the timing in the cookbook very strictly, pulled it out to serve it, and it wasn't done. I think we've ALL done that number at some point in time.
Grandma had a small store attached to their apartment downstairs. My great grandparents had run it as a grocery, but grandma changed it to a variety store. I'll talk about the store some other time.
I came along in February, 1949. Mom quit working to stay home with me. There was no question about this decision back in those days. My dad was working, I believe, as a bookkeeper for a grain company and was learning the ropes to be a broker in the future. He had started out working as a board marker at Collin Norton downtown. Back in those days the futures quotes and cash grain prices came through on a ticker tape. There were no electronic boards then. Dad learned to mark board before he went into the service.
There are existing pictures of me in my baby carriage on the porch. I was six weeks old. There are also pics of my dad with Bunny, the cat. We always had a cat, because dad always had a cat. Bunny was named after Bunny Berrigan, the jazz trumpeter, I believe. I'll have to check with mom about that. Apparently they had to get rid of Bunny when I was starting to walk because I tried to sit on her, and she almost scratched me.
I'm not sure how they ended up on Tully. I know a realtor showed them around various south end neighborhoods, and mom said they looked in Heatherdowns also, but didn't like the cookie cutter look of those houses over there. I do know the apartment became too small, and my dad was doing better. I think they both wanted to be in the south end again. At the time, Beverly School was located at the end of Tully on the corner of S. Detroit and Glanzman. The "new" Beverly wasn't built until 1952. Mom thought I'd only have a half a block to walk to school. We did not have a car then.
S. Detroit was U.S. Route 25 back then, and was a major truck route. It was still only a two lane road, and there was lots of traffic going by. At the end of the street was an underground tunnel that the school kids used to cross the street. There were little brick houses built at the tunnel entrances. The squares where these were are still in existence near the corners. The Anthony Wayne Trail was built, but there were no expressways or the Ohio Turnpike until 1955.
The house was a one and a half story frame with two bedrooms. The front door opened right into the small living room. The bathroom was straight back. One bedroom was in the front (mom and dad), and one was in the back (mine, and later on both of us). The kitchen was off to the right. There was a full basement. The attic was unfinished. There was a huge gravity furnace in the basement. The kitchen was incredibly small by today's standards. We had a drop leaf table in the kitchen - the same table grandma has in her apartment now. That was on the right side of the kitchen. The left side consisted of the stove, a bit of counter, the sink, and another bit of counter space. The refrigerator made up the bottom of the "L" layout and was next to the stove. There was a small storage space next to it in the chimney corner between the fridge and the stove.
The fridge was a Philco and had only one door. It had a tiny freezer which was good for an ice tray and a couple of pieces of meat for the week. There was a meat tray and a couple of shelves. There were no door shelves. Refrigerators didn't have those until much later.
http://dogjournals.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html
This terrible picture shows how the front looked and has a handle on the left exactly like ours!
http://tinyurl.com/2d2xxk - this is an eBay listing and shows OUR refrigerator. Barb, do you remember it? Not sure how long this will stay up.
Our groceries were delivered by Fordham's market, which was located on Rugby Dr. next to where "Piece of Cake" is now. It was in the space which is currently empty and displayed "for rent." They delivered the groceries in a black truck, I think. Mom would call in an order and they would deliver. She could run a tab. I'm not sure how often they had to pay the tab. The drug store was a couple of doors down and they let them run a tab also. People were very trusting in those days.
As I type this, I find that I could just run on forever, and that is not what I want to do. I could like to explore this in further detail, but it's late. I will take this up again soon.
My parents were married October 26, 1946 at Park Church. They moved in with dad's parents for a few months until the apartment on the east side became available. Post-war housing was tight and there was just nothing available for the deluge of men coming back from the war. My great grandmother passed away, supposedly from over-anesthetization for a cholescystectomy (gall bladder removal). Anesthesiology wasn't the science then that it is now. She was a big woman and they probably weren't sure how much to give her. She was living in the east side apartment.
My grandma, mom's mom, inherited the house after great grandma's death along with her two siblings. She bought them out and that's how south enders ended up on the east side. It was a duplex. Grandma and Grandpa lived downstairs and mom and dad lived upstairs. My mother has told me a few things about their life in that apartment. They used to entertain and have parties. Their friends Ty and Doris came over. Mom had a pretty little coffee table with some sort of flowers on the top. Apparently Doris left her cigarette in an ashtray and it fell off and burned a spot on the top of this table, which was then there forever. The table came over to Tully and mom fumed about it every time she saw it.
They were one of the first ones in the neighborhood to get a television set. Dad had to have it to watch baseball games. Please remember that not much was ON TV in 1947-48. It was very expensive but mom sucked it up and dad got his television. Anyone that actually knew my dad would NOT be surprised at this revelation, as he really liked new electronic things.
Mom cooked her first chicken in the oven there. Apparently she took the timing in the cookbook very strictly, pulled it out to serve it, and it wasn't done. I think we've ALL done that number at some point in time.
Grandma had a small store attached to their apartment downstairs. My great grandparents had run it as a grocery, but grandma changed it to a variety store. I'll talk about the store some other time.
I came along in February, 1949. Mom quit working to stay home with me. There was no question about this decision back in those days. My dad was working, I believe, as a bookkeeper for a grain company and was learning the ropes to be a broker in the future. He had started out working as a board marker at Collin Norton downtown. Back in those days the futures quotes and cash grain prices came through on a ticker tape. There were no electronic boards then. Dad learned to mark board before he went into the service.
There are existing pictures of me in my baby carriage on the porch. I was six weeks old. There are also pics of my dad with Bunny, the cat. We always had a cat, because dad always had a cat. Bunny was named after Bunny Berrigan, the jazz trumpeter, I believe. I'll have to check with mom about that. Apparently they had to get rid of Bunny when I was starting to walk because I tried to sit on her, and she almost scratched me.
I'm not sure how they ended up on Tully. I know a realtor showed them around various south end neighborhoods, and mom said they looked in Heatherdowns also, but didn't like the cookie cutter look of those houses over there. I do know the apartment became too small, and my dad was doing better. I think they both wanted to be in the south end again. At the time, Beverly School was located at the end of Tully on the corner of S. Detroit and Glanzman. The "new" Beverly wasn't built until 1952. Mom thought I'd only have a half a block to walk to school. We did not have a car then.
S. Detroit was U.S. Route 25 back then, and was a major truck route. It was still only a two lane road, and there was lots of traffic going by. At the end of the street was an underground tunnel that the school kids used to cross the street. There were little brick houses built at the tunnel entrances. The squares where these were are still in existence near the corners. The Anthony Wayne Trail was built, but there were no expressways or the Ohio Turnpike until 1955.
The house was a one and a half story frame with two bedrooms. The front door opened right into the small living room. The bathroom was straight back. One bedroom was in the front (mom and dad), and one was in the back (mine, and later on both of us). The kitchen was off to the right. There was a full basement. The attic was unfinished. There was a huge gravity furnace in the basement. The kitchen was incredibly small by today's standards. We had a drop leaf table in the kitchen - the same table grandma has in her apartment now. That was on the right side of the kitchen. The left side consisted of the stove, a bit of counter, the sink, and another bit of counter space. The refrigerator made up the bottom of the "L" layout and was next to the stove. There was a small storage space next to it in the chimney corner between the fridge and the stove.
The fridge was a Philco and had only one door. It had a tiny freezer which was good for an ice tray and a couple of pieces of meat for the week. There was a meat tray and a couple of shelves. There were no door shelves. Refrigerators didn't have those until much later.
http://dogjournals.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html
This terrible picture shows how the front looked and has a handle on the left exactly like ours!
http://tinyurl.com/2d2xxk - this is an eBay listing and shows OUR refrigerator. Barb, do you remember it? Not sure how long this will stay up.
Our groceries were delivered by Fordham's market, which was located on Rugby Dr. next to where "Piece of Cake" is now. It was in the space which is currently empty and displayed "for rent." They delivered the groceries in a black truck, I think. Mom would call in an order and they would deliver. She could run a tab. I'm not sure how often they had to pay the tab. The drug store was a couple of doors down and they let them run a tab also. People were very trusting in those days.
As I type this, I find that I could just run on forever, and that is not what I want to do. I could like to explore this in further detail, but it's late. I will take this up again soon.
Labels: early
posted by bactitech at
1:06 AM
1 Comments:
I love reading these memories. Keep them coming.
Kimberly
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