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The Seventies were a different time. Kid seats were those plastic
U shaped things at a pizza parlor, the Bad News Bears were actually a
bunch of foul mouthed, lewd, real children, Star Wars still had life in
it, and disco hadn't fallen yet.
I remember being tossed around like every other small child of the
era in front and back seats , no rocket formulated car seat in existence
could hold me. I also learned to appreciate gas fumes, and that,
and the color green, is why I love HESS gas stations so much.
Every time I hear 'The Tide is High' or 'Queen of Hearts', I flash back
to the innocent days of my early childhood, hearing that song on the AM
radio in my parents blue Chevy NOVA, gassing up at the HESS before
making a run into the market next door.
I also remember that store like no other. The giant wooden
facade outside, the customer service desk, imposingly constructed behind
a not customer friendly wooden wall and elevated up so the clerks were
behind bank teller style windows. One promotion the market ran one
summer was giving away Dr. Seuss books. I got my hands on a four
color copy (the cover was four colors, the inside black and white on
newsprint) of
Mr. McElligot's Pool.
The book was amazing, this little fishing line dropped into a little
fishing hole that lead past a wild array of creatures through the
depths. I don't know where my copy went, but its safe to say I no
longer have that promotion, despite my best efforts to keep every little
shred of my existence like that.
So, when I visited the store, which has been closed for ages, I was
somewhat surprised to notice the back door was kicked open. I
didn't go in because I didn't want to get bitten by a rabid rat or cat
or squirrel or homeless man, but I did take some pictures and got a shot
of some bizarre decrepit fan like structure hanging over the front
entrance.
Next door was a closed down roller rink named Electric Skate Palace.
Ah, the seventies, life without responsibility, where have you gone? |
