PHILLY...Back Then
Somerton, Sewell Rd. and Beyond...
 Lumar Shopping Center...Home of Lumar Drug Store, Rilling's Bakery, Pap's Tavern (renamed Squire Tavern), and on the Northern End, the A&P
 Sunday Night Fare at 12036 Sewell Rd...Lassie, My Favorite Martian, Disney, Charles Chips (especially bbq), and Off to Bed.
 My Gal Sal...4:00 PM til 6:00 PM, Monday-Friday, Channel 6...Popeye Theater w/the 3 Stooges...Pure Heaven!On schooldays or crappy weather days there was Sally Starr, our local Bosco-drinking cowgirl, to see us up to dinnertime. 2 hours of Popeye, 3 Stooges, and guest appearances by TV cowboys and cowgirls. Man, was she pretty! Every little Delaware Valley boy's fantasy. The only time the TV was tuned to another channel from 4 to 6 PM, was if King Kong or Frankenstein was on the Channel 10 Early Show. I was born simultaneously with the success of commercial TV and we were glued to that box whenever indoors. We watched so much of it, our eyeballs turned into test patterns. Local Philly TV was raw, but great. Besides Sally, there was Pete Boyle (Pete's Gang), Happy the Clown (aka ????), Bertie the Bunyip(Lee Dexter, host/puppeteer), Gene London, Willie the Worm (Gene Crane, host), Pixanne (Jane Norman), and probably more that I can't presently remember. One local show, a favorite of the older set, filled us kids with shock and horror, That was Larry Ferrari and his organ. We thought there was something wrong with the guy, but, heck, he became a Philly mainstay while we all left. Oh my, how could I forget Chief Halftown? He recently died, so I hear, but he will always be remembered by the Delaware Valley baby-boomers. Happy hunting, Chief.
 Pixanne and Bertie the Bunyip...Surreal...
Most of our time was spent in the general area of Sewell. Rd, but circa 1960, the closest movie theaters to us were the Mayfair and the Merben. A walk to Bustleton & Byberry, getting on the 59b in front of Lou Wehn's Atlantic Station, then transferring to the Y Bus at Bustleton & Cottman, was the standard PTC trip to the movies. The fare was a quarter and transfers were free. The saturday double feature was 50 cents, and we got 2 movies, a couple cartoons, a bad travelogue, and a hard time from the ushers. In 1962 the Orleans theatre opened and we had another option, but the Mayfair and the Merben had personality. The 66 Trackless Passing the Merben on Frankford Ave
I remember, if we missed a Y bus, we would go into Lit Brothers at Castor and Cottman and ride up and down the super narrow escalators, check out the toy section, and watch the TV displays til we either caught the bus or got kicked out by a grumpy store dick. Gimbels, down toward Bustleton Ave., wouldn't even let us in.
 This was in the Shopping Center at Bustleton & Station Av. at the Foot of the Overpass above Somerton Station. Also, in this Center, Shopes Pharmacy, Mom's Pizza, and DiBella's Butcher,..err...Barber Shop.
I started off this complation of memories trying to keep them in some kind of chronological order, but because of the scattershot way these thoughts are popping into my head, I've decided I'll ramble a bit.
Willow Grove Park...Need I say more? This was the frosting on the cake. The Thunderbolt (8 tickets) was the big mahaff...fast, shaky, and for some poor unfortunates, vomit-inducing. Then there was the herky-jerky Wild Mouse, closed for repairs, more often than not. The Little Scenic was a fast, pretty ride thru the grove, whereas the Alps was a noisy, boring ride. Slow as a turtle, there were brakemen on the cars. The Alps' charm was that it was the 1st thing you saw coming up 611. "We're here; I can see the Alps!" The Fun House and the Ghoul's Eye were neat til we got to know all the surprises. The Satellite was short but sweet. Overall, Willow Grove was better than Wildwood and Ocean City put together. The THUNDERBOLT Rising Out of the Ashes
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E-Mail: cornnubbin@webtv.net
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