61. Good Ole Thrifty Drug

This photo of Thrifty Drug store taken in 1959 really got me thinking about how many times I got in trouble for "missing the bus."  Now, we all know that I didn't really miss the bus.  Oh, I missed it ok, but not by accident...by design.  I didn't have an over abundance of spending money.  I got my allowance and had my babysitting money, plenty really for the time.  Still, once in a while that extra change was just too tempting and even though I knew I would have to face my mother and her "angry eyebrows," I disobeyed her anyway. We walked from Fremont Junior High School a few blocks to Second Street.  There was plenty of time to make the bus, but once in a while I would screw up my courage and miss the bus to go with my friends to the soda fountain in the back of Thrifty's.  Phosphates and Lime Rickeys were the big deal then.  I loved Cherry Phosphates.  Spending that half an hour with my friends was wonderfully wicked for this "Goodie Two Shoes!"

I was never sure why my mom didn't want me to go to Thrifty's after school.  She would only say that I needed to come home on the first bus available!  No questions asked!  Well, she left me no recourse now, did she?  The call of the Phosphate was like the fabled Sirens who, by their sweet singing, lured sailors to their destruction upon the rocks!  My mom would just have to deal with it and believe me, so would I!  I have always been very tender hearted so the punishment was never more than a few cross words.  I guess we both knew it would happen again.  I was the oldest and it's hard to let go, I know.

The Apex Cafe was another place that was off limits.  That, however, had no allure to us.  It was a horrible little place on Garey that we had to walk by to get to the bus stop. You could almost feel the

wickedness seeping beneath the door. Rumor had it that there was a drug bust there and that needles and drugs were found stashed beneath the sink in the kitchen.  We had barely heard of anyone taking drugs then, a few people smoked later, but not in junior high school.  Even in high school drugs were something rare.  It breaks my heart to hear about all the drugs available to our youth today.

We had such simple fun the kind of fun that our young people find boring.  Like riding your bike all over the place, just you and your pals free as birds.  We just had to be home before dark.  I suppose things still happened but it just wasn't sensationalized like everything is today.  It makes you afraid to take your eyes off your children for even a second.  I'm so glad that we had the freedom to experience simple things.  They are memories we cherish.  We wanted our children to experience that freedom, but I guess you don't miss what you didn't experience and they have their own memories.  Their memories are just different, I guess.  We had fun when they were growing up, it was just not in the same way.  That's life, I guess.  Nothing stays the same, does it. 

 











http://www.cloudcreations.com/cafe/sodafountian.html
Downtown on Second Ave., Pomona, California in 1959.