Downtown

Downtown Warren in the ‘60s seemed like the center of the universe to me. I guess it was the center of my universe. Harding, just a couple blocks from my house, was a few planets out from the sun. Close enough to be warm and fixed by gravity, but far enough out to have a life that was secret from our parents and other adults. But downtown – that’s where real grown-up life took place, and we began testing ourselves to see if we were up to its challenges somewhere around 8th or 9th grade – say 1963 or 64.

It was just as the Beatles hit, and part of my memories of downtown look a little like a scene from Hard Days Night – a loud soundtrack, a lot of pointless, frenetic action, and the disapproving stares of most of the adults we encountered.

A trip downtown usually meant taking one of the city’s cream and red colored buses, unless I needed to save the ten cent fare for a cherry coke at…where? I can’t remember -- was it Woolworths or S.S. Kresge’s? It was the five & dime on Courthouse Square right on Market Street, and all it took was a mere 45 years or so to erase its name from my memory. Anyway, I should say it wasn’t always a cherry Coke, there were vanilla Cokes, chocolate Cokes, and probably a couple others I don’t remember.

This is where we went to form alliances with other 14 and 15 year-olds across the city who went to other junior high schools. We knew we’d all be together in a year or so at Harding, but it was never too early to start probing one another for potential friends, enemies, or make-out partners. Turner, East and West were going to be left behind soon, so we crammed together into the booths at the lunch counter, drank our pre-beers and auditioned for the parts we’d play at the big school named for one of our least illustrious Presidents. It was a very exciting time.