Nostalgic Holiday Shopping Part 1

On WBZ, Boston's news radio.

Good evening, everybody, Happy holidays, and indeed I do.

Nicole. Nicole is still there.

Of course, I'm here when I leave.

And you know what you talked about one of my old alma materas the Curly School.

Oh.

I went to the Mary Amelda Curly School in nineteen sixty six and sixty seven. Very nice seventh grade and eighth grade.

So you must have loved that news today.

I did love that news. I'm happy they got an award and they've had standards ever since I went there, in prior to me going there because Mary Curly was James Michael Curly's daughter.

Oh okay, I see the connection.

That's the familiar voice you referred to. That's Jack Hart.

Oh, hi, Jack Hart, how are you my friend?

Oh?

Hello, Nicole Davis, how are.

You so fun? It's no time reunion here on Night Side tonight.

Yeah, it is an Morgan.

Hello.

I'm circumventing you to say hell little.

That's all right.

And one of these days the three of us are going to do lunch my treat.

I like that.

I liked the idea before it was your treat that. I really like the idea.

Now, fantastic.

You have a good evening there in News Central.

Thank you, my friend, have a wonderful show.

And you too. Take care.

Jack, why don't you tell people what we are going to do tonight here on night Side.

We're going to play cards, No no, no.

Hees we are.

We're going to talk about the the the the downtown. Well what we call downtown crossing now, what we used to call downtown going downtown.

We didn't care about the names. Yeah, we said.

The name crossing came along afterwards. That's when they when when they stopped allowing traffic. Oddly enough, when they stopped allowing traffic on those roads, that's when they started calling it downtown crossing. But and the whole Christmas season in that whole air at Boston Common Area, Tremont Street, Washington Street, Winter Street, and all the various side streets, Bromfield Street and Temple Place, all those places and Christmas time in the olden days.

And I want to take people back. Jack gave a broadbrush set of memories just now I want to make it a tad more specific. Oh, I want people listening to call in tell us when mom and or dad and or Grandma. Whomever took you by the hand held on to you. You might have already been in the fourth, fifth and sixth grade and you felt handholding was not necessary, but they did it anyway, and you went to the store.

At the store.

I would my mother used to say, stand a little closer to the edge there and look look.

Down the tunnel. She did not lean over very far.

No, no, I should say, no, she might.

Have said it that way.

But I want people to give me a typical Saturday, maybe one or two saturdays before Christmas, where your mom went to Conrad Chandler. Remember the store with the pneumatic tubes all up and down the walls and ceilings.

Yes, yes, exactly, or for those who.

Don't know, that's the sound of the tubes, the pneumatic tubes.

Being or or to Gilchrist or to naturally Jordan's and or Filene's.

Jon's. And you were.

Told if you behaved you would get treated to a hot dog and a soda or a tonic at W. T. Grant's or Chris or Nice Nurse, or better than that, you would get a nice cream treat at Bailey's. And you did the best you could to make sure you behaved because you looked forward to that.

Yeah, the yeah, or or you know, people don't remember the the the almond macaroons at Gilchrist's.

Here here, I remember those. Ye don't remember them.

Of all the downtown stores, gil Christ had a mezzanine that was quite active, you know, first flo or second floor, third floor, and every the other department store. But gil Christ had a first floor a mezzanine. You had to walk up just three or four stairs and then take an elevator up the floor two, three or four.

Philein's had a mezzanine.

I don't remember.

Piles had a.

Havanine, that's right.

They Yeah, I believe it was Michael Kazan's hair salon.

Was up there.

I believe my mother went several times at least to Michael Kazan's hair salon, and it was on the mezzanine. It was it was, you know, you have to sit and behave and smell the rich mccaulla, the perm the perm juice there, which melt somewhat like a cat box. Yeah, and ladies would be sitting under the dryer for for what seemed to be an interminable amount of time.

Well, these are the types of memories that we want.

And you know, people people may also remember the restaurant and Phileines up the top floor of the eighth floor of Philins.

It was a wonderful restaurant up there that I recall. I do recall that, and I'm going to tell a personal story. Then we'll take our break and throw up the phone numbers and let the landslide of calls begin.

It was a commercial.

There was a commercial and I was in I think the fifth grade for all the kids who owned Line L trains, of which I was one, and there was now they used to have the circus car or a giraffe's head would be poking out the roof and duck down when a a pole appeared crosswise over the track. Really and that that was like, wow, it does something

And yeah, yeah, yeah, bought me that.

She said it's for Christmas. You can't open it to Lynn. Great, I can wait a week and a half, two weeks, whatever it was. Anyway, let me take our break. This is night Side. Dan is off for the whole night. We cross our fingers and hopes he'll be back tomorrow and I'll be in all next week, but that's something for later. On time and temperature here on Nightside eight fifteen forty five degrees.

Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.

Dan is off tonight. I am here. I am Morgan White Junior and a bit of personal news. My show on Saturdays goes from ten pm to midnight, but beginning in the new year, I go from nine pm to midnight. I get all back, get my three hours back.

Yay.

Until for the note, Let's go to Hanson and speak with Jim. Jim Good evening, Welcome to night Side.

Hey, Hey, how are you guys doing pretty good?

Yeah?

I have an interesting story about downtown. Back then, it was around town, Like you said, my mother and my grandmother wanted to take me downtown. Okay, yeah, it was nineteen was the year after Kennedy was killed. Because I remember we had the year before. It was real tough.

He was his.

Reaction identical to your reaction when you start in nineteen sixty four.

He was very surprised, and uh, I don't think it was as good as mine, though, I was more shocked. He was my grandson's only three and a half. I was I was at the time.

Jim.

Well, back in those days, you know, a mechanic you know, mechanical, mechanical village.

You know, not only was.

The move was a new thing, new fangled thing then that's right.

Oh yeah, you know, we couldn't believe it was it was all mechanical. It was all you know, friction. But you know, we couldn't believe, you know, we couldn't believe stuff like that. Now you know, now everything, you know, anything can move in a thousand different ways and videos and so forth. So it's not as I don't imagine that that kids today as you know, oh my god, look at this. It's it's like almost like look at this primitive thing.

Yeah, well three and a half year old, that's video games now.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right, Jim, thank you for the dog.

Happy Let me share no problem to Mary Christmas.

And that's what we want everybody to do. I want you to share six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty eight eight, eight nine to nine, ten thirty and Nancy my producer sitting next to me here from where I broadcast Nancy Jackson's Hi Nancy Wave tied back. She grew up in Minnesota. Her her memories are department stores and places in the greater downtown Minnesota area, Minneapolis St. Paul and what was the big departments. Dayton's was the

Oh, there might have been a Himples.

Might have been a Himples.

That's where worked exactly.

Let's take another call and people, we want you to call in with your memories. We are doing this just as kind of an early Christmas Christmas present. You'll bring up names like City mart or Rogers Jewelers, or the Brass Lantern restaurant, maybe building. Oh yes, so let's let's hear some more of these memories. Linda and Weymouth, you're next door nightside. Hi.

Yes, I remember the the railroad tracks, the enchanted village, and I remember going down also to Edinville Railroad and going on there on the surface spectacle program.

Was that not Canton Harbor?

I think it was Carver.

Yeah, yeah, Plymouth.

You gotta put the accent on that car, excuse me, and walking down there, and people all admiring the railroad tracks down there in the downtown crossing. But I get a question to a little off top building nineteen there was a gentleman there, who was I think he was? He was downstairs. I think he might have been in the fabric department. And also there was an outlet out department down there. I'm trying to remember his name ever since Dan had it on the show.

I told.

Yeah, it was something nineteen. No, No, it was a bogging center. It was in Colymbian. It was in Quincy Square.

The man's name was Elliott Elliott.

Yes, Elliott, Yes, Elliott, I remember Elliott.

Yes.

Yeah.

We used to get My family used to go there. It was a big, giant, affable man. Yes, and he always gave the kids candy and so forth.

Okay, we're giving me a few more memories.

I thought you're doing downtown Boston.

You were talking about Quinsy Quincy Center. Yeah, well you got to live around that in the beginning.

My Pard and I'm special, Okay, we're all Okay. Sometimes I get the I'm over eighteen, I'm over seventy two as well.

You're in my neighborhood. I'm just a year younger than you.

Okay, ill cout out. I'll always shoulder appreciation you're away for doing the show. Okay, thanks so much for the pillain. Elliott, Elliott, Yes, Elliot.

There you go. How did you mention the downtown.

Yeah, she was talking about Guindsey, But I know who she was talking about. The You know, my my high school girlfriend, whose name I won't mention here, but she always claimed that her grandfather was one of the original carpenters on the Enchanted Village.

And did you believe her?

No reason to not. I suppose you know.

What, are you keeping your name secret? It's almost like she's in witness protection.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no, no, I mean yeah, you know, I don't know. You know that that's that's a very long time ago. Okay, So you know, but you know, people we talk about the Enchanted Village. People to forget about the other windows. Filings had their own windows, and outside of filings they had they had the the awning over the winter street side that had like the maj Ei coming along and so forth. People, you know, people always just talk about the Enchanted village like it was

And if you walked further down Washington Street, maybe a block before the combat zone, it was House of Horrowitz, the electronics store.

Oh that's right.

See, I'll make your memory work in the way I wanted to work.

And the House of Horrowitz.

You wanted to buy a portable radio. A lot of they are nowadays portable radios.

But yeah, transistor radios, every.

Electronic do Hickey device, what have you?

They sold House of Horowitz. I forgot about them.

And a bit further up on Washington Street, intersection of West and Washington was Mickey Finn. What's the Mickey Finn's in Any sporting equipment you needed, that's where you got it.

Oh, yeah, that's right, Mickey Finn's.

Yeah.

Also in that on one of those corners down there, there was also a w T Grant I think, wasn't there?

Yeh, I mentioned w T. Grants.

They were across the street from filings?

Were they were they across the street from Philins? Or were they they further down Washington Street, down near West Street or Temple Place?

Always in the other direction, it was in between, if you could say, in between in Beach, in between Winter and Bromfield, that place where was located.

All right, okay, that's right, that's when.

All right, let me take my break. I want to be on time. I'm filling in for Dan Ray. And there were rules.

I have to obey them. Dan is always on time always.

Let's take a break. Time and temperature eight.

Thirty forty five degrees.

It's night side with Ray, Boston's news radio.

Welcome back, everybody. My name Morgan White Junior. Been a part of the Besy landscape since nineteen ninety six. Oh my goodness. I'm doing radio in Boston since nineteen eighty. Yepeow, and I'm here with my buddy, mister Jack Hart. There's an his name. If you're gonna send him a Christmas card.

That is at the end.

Yes, yes, yes, there you are you ready to go to Rhode Island.

Jack, Sure, let's go to Rhode Island.

I like Rhode Island.

I was curious about this. I was serious about the story you were talking about. They had the pneumatic tubes. What were they doing with those? Were they sending the money from the cash registers up to the office or there's something else.

Yes, they didn't.

They didn't.

They didn't have cash registers. The money they put the money or the charge. It was a charge slip because it wasn't credit, because you had to pay it. It was a charge slip to put the charge slip by the cash in the order for him and the in the pneumatic tube and go. And then there'd be a bunch of people upstairs, you know, working at desks and and with elastics around their arms and things, opening them and making the change and then sending amay you know

And that was in the fifties and sixties and probably the forties because they existed almost at the corner of Winter and Tree Art.

Yes, and which so the other side didn't have a p noumatic qussion. Were they using runners or something?

As I remember, they had cash registers at Violin's and at Jordan's and most of the other major downtown establishments.

Wow.

By the nineteen fifties, nomadic tubes were kind of you know, archaic, but you know it's even Lord and Taylor's down at saulsho Aplaza had had pneumatic tubes until you know, towards the end of their existence. And and I know that like, for instance, my one of the branches of the bank that I use in in Danvers, if you pull up to the outside teller and use the pneumatic tube to yeah, you put your your checks and things and it goes in.

And I use this periodically.

I use the citizens in Denim right behind the golf gas station and they to use the pneumatic tube.

Yeah, okay, I appreciate the historic information very much as very entertaining show.

Thank you.

But uh, drive through yeah, drive through downtown crossing. I like the Christmas tree that Macy's puts up on the overhang there. Uh, it's a lowly healy area. I can't. I can't walk Washington Street. I don't work too well. But it's a it's a lively area to drive through. Sure, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, Well you can't drive down Washington Street too. I can drive an hour yea.

Yeah, if you were coming up Franklin Street and there's that light where Bromfield begins. I think you can take that right onto Washington because from there Washington allows traffic right right.

I didn't think you could even get up to Washington Street from Franklin any longer. I thought that had ended at Holly Street.

No, you know what, You're not supposed to. But I did a show there all last summer at the Stone steps out there, oh kay, And there was constant traffic. I was there every Thursday for like ten weeks, and there was constant traffic coming up Franklin. And to the right is oh CV, yes and Old Navy.

Yeah.

So I don't know why you could, but you could.

Thank you for calling gentlemen.

You Jack, I'm going to.

Ask you if you remember your sweet mother taking you to Kennedy's. Now, there were two Kennedy's in the downtown area. One was for butter and eggs and one was for men's and boys suits.

That's right.

The one for men and boys suits was at the top of the wooden steps coming out of Washington Street station.

Yes, so did you get a suit at Kennedy's. So get fit for a suit at Kennedy's.

Oh I know that I had been into Kennedy as many as the time, you know, and if I wasn't fitted for a suit there, then then you know, I know I got some pants and little tie or something. In their time or two, we used to get to like suits and things in the basement, Rightlean's basement.

Oh so they were cheaper.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know they had the automatic markdowns.

Kennedy down twenty five always always bragging that their prices are the lowest in Boston yet and still you could still save fifteen twenty thirty bucks by going to filings.

After we going to Filing's basement, not filings upstairs.

Yeah, filings base in catching one of their sales.

That's right.

And if you will well, because as I recall the way they worked, they they had the automatic markdowns. It went down, there was mark it was discounted twenty five percent if it went from upstairs to the basement, and if it was there a week, it went down another twenty five percent. Another week was there had another twenty five percent, and then if it's still there it went to charity.

There's not much markdown left after you've marked down seventy five percent of the original cost.

That's exactly right.

Yeah, yes, Now, people, if you I had envisioned full lines in this subject, right now, the lines are wide open. So Jack and I can talk about this. We have good concept of memory lane. But we want you to join us. Six one, seven, five, four, ten, thirty eight, eight, eight, nine to nineteen thirty. Come on, we're going to be done.

Is that something that people don't remember? Now? Some people.

There's something that that people oftentimes struggle to remember. Is the petting zoo that used to be on Boston Common in the in the Christmas season.

Oh I do I remember that, sure.

But you know, and they I remember I came in towards the tail end of it. You know, I'm a little younger than you, and but but I came into the tail and my sisters, my sisters would remember that. And you're closer in age to my sisters and very but you know, they they were it more than I do. But I remember, you know, I remember the essence of it. I remember having seen it. I know that I had seen it. I don't recall, you know, the sort of substance of it.

All right, And I remember the lights on the common. They are much more prevalent now than they were then, but it was still nice to look and see the blue lights, the green lights, the red and white lights all over the common trees.

Yes, it was a little more subdued, but yes it was.

It was nice.

It was a little bit more state. It was you know, old sort of Boston sort.

Of you know, old Yen.

Yes, and the one star above the dome of the State House.

That's right, the single star.

And you know what about the above the pine cone.

Yes, I said, open lines and puff. We've got full line.

So fantastic.

Let's go to ron and Stonehamn.

How you doing the.

Welcome to night Side?

I can't tell you eno seventy two years old, and I remember my favorite restaurant in the whole world, Mallyas on Bronfield Street. Oh yeah, I don't even know if they're still there. Are they still there?

Last time I was on Bromfield Street, which was about a year ago.

Yes they were, Yeah, I believe they are.

Yeah, we used to go there. I was in a fan, one of those young kids. We got a fand and we used to do the Battle of Fans and all this. So we used to go there all the time. And I used to get my shoes down. What was the shoe store down the street from the from Jewet's.

Jack You remember Edwin Case?

No, no, it was a famous brand. I used to get all my shoes there something. Yeah, Tom MCN's, that's it.

That's the one I remember.

Kennedy's and my my aunts used to my mother and everybody used to go in space, but never shopped upstairs, always downstairs.

So I mean, I just.

That's furthest You just brought up some nice memories. I just thought of them all the host the minute he said Bromfield Street. Yeah, they used to be a guy there. Yeah, he used to be there, the guy that made a d and he was something else, you know.

And I'm glad, glad we could bring back fond memories for you.

You did, Molly. That's Steel Time Restaurant.

All right, Ron, thank you for your call.

All right, guys, bye bye.

Now you know what one restaurant that that I was remembered was Colestone's Colestones Cafeteria.

I remember that as well. Now, yeah, and walk through keep it. Juice is flowing.

There's one open line and if they who wants to take it? You do that. We're taking a break. We always take a break at the fifteen minutes quarter past quarter ofv in the bottom of the hour. Here on night side, time and temperature now remember Dan Ray's off tonight. I'm here on Morgan time. In temperature here on night side eight forty five commonly forty five degrees.

Now back to Dan Way live from the window World, Nice Sight Studios on WBZ News Radio.

Dan is off to day. Hopefully he'll be back tomorrow. My name Morton White, Junior been about a BZ roughly since nineteen ninety six. Actually it's mentioned the two before that. My buddy Jack Hart is here and we are reminiscing going down Memory Lane. The wind Downtown crossing was just called Downtown Boston. What stores did Junior family give your

Correct people forget about Miles Drive number miles on Winter Street.

I do.

I was sort of a petruly smell going on in it.

And my bank was the Provident Bank, which was on Temple Place, because they were the first bank in Boston to have a coin counter, and I had a lunch box full of coins that I'd been saving for years. And I guess I was in the third grade when my grandmother took me down to the Provident Bank. And I remember this figure to the day, at least the main figure. I had sixty three dollars in change in change and wow, third grade kid in the early sixties, that was a lot of.

Money, sure, And that was like two weeks pay for some families.

And I opened a bank account and I had that bank account going until Provident changed their name and I forget what they became in the late seventies.

Anyway.

Yeah, yeah, let's go back to the phones and speak to Ed in Weymouth. Ed, good evening, Welcome tonight's side.

Hi guys, thank you for sacking my call. I wanted to say, real quickly, Jack, I appreciate you getting me to it.

From work on the weekend.

So I love listening to your traffic commentary. I wanted to talk about the soul shore of Plaza real quickly.

Yeah.

They used to be outdoors and they used to have rein here Christmas time.

It was awesome when I was a kid, I don't know.

If anybody remembers that. And uh, the top of Top with Jordan Marsh used to have Christmas lights and you could see them from miles. They had these huge candle libraries up there, and they you know, they took them down in the eighties. But what a memory I have, you know, throwing in Santa Claus on the third floor, I think, and uh, it's it's it's a shame that all that stuff was gone.

Oh yeah, those of the day Plaza being an outdoor place and at Easter time the bunny rabbit would walk around and give out ears.

Oh my god, No.

I don't I don't remember that, but I definitely remember Santa Claus and the reindeer outside in the Senate Senate cord.

That's all the little stores out in the center, out in the outside, aren't there.

Absolutely yeah?

Absolutely?

Okay, guys, thank.

You, we thought, Oh my god, thank you.

For making me.

I have a good YouTube. And you know, Jack, there's a major name that you and I have yet to mention, which one of Ramon's where you bought where you.

Bought the hat, bought the hat, that's right, says are very good.

Uncle E. P. H.

Let's go to Jeff in Swarmpscott. Jeff, thank you for calling. Welcome to night Side, Jeff.

Well, Jeff, how you doing.

You mentioned stalls.

I remember when when I was little, I used to call it magic doors because they had like those automatic doors. I've never saw it before. When I was five years old.

That was well, yeah, yeah, I remember that.

Yeah, yeah, Joan, they're.

Only hot dogs of French fries. We'd go to Joannimo's hot Dogs.

Oh yeah, oh yeah, fifteen hot dogs.

Yeah, and I got my bombits for suit at Kennedy who was in the husky shop there you go.

Okay, yeah, a husky shop. That's raight.

Yeah.

I don't think they'd call that that anymore, but back then.

Yeah, yeah, no, I think that would be that would be offensive to somebody for call them husky the Essex Deli.

Ramon, yep, I remember that. I remember the with and somebody somebody's painting a mural.

There are so many places that are blank until we have a call like you fill in.

With the all. Yeah.

I remember we used to go there, you know, and then we'd go to the movie theaters on Washington Street.

Oh yeah, the.

Movies used to be continuous. We see my sister sat through and my poor mother who Ala Deville one dalmation. I think we saw five straight times. We just stayed in the theater.

Sure, the ther Flower is Center.

Those are and there were one or two that were adult in concept the state.

My mother had a phobia. She wouldn't go up and escalate. So when I was the baby of the family, so I'd always go with or my sisters were called. Yes, we'd have to find an elevator, and they always had a man in the elevator, sitting in a little seat and he controlled the elevator.

Yeah.

He had elevator operators back in the fifties and they pased them mount in the sixties.

Yeah, yeah, I remember them. I remember them operating that, you know, the the clutch on the that they would use shimpum shump, that sort of right.

Sim we had a little sat on a little seat, Yeah, like a whole seat.

I remember those elevators. I operated one when I worked for Houghton Mifflin. They were on one ten and one twenty Tremont Street and there was an elevator in the back that as a mail clerk I used going from the sixth floor to the third and fourth floor.

It was that right around around Temple Place one twenty.

Uh, a little further up again. Uh you know where the back entrance to the Orpheum Theater is.

Oh okay, yes, yes, Hamilton Place.

Hamilton Place and Bromfield Street. It was in between those two locations.

Oh okay, all right, okay, great show, guys.

Thank you very much, take care of Jeff, bye bye, and we'll take one more call. Maybe we can squeeze them before the news. But I tell people during the news, somebody always gets impatient. They've gotten through Roberts screened and put the name up, but then they get anxious and they hang up. So if you want to call during the news six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty eight eight, eight, nine, two, nine, ten thirty and we have got Brian in Hyde Park.

Hello Brian, Hello Brian.

He is gentle and great show, great show. I'm sixty three years old. I was born and raised in the city and uh, my week's uh well, most of my week in the summertimeer even the winter, were consisted of going into the city with my aunts, my grandaunts, and we took the number nine bus from selfie got off and he started in the combat zone. And the best pizza in the world, I don't know if you guys remember, was Dino's Pizza.

It was right up me.

And that was my first look of that day. But uh, yeah, it's the act of the Vader.

I mean.

So many places that we would go to day and the.

H Yeah, Dino's Pizza.

My god, I thought it was it was.

I think I have a slice or to him my day back there.

But I was just I didn't know what the whole place was. It was crazy to me.

I was only, you know, nine years old. I didn't know where I was.

I was just getting pizza.

And I know that the day ended with Bailey's.

Ice cream and you know we all lookit the Swan boats.

More about that.

We'll talk more about Bailey's next hour. And yeah, I hate, I hate to do to you, but I gotta leave so news.

Can come out. So I can, man, I can. But I loved it. Thank you, guys, thank.

You, Thanks in Happy holidays to you. Let's take our news hit when we come back. More of the same subject here on night side time and temperature eight fifty eight forty five degrees