With Memorial Day Festivities kicking off this coming weekend, I thought it would be nice to write about some memories. Having grown up in this area I can be pretty confident that some of you share those same memories, or at least some semblance of them.
I specifically remember mom and dad hitting up Suburbia Seafood in Bridgeport for some clams, shrimp, shark or tuna steaks, and in really good years, lobster! We would also every so often grab a bushel of crabs if we had everyone coming. In the back yard my older brother would hook up some really cool cooking stations to handle the seafood steaming and grilling and we would have a blast just sitting around playing and talking while he cooked.
Dad would also head over to Reds Barbones for the kegs (both miller and Birch Beer) and other cases of soda (usually A-Treat) in returnable bottles. I was always excited to bring the cases back and put them up on the steel rollers and slide them into the back.
We'd get hot dogs and hamburgers from DiRenzo's and Mr. D was always there to throw some candy at us. The rolls and lunch meat and Tomato Pie always came from Corropolese and I can recall the amount of times my dad looked at his watch to be sure to time the arrival at Corropolese just right as to miss the crowd (there were set times to pick up your pies!), yet he never got it right.
See back then, everything could be had from a local purveyor specialized in what they do.. Today you think of the big supermarket chains, or you think of Walmart, Target, or some other huge mass-merch store (the industry term for that specific channel of stores).
The funny thing is... Every one of those locations I mentioned above still exist today (with the exception of DiRenzo's). You can still go and shop at these locations that are so rich in our communities history.
So this coming weekend, look towards those local businesses for all your needs. The food, the decorations, the drinks, the desserts. You might just start creating more memories of your own.
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