A Stroll Down Memory Lane

     A few weeks ago I decided to take a walk down Main Street in Lansdale.  As a kid it was a big thrill to go there on a Friday night and window shop and look wistfully at the variety of merchandise available.  There were furniture, shoe, clothing, grocery and dry good stores in addition to restaurants, banks and even a movie theatre!  And there was a F. W. Woolworth department store with it's own soda fountain.  Lansdale's Main Street was in it's hey day back in the 50's.
     But sadly as I walked down one side of the street from Broad Street all the way up to Valley Forge Road and then back on the other side, few of those placed remained.  Many had been replaced by nameless, faceless store fronts.  Gone was the majestic Lansdale Theatre.  Others were boarded up.  It was a nostalgic stroll as I recalled in my mind's eye the places I had visited as a young lad.
     Then just this past Thursday I took advantage of an exceptionally mild day in February and with a friend drove down to Cape May for the day.  It is a town that time forgot.  Somehow it has retained the charm of a time gone by with it's genteel Victorian residences and guest houses.  There's even a small mall lined on either side with one of a kind shops and eateries.  We were pleased to find that many of them were open, even in the off season, and there was a respectable number of people enjoying the sunshine as we were.  Of course we spent some time looking through our favorite shop "Love the Cook" and chatted it up with the clerk.  And I also sampled some of the home made fudge that was being offered in a shop across the mall.  You could see it being made right in the front window.  They also had the iconic salt water taffy on sale, too.

     Then what to my wondering eyes should appear but an authentic five and dime store, just like the F. W. Woolworth's I recalled back on Main Street in Lansdale!  It was just like the good old days with penny candy (except it was no longer sold for a penny) and all the shelves were lined with goods that I remembered from half a century ago.  But the best part was in the back of the store.  They even had a soda fountain with counter service.  It almost brought a tear to my eye as I recalled ordering up a banana split at a similar counter as a kid.  The good memories came flooding back to a happy time and place.  It's a shame that today's generation missed out on such a simple pleasure like sitting and having a milk shake or a cherry coke at the neighborhood soda fountain.