• Welcome
    • Purpose
    • Statement of Faith
  • My Apology
  • TESTIMONY
    • English
    • Chinese Translation
    • Dutch Translation
    • French Translation
    • German Translation
    • Italian Translation
    • Portuguese Translation
    • Russian Translation
    • Spanish Translation
    • Turkish Translation
  • READY OR NOT...
  • My Story - Videos
    • In His Own Words
    • Video Interviews
    • Written Interviews
    • Son of Hope Gospel Tract
  • Journal
    • 2022 >
      • January 2022
      • February 2022
      • March 2022
      • April 2022
      • *May 2022
      • *June 2022
    • 2021 >
      • January 2021
      • February 2021
      • March 2021
      • April 2021
      • May 2021
      • June 2021
      • July 2021
      • August 2021
      • September 2021
      • October 2021
      • November 2021
      • December 2021
    • 2020 >
      • January 2020
      • February 2020
      • March 2020
      • April 2020
      • May 2020
      • June 2020
      • July 2020
      • August 2020
      • September 2020
      • October 2020
      • November 2020
      • December 2020
    • 2019
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2016
    • 2014-2005
  • Updates
  • For Parents and Students
    • General Advice for Parents
    • Advice For Troubled Teens
    • School Projects
    • Jailhouse Interview
    • A Letter to David from Youth Minister Dan Bailey
    • Suicide is Everyone's Business
    • What is Prison All About?
  • For Satanists
    • A Letter to a Satanist
    • Carl Sartor's Story
    • Satan's Bible
    • Jailhouse Interview
  • A Letter to a Soldier
  • Ministry Tools
  • Insights and Miscellaneous
    • A Letter to North Shore Baptist Church
    • Jesus Christ, the True Treasure and Pearl of Great Price!
    • He Knows Your Name
  • Parole Hearing Transcript 2016
  • Friends
  • Inspirational Testimonies
    • Tracey Anne's Testimony
  • Contact
  • Welcome
    • Purpose
    • Statement of Faith
  • My Apology
  • TESTIMONY
    • English
    • Chinese Translation
    • Dutch Translation
    • French Translation
    • German Translation
    • Italian Translation
    • Portuguese Translation
    • Russian Translation
    • Spanish Translation
    • Turkish Translation
  • READY OR NOT...
  • My Story - Videos
    • In His Own Words
    • Video Interviews
    • Written Interviews
    • Son of Hope Gospel Tract
  • Journal
    • 2022 >
      • January 2022
      • February 2022
      • March 2022
      • April 2022
      • *May 2022
      • *June 2022
    • 2021 >
      • January 2021
      • February 2021
      • March 2021
      • April 2021
      • May 2021
      • June 2021
      • July 2021
      • August 2021
      • September 2021
      • October 2021
      • November 2021
      • December 2021
    • 2020 >
      • January 2020
      • February 2020
      • March 2020
      • April 2020
      • May 2020
      • June 2020
      • July 2020
      • August 2020
      • September 2020
      • October 2020
      • November 2020
      • December 2020
    • 2019
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2016
    • 2014-2005
  • Updates
  • For Parents and Students
    • General Advice for Parents
    • Advice For Troubled Teens
    • School Projects
    • Jailhouse Interview
    • A Letter to David from Youth Minister Dan Bailey
    • Suicide is Everyone's Business
    • What is Prison All About?
  • For Satanists
    • A Letter to a Satanist
    • Carl Sartor's Story
    • Satan's Bible
    • Jailhouse Interview
  • A Letter to a Soldier
  • Ministry Tools
  • Insights and Miscellaneous
    • A Letter to North Shore Baptist Church
    • Jesus Christ, the True Treasure and Pearl of Great Price!
    • He Knows Your Name
  • Parole Hearing Transcript 2016
  • Friends
  • Inspirational Testimonies
    • Tracey Anne's Testimony
  • Contact
AriseandShine.org

October 2006

F.W. Woolworth's

10/5/2006

 
Today is the anniversary of my Mother's passing. She died in 1967, and so every year I like to write something in my journal in remembrance of her. I want to recall the good times she and I had...
I grew up in New York City's borough of the Bronx. Many years ago, however, throughout the City there existed a department store chain called F.W. Woolworth. When it first began it was one medium-sized store. It was also called the "Five & Dime" or "Five & Ten Cents" store because its founder, Mr. Woolworth, guaranteed that every item for sale would not cost more than five or ten cents. This worked well in the early 1900s when a person could buy a ceramic coffee mug for a nickel or a claw hammer for a dime. Later, though, the store's name changed to F.W. Woolworth because, giving in to inflation, those prices could not last.

Nevertheless, when I was growing up in the 1950s, by this time Mr. Woolworth had opened stores all across New York City, including one in my neighborhood.
Picture
Picture
It had become a much bigger store, too, which sold everything from cooking utensils to household products, and toys to greeting cards, including an assortment of basic items anyone would need.

And Woolworth's also featured a lunch counter, and this is where my Mom comes in. She was a regular customer during most mornings. When I was at school my Mom would often go with her friends to Woolworth's for coffee, and for one of her favorite snacks, French crullers.

Crullers are circular-shaped deep fried cakes with twists, and are similar to donuts. Most also have a coating of vanilla icing on top. I don't know how "French" a cruller really is, but having one with a cup of coffee, along with a handful of chatty friends at her side, was my Mother's way of taking a break while doing her shopping.

I liked crullers. But when I would go to the lunch counter with my friends on a Saturday afternoon, as a chubby sugar crazy kid, I'd usually opt for the much more satisfying custard filled chocolate donut washed down with a chocolate milk chaser. Crullers were too light for me. They were, as far as I was concerned, food only fit for middle-aged women.

During the summer months, however, when I was home from school and had to go on dreaded shopping excursions with my Mom, to keep me quiet she would promise the two of us a stop at Woolworth's. For her it was more coffee and another cruller. But my big treat was their specialty item, and approximately 3/4 inch slice of strawberry, chocolate and vanilla ice cream wedged between two cold waffles. It was basically a waffle and ice cream sandwich, and it was very popular.

This was my Mom's bribe to keep me quiet, and it always worked. I hated going shopping, but with my Dad at work, I was too young to stay home alone.

I'll never forget the Woolworth's store on Westchester Avenue. It was a busy place. The lunch counter, especially, was like the neighborhood's beauty salons where housewives would gather to gossip or talk about bargains and show off their latest purchases.

At Woolworth's lunch counter women would spend hours debating which soap was better, Ivory or Dial. While the many ways to use Arm & Hammer baking soda was discussed with scientific precision because they were the experts in all matters concerning baking soda. Likewise the ladies who chose to use Wesson oil for their cooking would openly argue against those who preferred Mazola. No product would escape their careful scrutiny.

Unfortunately, F.W. Woolworth is gone now. One of New York City's most popular chain stores had run out of business. In fact one of the latest stores to close its doors was located in the busiest shopping area of the Bronx, Fordham Road. It closed, I believe, in the early 1980s. And with the departure of Woolworth's went a wealth of memories, although many good memories still remain. And my Mother was a big part of all this.

D.B.

Comments are closed.

    Author

    David Berkowitz
    Copyright © AriseandShine.Org

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly