By Dan Shine
Voice Columnist
“Your Old Days Aren’t My Old Days”
This is a very true statement. Every person experiences a totally different world depending on when and where they grew up. As the years pass, we recall more and more fondly, “The Good Old Days.” The music, technology, and news of one decade change completely by the next. Two people can live through the exact same year and remember entirely different things. The struggles and joys you faced are completely your own.
What feels like a familiar memory to one person might sound like a history lesson or a completely foreign concept to someone else. That gap in experience is what makes every person’s story unique.
Those of us who grew up on the West Shore may recognize some of the author’s memories from one hundred years ago—but not all—most are relegated to history. Here, she rues the passing of so many of the landmarks of her childhood, as time marches on…
Progress
By Mary Ryan Sgro, 1977
What is meant by Progress,
I’m sure I’ll never know.
I always thought that Progress,
Was meant to make things grow.
Back in the good old Thirties
At dear old Prospect Beach,
All the things you ever wanted
Were well within your reach.
Then Progress came—
So we were told;
My God, it sure has taken its toll.
Castellon’s Ice Cream Parlor
Back then was near at hand,
And Sea Bluff even had
Farino’s hot dog stand.
There was no A&P, a First National Store,
There was Swirsky’s and J. Cohen’s.
Tony the shoemaker, Hilcoff’s next door,
And even Brennan’s Candy store.
The trolley cars were phased out slow…
Leonard’s house was next to go.
The Beach Days have left our shore,
And carnivals we have no more.
Lutz’s Grill went down the drain–
Progress showed no sign of shame,
Dawson Market said good-bye—
Progress held its head up high.
We still have John the Barber,
A Dairy Mart next door;
Prospect Liquor, the Pharmacy,
And Jack’s Variety Store.
Don and Justine’s beauty shops,
The Hill Top Bar and Grill;
The Firehouse still holding fast—
Let’s pray it always will.
Progress, though good for many,
To us has been damn unfair,
All it’s done for Prospect Beach
Is to strip its corners bare!
The West Shore in a bygone era
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