GREENLAWN ESTABLISHMENTS IN THE 50’S

Harborfields Establishments “Way Back Then”….

There were a few Greenlawn establishments back then around the 50’s that we all frequented or at least knew about!!!  Scudder’s (on the corner of Broadway and Gates Street which is currently a little Greek Restaurant, It’s Greek to me!)….  This was a soda fountain where you could purchase coffee, egg creams, magazines, newspapers, penny candy and that kind of stuff…..  The place smelled of cigarettes and coffee.  The teachers of Harborfields met there in the morning before school and sat at the cranky little spinning stools to talk about what was going on for the day drinking their coffee, smoking their cigarettes, and who knows what else!!!

In sharp contrast was the store created by Mrs. Quarry and Mrs. Benson who teamed up during our freshman year at Harborfields to form Greenlawn Variety which we alternately referred to as Quarry’s or Benson’s.  This community-oriented establishment was a type of Five and Dime.  It was largely stationary supplies that we kids needed at school to function, especially for projects.  The adults frequented this place, not only for the convenience of shopping local, but for gaining the “real scoop’ and gossip as to what was going on with their kids at school.  We always wondered how our Mom found out stuff… She had made a specific trip to Quarry’s for this.  Mrs. Quarry’s daughter Nancy attended our school and graduated in my class and she had a younger daughter Ronnie.  We were a very tight community then (and still is in a sense) and we knew everything about everybody!!!  Luckily it was all good, or most all good!  If an event was coming up like Mother’s Day or Christmas, whatever it might be, our Mom’s would go to the store and tell Mrs. Quarry what she wanted and then Mrs. Quarry would “direct” us to something she “thought” our Mom might want……….  We never knew that it had been set up!!!

Then there was Herman Gleet’s Stationary store right down from Quarry’s.  It was dimly lit by a bare light bulb which swung back and forth from the ceiling.  “Mistah Gleet’ whom we thought was old and cantankerous, could be easily provoked into going into a tirade.  We as kids were kind of scared of this “old” man….  he was a little grouchy and you had to get in and get out!!!  So if you wanted a comic book this was the place to go…  But we would drag our parents in with us to “protect” us from Herman!