I have been thinking about Henry’s store, the way it looked,
and the way he had arranged things. The
photo above is from about 1929. At this
point, he had built the structure that would essentially remain the store for
many years. It is unknown how long he
tried to have a restaurant, but that attempt did not last, and I do not
remember that sign. I was born in 1943,
and my main memories extend over the fifties.
He had created the store to be a practical place of useful
retail as well as a location for his many interests and activities. Henry had a love of auctions. He purchased objects both antique and unique,
and they would end up on the upper shelves of the store for sale. Henry was a
man of feeling and interior thoughts.
Henry’s favorite saying was “Believe In Yourself”.
The main entrance was on the north or street side. There were large windows along that wall, as
seen in the photograph, making the inside spaces seem larger than actual. There was a counter facing the entrance and
behind it was a refrigerated section.
The store featured a limited amount of meat and cheese all purchased
from Forest. Bologna, Salami and
American cheese and hot dogs were always available. Henry also filled special orders of chops,
lamb and pork. He separated the chops
using his cleaver upon a beautiful, heavy butcher’s block which was behind the
counter.
The candy counter was a glass covered display case on the
east side of the store. The regular
items were all there: Life Savers, Necco
Wafers, chocolate bars of all sorts, and, my favorite, Cracker Jacks. In those days, the prizes inside the Cracker
Jacks were actual little toys, metal cars and animals, and I always hoped for a
horse.
Ice cream was served in a cone or dish, a real glass dish
by-the-way. The flavors were always
chocolate, strawberry and vanilla. The
brand was Sealtest. There could be small
offerings of fruit depending on what Henry could procure in Saugerties that
day. Bananas were a favorite of his. Many
in the local community were not really familiar with them and were shy of them
at first. There were two scales, one
for deli items and the other for fruit or some other items such as flour and
coffee. Tobacco in the form of
cigarettes, cigars and pipe was also kept behind the counter, and Henry was
careful not to sell it to kids. He,
himself, did not smoke and did not approve of the habit, but he rarely
commented on the practice. He also did
not drink coffee preferring to have Postum [i]as
his morning hot drink. Orders were rung
up in a good, old fashioned cash register that kept a total but did not run a
tape of individual items. The sum,
however, was first listed and figured on the outside of a paper bag as the
order was packed, and this served as a customer’s receipt.
Newspapers were available on Sunday, The Daily News and
local Saugerties papers. There was also
a ballot box to vote for Miss Rheingold.[ii] Every year there would be a new crop of
glamorous faces, and I always had my favorite, a girl with black hair. I did not like my light brown hair and wished
to look a bit more like Veronica from the Archie comics.
The upstairs was as tempting as the basement was
ominous. A Malaysian flame sword, a
souvenir from the war, decorated the stairwell wall. It was always used on
special occasions to slice the celebratory cake.
There were more swords and interesting looking knives
upstairs. Norman teased me by saying
they were all from the war, and if I were to look up close, I would see blood
on the blades. At the top of the steps
was Henry’s machine shop. The machines
ran using a series of belts attached to an electric motor. There was a lathe, planer, table saw, and
drill press. There was also a severe
warning published: “Stay away from the
machines!’ A few years back, Ernie had
sliced off the top of his index finger.
I had often seen the blunt end of that finger, and it was enough to keep
me away from the machines. Anyway, there
was so much more to discover upstairs.
The walls were lined with shelves filled with labeled cigar
boxes. The letters were in Henry’s
unique style of capital letters with dashers between each word: -NAILS-, -SCREWS-, -BOLTS- . Henry saved everything. He salvaged all hardware for future use. He also saved buttons and sorted them by type
and color, and there were hair combs and buckles and many other hidden
treasures.
On the south wall there were stacks of shoe boxes. They were rubber bathing shoes. Henry had purchased a whole bunch of them at
some point with the idea of selling them to ladies who were on their way to one
of the many area swimming holes like “The Patch”. I would try them on hoping for my size, but
they were always too large.
There was a small door that led to a passageway to the
eaves. I had to crouch over and walk on
the boards that had been laid between the joists. Carefully stored along the sides were two
large coffee grinders with big flywheels.
There was a model car, wooden and big enough for a child to sit on. I always mean to inspect it more closely, but
I did not dare to actually disturb it.
After all, I was only up there exploring because people had temporarily
lost track of me.
At the very end of the tunnel through the roof space, there
was a little alcove with a window. There
were many boxes stored. They were hidden
away, and as I think of it now, they were probably filled with my grandmother,
May Van Bramer’s possessions. Henry had
been very upset at his wife’s severe illness and had probably packed her
belongings and hidden them away. My
mother told me he had buried all of their correspondence and her jewelry with
her. People do things like that when
they are feeling deep grief.
In one little chest, there were letters and a piece of
preserved wedding cake. I would sit back
there looking at things and thinking about who knows what –probably horses and
my next riding lesson. I am lucky enough
to have one of my grandmother’s letters that I found among Henry’s possessions
after his death at age 83. It seems to
be the letter that plans their elopement.
She had been engaged to another, and their marriage was a big surprise
to their families.
If your memory includes a vision of the store as it was in the 1950's, please add your remembered details in the comments section. Thanks. dj
[i] · Postum is made from wheat bran,
wheat, molasses, and maltodextrin from corn. This 10‑calorie
beverage was caffeine-free, fat-free, trans-fat-free, sodium-free, and
kosher. In addition to the original flavor, there was a coffee-flavored
version.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postum
Wikipedia
