Going into town with my mom when I was about 4 or 5 years old, down a road lined with elm trees (both sides and on the median), past a potato farm, the ruins of a Catholic church that had burned down years before I was born, getting into town and usually having to wait at the railroad crossing for a steam locomotive to pass, the crossing gates had to be lowered and raised by hand - and finally to the 5 & 10 store where they sold everything you needed back then and had a lunch counter with great grilled cheese sandwiches. They sold toys that not only contained lead, but were made almost entirely of lead. When I got older, about 7, I could go into town with my older brother to see a matinee at the theater. 5 to 7 cartoons, and a double feature. And you didn't need to be accompanied by an adult. And it cost 25 cents. Horror movies were scary back then, not gross, the way they are today. There was a place called the Sweet Shop, some tables and a counter where you could get burgers, sandwiches and ice cream sodas. Every town had one theater, with one screen only, kid matinees on weekends with a different double feature on Sat. and Sun.

The above mentioned potato farm had been abondoned due to a potato blight that hit Long Island (something called a golden nematode - I loved that name, it sounded like a B-movie monster) so the farm was open for exploration for us kids - acres of unexplored territory, it bordered on the church I mentioned above, with the remains of an orphanage, which was more territory to explore. These days, kids would never be allowed go there.

The elms were removed when the road was widened, the railroad was electrified and elevated through town, the 5 and 10 store went the way of all of those stores, the theater was renovated and turned into a multi-plex - no kids without an adult- the farm and orphanage were turned into a shopping mall. The Sweet Shop, but some miracle, is still there, or so I've been told.