Memory lane...

There are only about two people on the planet that care about what I saw yesterday so the rest of you can take a break. But if you insist.....

As a youngster, at the ripe age of 7, me and my family moved to Dallas. My Dad was sent here by his employer to supervise the installation of some bakery equipment. The assignment was for at least a year so all of us tagged along in the old car and settled on Hudson street.

With over 50 years of water passing under the bridge, I now had the chance to come back and see what had happened to the old place. Over the years I'd witnessed the growth of the Dallas-Ft Worth area through various media reports. I remember my folks hauling us out to Love Field for its grand opening. It seemed a ways out of town then but now it is virtually downtown as the town has grown around it. Anyway I plugged in the address in our GPS unit and headed towards town. The 35 mile trip was stressful as traffic was fast and plentiful but we managed to find the right exits and soon were heading toward the old neighborhood. I was sure the fifty years had taken its toll and, as most old neighborhoods go, had been leveled for a new parking lot or new condo. As we turned onto Hudson Street my speculation was coming true. Many houses were leveled and new houses were in construction. However we continued slowly down the street looking for the correct address when the old place came into view. A rush of memories came over me as I saw our house for the first time in 5 decades. Little had changed with the old place.

The big front porch was the best army fort I ever had. My best friend Bill Palamoutain, lived next door and we played with the normal inexhaustible energy of seven year boys throughout the year. It was there I learned of ant lions, Erector sets, our first TV (which we watched the first public showing of an atomic bomb explosion, scorpions, and the joys of eating watermelon in the summer. We visited the new 7-11 stores, experienced Dr. Pepper for the first time and tried that new snack Fritos.





Not all was good and innocent. I learned from the department store clerk that certain drinking fountains were for 'coloreds only' and the city bus driver made sure I knew I was not allowed to sit in the back of the bus. Thankfully my folks knew better, but that's the way it was in the south those days.




The gravel driveway is now paved and to date, the house has escaped the wrecking ball.









The Palamountain's house next door.



Like most kids, I suppose the houses looked bigger, the trees taller, and streets longer than they appear now... but all that didn't matter yesterday. I chose not to go to the door and see who lived there now but to leave those memories as memories....

My next challenge was to find the school I attended. With a little help of the GPS and a street map we located it not far away. Class was in session and it looked much the same as it did years ago. Some of the playground trees were gone...trees that I first learned where mistletoe grew, and a playground where we had danced around a May pole to celebrate Spring and a classroom where the teacher tried to teach us the Texas state dance... square dancing. A lot to grasp in second grade. None of it stuck as I have not square danced since.

Lipscomb Elementary School 2007