I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the late 60s race riot in the city. A very dark chapter in our history. My memory of it was that it was actually started by cops arresting black people, after a bunch of white rednecks started a brawl.
It wasn’t surprising giving the tenor of the times and that there were thousands of old white guys just like the old man–ex-GIs who could not stand having to interact with black people when they’d rather lynch or shoot them.
Mobs tore through the heart of town, looting and smashing store windows until a huge police force crossed the bridge two car lanes wide and descended on the city like a shroud. The old man was delighted at the strong show of force in the face of such an apocalyptic threat.
Thus began the city’s slow death. Some stores shuttered for good. Whites had been fleeing the city steadily for at least 5 years, the trickle now became a creek. New stores never came. It was a gradual slip; the two main hubs, Pomeroy’s and Whitner’s, hung in for at least a decade. But, like others in the burbs, we only went into town for specialty stores. There was a huge fish store on Franklin Street that was the only place to get really fresh fish, and an Italian bakery that had killer bread. As you’ll see, it was still the go-to place for men’s wear.
Up-scale restaurants had already started leaving. One landmark, the Crystal Restaurant, hung on to feed large lunch crowds, but companies were moving to suburban spots with acreage and sexy, 1970’s glass office buildings.
The rye-bread store, Schmoyers, was way off the center of town, so that remained well into the 80’s.
But our perception changed. If someone was going in the city, you’d always say ‘what the hell for?’ You didn’t go unless you had no alternative. For us white middle class kids, the city became off limits–we just never thought about it. The first mall in the county was under construction and that really put the curse on the city’s big stores. We never played the city high school in any sports (6000 kids vs. our 500); I cannot remember one black kid on any team that played us, in any sport, throughout junior high/high school.
But we were also old enough to remember when you went in the city to shop in the 5 and 6-story department stores, especially at Christmas time when they had huge lights on the street lamps and Pomeroys had 1 candle in each of the 80+ windows facing the main street.