"How Sweet It Is," announces the sign that welcomes travelers to the present day borough of Brooklyn. Any adult who spent his yesteryear in the fifties recognizes these words bellowed by Ralph Kramden, the scheming bus driver from Gotham who drove through the middle of the decade in a favorite television sitcom known as The Honeymooners. Equally memorable for the children of that bygone decade for its sweetness and popularity is the projection candy store. Today Sharon Johnson (retired Philadelphia teacher) and self-described "child at heart" nostalgically recalls growing up in Muskegon, Michigan and the role candy market played in her childhood. Lee-lee as Alice, a employee at Brinks candy store, affectionately nicknamed Sharon describes Muskegon as a blue-collar small town with any candy market that competed for the pennies and nickels of the schoolchildren. Brinks stood on the projection of Apple and Scott streets over from the group elementary school. Alice sold penny and nickel candies, and at Christmas time she would dress up like Santa Claus. Brinks also served food.
The children socialized in the park or school yard. When asked to name her favorite candy, Sharon paused for a occasion and said," I guess all of them. But I sometimes get a craving for licorice wheels and root beer barrels." Psychologists suggest that frequent nostalgic trips down memory lane are not just the wasteful indulgences of a senior habitancy but contribute in a clear way to mental health. Author Marina Krakovsky notes: "Such reminiscence can be healthier than you think. Despite nostalgia's bittersweet rap and the oft-heard guidance to live in the moment, studies suggest that the occasional detour down memory lane can give your spirits a needful lift." (Psychology Today Magazine, May/Jun 2006) agreeing to researchers from Loyola University sojourns of just 20 minutes a day in the good old days can have the advantage of giving you a cheerful outlook. Growing up with a father who was a bus driver and a Kramden double, I became a frequenter of candy stores.
Case Rack
One store looms larger in my memory than others do. Nino's was placed on the projection of East 58th road and Avenue N in a section of Brooklyn known as Mill Basin. It was equidistant from my house and Mary Queen of Heaven, the parochial elementary school I attended. The store lured neighborhood kids from blue-collar families on their way to and from school. While lunch break, Nino's was crowded with the uniforms of Catholic schoolchildren eager to spend their Biggio, Candy Store,2 allowances or income from cashing in deposit bottles to satisfy their hankering for sweets. Funny, I never remember finding adults at the candy store. The grownups spent their lunchtime engaging serious adult food at Sam's luncheonette or John's delicatessen. Nino, the store's owner and namesake, catered to his customers selling a variety of items. There were school supplies such as marble notebooks, homework pads (Egad! in today's school jargon schedule books) and loose leaf.
There were favors for last petite moms who had forgotten party supplies for Timmy or Sally. A heap of cheap metal toys (now pricey collectables) stamped made in Japan could be found in the back of the store. A rack in the store's town bulged with comic books. Superman, Casper, and Wendy, Archie, Jughead went spinning as kids searched for their favorites. The more scholarly-minded schoolmates passed over the superheroes for a series known as Classics Illustrated. The illustrators transformed superior works such as Ivanhoe, Three Musketeers, and Robinson Caruso into comic book format. Most kids went to Nino's not for school supplies, toys or comic books. They went to satisfy their cravings for candy and to socialize with friends.
Eyes widened, small fingers pointed to the penny and nickel candies enclosed in a glass case. Button candy of all colors and flavors dotted strips of paper often the paper and candy were inseparable. Jawbreakers and Bazooka bubble gum had to be enjoyed before returning to school. Any miscreant caught chewing bubble gum in class was given a stern look or worse punishment by the Dominican sisters. Candy could not only be sweet but fun. Remember the big red wax lips and gum shaped like cigars even with an authentic finding ring. As kids, we would chew away on candy or chocolate cigarettes in boxes or cases that resembled the real ones our parents puffed. "Meet me at Nino's after school" teenagers called to one other as they left childhood to hang out at the fountain. The fountain was a magnificent work of art made of shiny wood and marble that wrapped around its sides. At the fountain, Nino created ice cream sundaes, splits and floats. All ice cream was hand dipped.
There was no canned soda at the store. Nino would mix seltzer with syrups. Kids would sip their cherry cokes, lime rickies and egg creams as the years spun by on those stools. Historically the candy store was part of the cityscape. The mom and pop candy store captured in a Norman Rockwell photo exists in our memories. It is a piece of Americana replaced by supermarkets and gourmet specialty stores. If you get the urge for some old fashioned candy try online candy market or if you don't mind retro try the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain. Next time you are feeling a petite blue grab yourself a licorice wheel, turn on Nickelodeon, enjoy an chapter of The Honeymooners and ruminate with the bus driver from Brooklyn about "How Sweet It Is".
Works Cited:
Krakovsky, Marina. "Nostalgia: Sweet Remembrance". (Psychology Today, May/June 2006. Last Reviewed Oct. 11, 2007, description Id 4077).
Old Fashioned Candy Websites
NostalgicCandy.com
http://www.oldfashioncandy.com
http://www.oldtimecandy.com/
How to make a Brooklyn Egg Cream
Ingredients : whole milk, chocolate syrup, seltzer
Steps:
Spoon in a glass chocolate syrup
Fill bottom of glass with cold milk
Fill rest of glass with seltzer
Move a spoon up and down, mixing ingredients
Enjoy!
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