This blog is about the young life of Ian as told by his mother.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

You know you grew up in Hamilton if...

1. You remember The Parfait House on Rt.33.

2. At some point in high school, you worked somewhere on Rt. 33. Bonus points if it was at the Roy Rogers (now Applebee's).

3. You know the Big Tree in the middle of both lanes on Quakerbridge Road, and it doesn't impress you anymore.

4. You remember when they had a movie theatre at the Quakerbridge Mall across from Space Port.

5. You run into old teachers when you go drinking at Bill's Olde Tavern and it freaks you out every time.

6. You went on at least one date to the Golden Dawn.

7. You used to buy your school clothes at Clover and now it's some fancy gym that you can't really afford.

8. You went on a school trip to Safety Town by the Hamilton Police Station and you remember it like it was yesterday.

9. You know of at least five places to get a good porkroll sandwich, and you know at least five places where the porkroll sucks.

10. You still remember the school colors of all three high schools no matter which one you went to.

11. You remember the Electric Playground. Bonus points if you contracted Mono from someone there.

12. You still laugh at the various things that IROC (the car) stands for.

13. You left Hamilton to buy your WigWams at Trenton Joe's and bragged about it. "Yeah, I got these at Trenton Joe's."

14. You don't think you have a Jersey accent because you're not from North Jersey. But guess what? You do.

15. You've eaten some sort of pastry from Eet Gud Bakery. Bonus points if you remember that Eet Gud Bakery was located at the corner of Grayson Ave. and Nottingham Way before it burnt down.

16. You've gone to Midnight Bowling at Hamilton Lanes and liked it.

17. If you went to Nottingham, you thought you were upscale enough to go to Steinert, but you weren't. If you went to Steinert, you thought you were tough enough to go to West, but you weren't. If you went to West, you thought that you could beat up every kid at Nottingham and Steinert simultaneously with your hands tied behind your back...and you really could. Bonus points if you remember when Steinert was built.

18. It seems weird for you to call someone "Mayor" other than Jack Rafferty.

19. You were kind of proud when the Anthrax scare came from Hamilton because the town looked badass to the rest of the nation.

20. You wrote your term papers at the Hamilton Library when they still had the card catalogs. And the librarians actually looked like librarians. You also hated going upstairs to retrieve a book.

21. You've done some serious grocery shopping at a Wawa or 7-Eleven.

22. You played some sort of organized sport that was sponsored by a Hamilton body shop, pizza place, or printing company and you got your gear at Four Seasons. You also got your High School jacket from there.

23. You bought your shoes at Carella's shoe store. Bonus points if you remember the original shoe store was next door at the card store.

24. When giving directions in Hamilton, you will often use Five Points as a reference.

25. You've narrowly missed many accidents at Five Points. Bonus points if you remember Five Points didn't have traffic lights.

26. You remember Mercerville Fire Company blowing out for fires. Bonus points for remembering the volunteers driving their cars into the gas station (was it Exxon?, now Trent Jewelers), jumping out and dashing across Five Points to get on the trucks. Extra bonus points for remembering when volunteers stood on the back of the fire truck and waving to the kids as they went by.

27. You remember Mercerville Shopping Center having an Acme where Ace Hardware and Party Fair are now. Bonus Points if you remember A&P being where Hamilton Farm Market and the Carpet store are.

28. You remember when the Quakerbridge Mall had a kiddie play area that was carpeted and set deep into the floor.

29. You remember the Old Heidelberg Restaurant, now DeFranks Appliance Store.

30. You remember the old Donnelly Hospital that was used for TB patients. Bonus points if you remember it being used for Mercer County Vo Tech classes.

31. You still call Cost Cutters "Throat Cutters".

32. You know the urban legend of "The Cypress Lane Killer" and kind of believe it to be true.

33. Officer Friendly came to your school and you couldn't stop staring at his gun because you'd never see a real one before.

34. Your parents took you to Columbus and it seemed really far away.

35. You remember Charlie Brown's as Brother's Bar.

36. You'll probably take your kids for breakfast at the Golden Dawn after church or a soccer game and you'll smile.

6 comments:

Scott said...

Great post!

Also:

- You remember that there was a "Channel" building supply store on Rt.33 where the Staples is now

- You remember the "Grant's" department store on Rt.33 where the Shop Rite is (in the strip mall across from Hamilton Chrysler car lot)

- The best place for pizza was "Brother's" next to the "Shop-N-Bag" on White Horse-Hamilton Square Rd.

- A highlight of the spring was going to the St. Greg's carnival (with the rides in the empty field)

- When someone said, around September, that they were "going to the Feast", you knew what that meant (in the "'Burg")

Anonymous said...

Actually,EetGud Bakery has been on the same site for over 90 years. The bakery in Mercerville was named Robins Bakery. I know this tobe true because my grandfather Joe Schaffener wasthe founderof Eet Gudin 1929. It was named Sure Good prior to him buyingit. The Schsffener family still owns it and my sister now continues the family legacy by runningthe bakery now.

Dick Lettiere

Anonymous said...

You remember the regular nightly run of the small freight train on the old Camdem & Amboy spur, from
Jamesburg to Bordentown. I'm guessing it was around 6:30 when it crossed route 33 in Robbinsville, on its way across Klockner and Kuser Roads.

Unknown said...

I've been trying to find out more about the throat cutters story. What's the victim's name?

Anonymous said...

http://phxgurl.proboards.com/thread/633/new-jersey
It’s on the page, towards the top.

Anonymous said...

A sad story that should stay at
Rest. The perp got away with it on a
Technicality.