Standing on the Corner

Standing on the Corner We were always standing on some corner in the old neighborhood. I don't remember the actual date that we moved the gang to the Howard Playstead and settled on the corner of Lawrence Street and Birchwood Road but we were still little guys not even teenagers. We called that corner pictured on the cover of this volume "home" right up until we all were graduating from teenager hood. On some evenings during the summer months we could gather fifteen or twenty guys up there. I thought the song "Standing on the Corner" by the Four Lads was really written by a guy from my hometown of Lawrence, MA. I was still parking my old 1946 DeSoto Fluid Drive up on the Birchwood Road hill when I was attending Northern Essex Community College in my early twenties. The starter had gone out and parts were few and money was tight. We had to get it rolling in order to jump start it every morning. The old corner and up the hill a bit on Birchwood Road was perfect. So that corner was home to the old gang for over a decade anyway. There was a glob of cement on that little castle tower at the right of the picture. That one smooth spot on the jagged wall was the most desirable seat in the house. After a few years we managed to heist a bus stop bench and cart it up there. A monumental battle ensued between us guys and the local authorities but we eventually won out. The bench remained there for many, many years. It wasn't moved until the old gang and that corner parted company when I was in my twenties. We never did all that much standing out on the corner. Spitting in the sewer was big at the Howard corner. Other than that, we just shot the bull and goofed off. All our old hangouts; Walter's Variety, Jimmy Costello's back yard, Nell's Variety, the Howard Playstead and the lobby at the local YMCA all stand out big in my memory's eye. They were each my home away from home. They were my sanctuary and my solace. All my positive memories of home stem from one of those old hangouts and the old gang. Today I can get all teary eyed just staring at pictures of that old jagged wall. I don't see an empty corner. I see the old gang. I see their faces. I hear them laughing. I see many of the faces who are no longer here with us today. My mind begins flashing pictures. I see all the cars passing. I see the faces in the cars too. I see the old ladies looking out the second and third floor windows. I see the little guys playing in their yards or out in the street in front of their houses. I see old folks carrying their handmade, cloth grocery sacks back to the apartment. I see gas stations and Coke-a-Cola signs. I see the kids on Chelmsford Street, and Willow and Spruce and Exchange. I see the old school house. I see everything bit by bit, snapshot by snapshot. I've done my best to capture it all piece by piece in these volumes about "Lawrence - My Hometown." This makes number six and I still have a few more to go. It has been a trip for me. I thank all of you who have been following along and I hope you enjoy "Standing on the Corner" as much as you have those five volumes that came before this one. Take care and I hope to see you all again in volume number seven. Have fun.