Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

I always hated this time of year because TV is showing back to school sales. The yearly ritual of getting new school clothes begins.

It was a men’s suit store named Anderson Little at Wellington which was usually our stop for pants. They were always itchy. We had to wear the clothes our parents bought us. That is, up to a certain age when we demanded our shopping rights.

Here are some comments about back-to-school shopping in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.

“Mostly the stores in Davis Square, The Sweater Shop, Clear Weave, The Bell Shop, etc. Usually, I got my shoes from Sam’s in Union Square. There also used to be another smaller shoe store near Sam’s. I think I was called Classy’s. Got some nice shoes there.”

“Filenes, Jordan’s and some department store that had the school supplies.”

“My mother would have me sit on the floor in the very tiny shoe department at Gilchrist’s and try to jam my feet into shoes that wouldn’t fit, off the rack. If that didn’t work, we stopped at Hanlon Shoes, next to Kennedy’s in Porter Square.”

“Parke Snow for Peter Pan collar blouses and navy-blue knee socks to wear with a uniform and Highland shoe.”

“We shopped at Zayer, Thom McCan shoes and Bradlees.”

To make matters worse, I had to wear a white shirt and necktie for the first eight years of my school days. But I finally escaped from Saint Clements.