The price of the paper back
then was 15 cents and James F. Brennan was the Mayor. One of the cover
stories was "Trum Recaptures Track Crown," after an absence of five
years. Richie Salvo, Dean McKiel and Arthur Koropolous were among the
star athletes who competed with the other parks throughout the city.

Parke
Snow was having its August "White Sale" – you could get a Cannon bath
towel for $1.87 and facecloths – 2 for 87 cents. Cotton bedspreads were
$4.99, while a woven bedspread set you back a whopping $5.99. My cousin
Carol reminded me that there was also a cobbler (shoe repair guy)
downstairs in Parke Snow. They had booths where you could wait while
you got re-soled or heeled. I remember having taps on your shoes made
you very cool, and you could get them there. And speaking of shoes, the
Giant Shoe Outlet at 412 Highland Ave was having a pre-school sale.
Girls "popular T-strap styles" in smooth mock leather, black or brown,
in sizes 8 ¬Ω to 3 cost $1.39. Nurses white oxfords were $3.33. You
could buy a pair of men's work boots for $4.97. Now that's what I call
a sale. Put on those new shoes and head over to Paramount Beverage
Company at 225 Elm Street and pick up a case of beer for $2.99. Joseph
Goodell, registered pharmacist, was featured in "Pharmacy Footnotes." –
his drug store was at 852 Broadway, right in Powder House Square.

Rigazio
Brothers car dealership on Beacon St. could put you into a brand new
1969 Rambler for $1899. Other deals on the lot included a 1968 Javelin
for $2495 (remember the commercial where the carload of girls would
pull up and say " Hey Javelin"?) or a nice little (with engine in the
rear) used 1962 Corvair for 95 bucks.

Arrow Pontiac had some
good deals too. A '66 Mustang for $1495, a 1968 Firebird stick shift
for $2100, and a '61 Ford T-Bird for $495. Don't you wish you could go
back in time!

Vinny Piro announced that he would not seek
re-election as Alderman for Ward 5 so he could concentrate fully on his
duties as State Representative.

A look at the classifieds was
very entertaining. The first thing I noticed was that there were no
area codes back then. Check this ad out: "Somerville, College Ave,
Davis Square, 4 room apartment. Heat, hot water and parking included,
$160 a month." And that was one of the expensive ones. How about this
gem: "Cambridge, 4 rooms $95 a month." Furnished rooms were in the
vicinity of $20 a week. If you were going to buy a house, JJ Nissenbaum
had this one up for sale: "Somerville West, two family 6 and 6 (rooms),
Philadelphia style, 2 car garage, $22,500." Can you believe it? If you
were looking for a job and you were a registered nurse, you could pull
down $135 to $175 a week at Somerville Hospital.

Johnnie's
Foodmaster, boasting "5 stores to serve you," had some pretty sweet
deals. 5 ears for 25 cents, 3 lbs of peaches for 39 cents, 2-6 packs of
tuna for 69 cents. You could pick up some nice New York style pastrami
for a mere 99 cents a pound. Where's the beef? Hows' about some nice
Boneless London Broil for 98 cents a pound? Can't beat that with a
stick!

Colonial semi-boneless hams were on sale for 85 cents a
pound. There was a coupon for 2 rolls of Bounty Paper Towels for 15
cents. I'd be the quicker picker upper if I could pick them up for that
price today.

Well, I hope you enjoyed our little trip through
the pages of Somerville history. If you are like me you are wishing for
those days just for the deals. But they say that it's basically the
same because of salaries and the economy and all that stuff. I couldn't
believe that so many of the old ads looked so familiar. Remember
Johnnie's Foodmaster's mascot? It was the little grocer with the
glasses, mustache, apron and professor's mortarboard with the tassels.

Incidentally,
there is an updated version of Project Star that just may be ready,
this coming summer – stay tuned! Now only if we could bring back some
of those old prices and great deals, along with our youth, and our
patience, and our fighting weight, and…