Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

In the summer of 1969, when I had just turned 16, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid and True Grit was at the movies. I Dream of Jeannie, Star Trek and Gomer Pyle were on TV (Golly!).

Some of my friends were making plans to drive to New York for a huge rock festival in Woodstock. I couldn’t go because I had to work at F.W.  Woolworth’s Five and Ten Store in Davis Square.

I was busy replacing all my albums with new high-tech cassettes, and I was saving up money to buy a sweet Craig stereo cassette player. In ‘69 we listened to lots of Zeppelin, tons of Beatles, and Crimson and Clover… over and over.

The song In the Year 2525 came out in 1969. I remember thinking, “It’s only 1969, and 2525 will never get here.” And now it’s almost 2019.

While most of my friends were having Hot Fun in The Summertime, I was working at “Woolies” as we called it.

Gas cost 35 cents a gallon, a loaf of bread cost about 25 cents, and a postage stamp was 6 cents.

At Woolworths, I had started as a stock boy. On my first day, the punk veteran stock boy that was supposed to be showing me the ropes tried to wrestle me into the pile of boxes on the floor. He was very upset that he couldn’t throw me to the ground after 10 minutes of trying. I just wouldn’t give in to him. He was a couple of years older than me and just another idiot bully that I ran into during my youth.

I stood my ground and eventually escaped the stock room and started working behind the luncheon counter, or should I say the “luncheonette counter?”

There was nothing like the taste of a slightly greasy but yummy Woolworths grilled cheese, or a delicious Woolies frankfurter with a grilled bun. I was one of the guys behind the counter for a couple of months. Needless to say, the grilled cheeses I made for myself were extra cheesy.

I remember people were excited because we were getting ready to start a new decade! The 70s! No one was more excited than me. 16 years old, and king of the lunch counter! King? Yes!

Not only was I helping behind the counter, I was in charge of putting the different price tags in the balloons. You’d break a balloon and pay between 10 cents and 99 cents for a banana split. I was only supposed to put lower prices in a few balloons. On my last day at Woolworths, I put 10 cent price tags in ALL the balloons. It was a banana split sale of the century! My going away gift to everyone.

If you were lucky enough to have tasted a grilled frankfurter or grilled cheese from Woolworths lunch counter, you my friend have lived!

My friend Pat and some other friends went to Woodstock and their stories are priceless, but not as priceless as those banana splits!

Yet to come was the heart numbing Beatles breakup (somehow we survived!), the moon landing and the start of my new job at Lyndells Bakery in Ball Square.

1969 also gave us Sweet Caroline, which was appropriate because for this 16-year-old, the good times (and the frankfurters) never seemed so good. But wait until you hear about my overstuffed, monstrous jelly donut-filling days at Lyndells!