1937: CONSTRUCTING THE TERNSTEDT DIVISION OF GENERAL MOTORS

When I began working in the bearing industry in 1952, it was still known as the Ternstedt Division of General Motors, It began as Ternstedt, changed to Eastern Aircraft during WWII, then back to Ternstedt, then Fisher Body. It was a sad example of American industry being upstaged by cheaper imports and unreasonable operating costs.

1973: HOW MANY HAVE SURVIVED?

This interesting little vignette from an old edition of the "Mercer Messenger" shows some of the popular venues back in the early 70's. By the way.....did you notice how the 70's are fading very fast into antiquity? Boy am I gettin' old!

1941: HOJO ON ROUTE 1 IN LAWRENCE

The young visitors to this site will assume that this is the Howard Johnson which was on the South Side of Route 1 near Bakers Basin. No, it isn't! At one time, Howard Johnson's original orange roof as on the north side of route 1. Remember? And who could forget HOJO for their "28 flavors" of ice cream? I tried many of them.

1950: 1955 Sleepy Hollow Motel

Who could forget old Rip Van Winkle sound asleep under that tree in front of the Sleepy Hollow Motel on Route 1 north? It fell into bad times and disrepute in the 1980's, but in its heyday it was a first class motel. I also remember the orange roof of the Howard Johnson restaurant that was located further up the road on Route 1 north. "28 flavors," and at one time or another I imbibed in at least 20!

1993: DELICIOUS EATERIES: READ THE LOWER GRAPHIC FIRST

See the note from Mike Kuzma regarding the "55 gallon drum" I described in error. Thanks for the correction, Mike, I never was a grilling and barbecue expert.

Above are two articles I wrote a number of years ago; read the lower one first in order to maintain the proper continuation. The articles recall many, but not all of the places we took our dates, or in the case of Del Rio, where went after dropping off our dates and meeting at Del Rio for a burger and fries taking our at the Marble round table which Carl DeAngelo reserved for "The Knights of the Round Table." Here's a mini-glimpse at "Dirty Bill's," over near the bridge at Yardley. And Mack, you asked about Dirty Bill's being a breakfast place. I don't think I can verify that. All I remember was his "stand" was right along the road from Morrisville to Yardley in a room that was apparently a sun porch at some time. As I recall, he cooked on a grill which was fashioned out of a 55 gallon drum cut in half vertically, and laid horizontally with a grill on top. I don't know whether he served breakfast, but I don't think he did....at least when we were regulars there. His hot dogs were incredibly tasty....talk about "betcha can't eat just one!"

A CORRECTION FROM MIKE KUZMA:

It was not a 55 gallon drum cut in half on which "Filthy William" did his thing. It was a large cast iron cauldron on which he grilled. Since I had a few similar type cauldrons, I remember it vividly.Many a day I stood by as he grilled, and put the "Works" on the dog. This included his wife's homemade relish, and that thin sliver of pickle.

Mike Kuzma
Newport News VA.

1944: WINNER ENGINEERING CO.

This was probably the "Help Wanted" ad my father answered when he took a night job at the Winner Engineering Corp. in 1944. The company made life rafts for the U.S. Navy.

1935: "Saturday night is the lonliest night of the week.."

That old song certainly doesn't apply to the MANY night spots available to local area residents during the depression year of 1935. I am familiar with a number of them, but the majority were before my time. CHECK OUT THOSE PRICES!