1944: I WAS 11 AND I STILL REMEMBER IT WITH CRYSTAL CLEAR CLARITY!

Before there was Toys R Us, Walmart, Kmart, there was GOLDBERG'S. How I loved that old store! Any old timers remember walking on those creaky wooden floors as you went Christmas shopping with Mom? Remember the pulley conveyor they used to exchange paper from one department to the next? Gone are the days! I have written numerous columns over these 32 years recalling Christmas shopping with my mom as a young boy. I was even much like Ralphy in "The Christmas Story," as I lusted for a Red Ryder Beebee gun. Ralphy got one. I didn't. Mom Glover was not a gun lover. I remember I did get a substitute cap gun. It was a Lone ranger white pearl handled six shooter complete with a holster and 4 SILVER bullets on the belt. I was really bad as I loaded it with a roll of caps and my buddy Don Slabicki and I took on the Butch Cavendish gang!

1949: SOUTH BROAD STREET AT FRONT ST.

I really love this photo. It is an area of Trenton close to Goldberg's; which was my favorite place when I was a boy. Their "Toyland" was beyond compare. Later in my young life, I worked in the mens; wear department at Gimbels with Mrs. Whitebread, the mother of one of my Kuser grammar school sweethearts. Then, along came Swern;s and Santa's annual climb up the ladder to the second floor of the store, and finally, Lit Brother's took over. With the social unrest, rioting and pillaging of the town back in the sick sixties, all those great old landmark stores left town.

1959: THE DOWNTOWN TRENTON I REMEMBER

Thanks to Mr. Tom Tighue for posting this view of downtown Trenton as it looked during the golden years. The photo is from the Wendy Nardi's TRENTONIANA collection at the Trenton Free Public Library. I had completely forgotten about that hanging decoration so prominent in this photo. What memories this photo brings back to me. Over the years, I have written countless "The Way We Were" columns recalling Christmas shopping trips to Trenton. A trip to Public Service to pay our phone bill, the guy with the hand cranked adding machine pulling the crank and handing Mom Glover the receipt, and then down to Goldberg's which was little Tommy Glover's idea of heaven on earth. A Tom Mix six gun with a bejeweled holster, an A.C. Gilbert Chemistry set, a raft of beautiful "Tootsie Toys," and A.C. Gilbert Erector set, not to mention an A.C. Gilbert "American Flyer" train set. Ahh....the memories are eternal!