Another in a series of growing up in Lewisburg, WV in the 1950’s, a great town and a great time to be young. It didn’t take long after we moved to Lewisburg to discover that a huge event took place just outside of town. In Fairlea, a small burg between Lewisburg and Ronceverte, West Virginia staged their annual state fair in late August and it was well worth the price of admission. … [Read more...]
Make It a Duck Tail
James Dean had captured the imagination and envy of most every young male in the mid-50s with his standout performance in Rebel Without a Cause. It was one of the first films I ever saw after I moved to Lewisburg. In the movie, James Dean had just rolled into town, a new kid on the block and oozing coolness. He was, in fact, beyond cool. He was the epitome of everything a young teen male would … [Read more...]
Packing Heat in Junior High
Continuing the series on growing up in Lewisburg, WV in the 1950s, a great town and a wonderful time to be young. There were genuine marksmen in Lewisburg Junior High in 1956. Sharpshooters, you night say. As I would quickly discover, if you didn’t pack heat in self-defense, you would get squirted. Squirt guns, you see, were the weapons of choice among the young people in the … [Read more...]
Fill ‘er Up?
Another in a series of growing up in Lewisburg, WV in the 1950’s, a wonderful town and a great time and place to be young) There were real service stations in Lewisburg when I was a boy. They pumped gasoline and offered genuine service. As I recall, we had just two in the 1950’s, an Esso station on Washington Street, down and across from the post office, and another at the corner of … [Read more...]
Turn the Radio On
(Continuing the series on growing up in Lewisburg in the 1950s, a great small town and a great time to be young) In the early 1950s, television was on the rise at the expense of the radio. Then, in 1954, Texas Instruments introduced the prototype of the transistor radio. It was a game changer. Young people were no longer attached to a tube radio, which had to be plugged in. They could … [Read more...]
Shaver’s Music Shop
The hands-down most popular retail establishment in Lewisburg in the 1950’s was Shaver’s Music Shop on Washington Street. Kids made daily or almost daily visits to the small store to see if their favorite record had arrived or if there was a new hit out that they wanted to hear. Burr Shaver, a talented local musician, ran the shop and was one of the best salesmen in the history of Greenbrier … [Read more...]
The Pioneer Drug Store
Not long after I moved to Lewisburg, I made friends with a classmate, Dave Gladwell. Dave’s dad, Arthur Gladwell, was the town mayor and owner of Bee Jewelry. Dave and I hit it off immediately and are close friends to this day. Dave, however, was a picky eater. Green vegetables and fresh fruit were not among his major food groups. Since the Lewisburg School Cafeteria served lots of fruits and … [Read more...]
The Court Restaurant
(Remembering life as a boy in Lewisburg, WV, an amazing town and an amazing time to live) Recently, I saw a list ranking the Top Ten restaurants in Lewisburg. In 1955, there weren’t ten restaurants in all of Greenbrier County, and there was just one in Lewisburg – the Court Restaurant. Supply and demand restricted the number of eateries in those days. And there was very little demand. … [Read more...]
The Court Theater
(Remembering life as a boy in Lewisburg, WV, an amazing town and an amazing time to live) There was just one movie theater in Lewisburg when I moved from Beckley – the Court Theater. It was located, naturally, on Court Street, about a half block from Washington Street, the main thoroughfare through town. The Court Theater served as a major hub of social activity for young and old … [Read more...]
Lewisburg Church Ladies
(This is the eighth in a series of articles about growing up in Lewisburg, West Virginia, perhaps the greatest town and in the best time to grow up that a young man could ever ask for.) The first Easter Sunday after I moved from Beckley to Lewisburg, it snowed. Our family entered Old Stone Church in our summer best, having to knock off the snow from our shoes. I wore a blue seersucker … [Read more...]
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