“How Sweet It Is,” announces the sign that welcomes travelers to the present day borough of Brooklyn. Any adult who spent his yesteryear in the fifties recognizes these words bellowed by Ralph Kramden, the scheming bus driver from Gotham who drove through the middle of the decade in a popular television sitcom known as The Honeymooners. Equally memorable for the children of that bygone decade for its sweetness and popularity is the corner candy store. Today Sharon Johnson (retired Philadelphia teacher) and self-described “child at heart” nostalgically recalls growing up in Muskegon, Michigan and the role candy stores played in her childhood. Lee-lee as Alice, a worker at Brinks candy store, affectionately nicknamed Sharon describes Muskegon as a blue-collar small town with several candy stores that competed for the pennies and nickels of the schoolchildren. Brinks stood on the corner of Apple and Scott streets across from the public elementary school. Alice sold penny and nickel candies, and at Christmas time she would dress up like Santa Claus. Brinks also served food.
The children socialized in the park or school yard. When asked to name her favorite candy, Sharon paused for a moment and said,” I guess all of them. But I sometimes get a craving for licorice wheels and root beer barrels.” Psychologists suggest that frequent nostalgic trips down memory lane are not just the wasteful indulgences of a senior citizen but contribute in a positive way to mental health. Author Marina Krakovsky notes: “Such reminiscence can be healthier than you think. Despite nostalgia’s bittersweet rap and the oft-heard advice to live in the moment, studies suggest that the occasional detour down memory lane can give your spirits a significant lift.” (Psychology Today Magazine, May/Jun 2006) According to researchers from Loyola University sojourns of just 20 minutes a day in the good old days can have the benefit of giving you a cheerful outlook. Growing up with a father who was a bus driver and a Kramden double, I became a frequenter of candy stores.
One store looms larger in my memory than others do. Nino’s was located on the corner of East 58th street and Avenue N in a section of Brooklyn known as Mill Basin. It was equidistant from my house and Mary Queen of Heaven, the parochial elementary school I attended. The store lured neighborhood kids from blue-collar families on their way to and from school. During lunch break, Nino’s was crowded with the uniforms of Catholic schoolchildren eager to spend their Biggio, Candy Store,2 allowances or earnings from cashing in deposit bottles to satisfy their hankering for sweets. Funnybrowse around here, I never remember seeing adults at the candy store. The grownups spent their lunchtime consuming serious adult food at Sam’s luncheonette or John’s delicatessen. Nino, the store’s owner and namesake, catered to his customers selling a variety of items. There were school supplies such as marble notebooks, homework pads (Egad! in today’s school jargon agenda books) and loose leaf.
There were favors for last minute moms who had forgotten party supplies for Timmy or Sally. A heap of cheap metal toys (now pricey collectables) stamped made in Japan could be found in the back of the store. A rack in the store’s center bulged with comic books. Superman, Casper, and Wendy, Archie, Jughead went spinning as kids searched for their favorites. The more scholarly-minded schoolmates passed over the superheroes for a series known as Classics Illustrated. The illustrators transformed classic works such as Ivanhoe, Three Musketeers, and Robinson Caruso into comic book format. Most kids went to Nino’s not for school supplies, toys or comic books. They went to satisfy their cravings for candy and to socialize with friends.
Eyes widened, small fingers pointed to the penny and nickel candies enclosed in a glass case. Button candy of all colors and flavors dotted strips of paper often the paper and candy were inseparable. Jawbreakers and Bazooka bubble gum had to be enjoyed before returning to school. Any miscreant caught chewing bubble gum in class was given a stern look or worse punishment by the Dominican sisters. Candy could not only be sweet but fun. Remember the big red wax lips and gum shaped like cigars even with an authentic looking ring. As kids, we would chew away on candy or chocolate cigarettes in boxes or cases that resembled the real ones our parents puffed. “Meet me at Nino’s after school” teenagers called to one another as they left childhood to hang out at the fountain. The fountain was a magnificent work of art made of shiny wood and marble that wrapped around its sides. At the fountain, Nino created ice cream sundaes, splits and floats. All ice cream was hand dipped.
There was no canned soda at the store. Nino would mix seltzer with syrups. Kids would sip their cherry cokes, lime rickies and egg creams as the years spun by on those stools. Historically the candy store was part of the cityscape. The mom and pop candy store captured in a Norman Rockwell picture exists in our memories. It is a piece of Americana replaced by supermarkets and gourmet specialty stores. If you get the urge for some old fashioned candy try online candy stores or if you don’t mind retro try the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain.
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