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 Hanging out in the '60s was much more of a challenge than it is today. We didn't have malls in our part of town back then. I imagine they were pretty scarce everywhere. Unlike the teenagers who swarm into the comfort of enclosed shopping areas to congregate, we had to make do with outdoor facilities as meeting places. I swear that on Friday nights, at the mall near my home, they bus the kids in there. On any given weekend night there'll be more young adults walking around than shoppers.
The store proprietors of my youth would use any means available, up to and
including fire extinguishers, to clear us out of their establishments. Today
the security forces in our mall seem to have surrendered to their numbers,
leaving them to run rampant in the aisles. Not that we wouldn't have done the same thing if we could. But truthfully, even if it meant staying warm, we weren't thrilled hanging around in the Hecht Company bargain basement. Our gang hung out in the evenings and weekends in front of an elementary school a couple blocks from my house. The school had three entrances. The side entrance facing a wooded area was enclosed on three sides, which was nice, but it also smelled of urine, which wasn't. The second entrance, facing a side street, would have been a great hangout except it was already spoken for by a bigger gang with a mean disposition. Therefore, by default, we took the front entrance to the school.
It turned out to be a great choice. Even though a two lane highway was a mere block away, there was a refreshing sense of privacy about the place. We called it the patio, because it looked like one. When my brother and I couldn't get hold of any of our friends, we would simply walk to the patio and wait. Before long, someone would always show up. After a while, the word got out that it was a great meeting place. Teenagers from all around would travel to the patio on summer days and nights to congregate. On the patio we didn't have to worry about shopping center security officers or irate store managers wielding fire extinguishers. Back then it offered the best thing a hangout could; to be left alone. Eventually, later in the decade, when the armed forces, college, full-time jobs, and marriage beckoned, the patio fell silent and reverted back to its original intent. But I'd bet the ghosts of our past still haunt the place, talking about baseball, football, comics, movies, record hops, and girls, mostly girls. |