Pennsylvania
Had it not been for the "Welcome to Ridgway" sign, I wouldn't have recognized my old Pennsylvania hometown, the place of my birth.
Gone were most of the familiar businesses that had surrounded my youth. They were replaced with someone else's attempt to make good as a merchandiser in a forest town of 4,000, down from 6,000 when I grew up there in the '60s and '70s.
The pool hall that was my second home is now a drugstore. The theater where I held my first job is a hardware store. The Mobile gas station where I held my second job is a parking lot. My first apartment has burned down. The old abandoned tannery buildings that we played army in and skated through as kids have been turned into a three-shift powdered-metal factory. The Ink Plant that turned its employees a pretty green and blue is a hollow shell. My old house is owned by someone who drives an Astro Van.
As my wife, my mother, and I drove the far length and back again, my initial smile melted into a melancholy pout. "I can't go home again," I said. "They've taken it away."
Susan touched my arm. "I know, baby. Only the stories are left," she said. She still wants me to write my first book: Ridgway, USA.
My mother said, "The buildings have changed, hon, but the people haven't. Let's look for someone you know." We parked and walked Main Street, up and down. No familiar faces. My gloom grew glummer and I glowered. Woe was me. Then ma pointed at a building.
"Remember that place?" she said. That place was The Grill, a landmark Main Street bar. (Actually, I moved away at the age of 20 in 1974, so I only knew The Grill from the outside. It was where certain kids' dads hung out.) "You're bound to meet some old classmates in there."
We went in. I bellied up and talked to an old guy named Spike Jones, a downtown familiar from when I was a boy. I nodded to the stranger beside Spike and the stranger nodded back. Spike gave me the whereabouts of several people fresh on my memory list. I asked, "Where's so-in-so, how's what's-his-name, who married who, and who's dead" for a good 20 minutes.
Then Spike pointed to the guy next to him and said, "And then, of course, there is Artie. He's been living in Philadelphia for a while." I jumped from my seat and stepped around. The stranger next to Spike stood up. At full height he turned out to be my great, jolly, old friend Artie from my teenage years. Artie used to sleep over at my apartment and Stanley, my long-dead squirrel monkey, would curl up in Artie's nappy hair and sleep. I named my first Saint Bernard Artie in tribute to my dear friend.
When we recognized each other, we yelled and hugged and laughed and paused for a moment to take it in and laughed some more. After that, things picked up. Artie said, "I have to go to work, but I'll let people know you're here." He finished his beer and left. On his way to the factory he got the word out and it spread, "Steve Gibbs is back in town."
Background music please. Actually, I am well remembered for a movie I filmed of Ridgway back in the '70s. It starred everybody and was called "The End of the World." I'd like to say it was my version of "The Iceman Cometh," but mostly it was me shaking the camera while everyone, including the local police chief and the Catholic priest, shook and stumbled about as if in an earthquake. I added special effects, stuck in a commercial, a few surprises, and a soundtrack cut mostly from Firesign Theater albums. Once it was finished, we watched it at parties for a few years. It brought laughs.
Before the night was over eleven friends had stopped by to say hello.
The next day began the Main Street 4th of July Celebration -- live music and firehose fights. Hundreds showed up. It was a perfect day for finding pals. Susan and my entire family, whom I will introduce next week, roamed the crowds looking for people I knew, and finding them. I stayed until closing, and all told met 37 old friends, not to mention their spouses and gaggles of kids.
Here is a list of names of the friends I met. If the spellings are wrong, sorry.
Artie "Smith"
Micky Viglione
Karen King - Viglione
Robbie Clark
Greg White
Dave Clark
Don Smoot
Harry Hinton
Annie Viglione - Duffee
Bert Duffee
Greg Erickson
Earl Bullers
Buddy Dipold
Rick Zambinini
Paul David Deangelo
Steve Buck
Dave Okenefski
Gail Magnesun
Greg Johnson
Adrian Faye - Johnson
Frank Quattrone
Phil Anstrom
Kevin Anstrom
Kevin White
Spike Jones
Tom Wheeler
Steve Thorwart
Flies Thorwart
Jack Kelly
Buddy Roof
Sue Gasbarre
Pam Dietrick
Animal Kronenwetter
Mark Titchner
Mary Papa
Becky Shrefler
Pete Hanes
Tom Reynard