Movin’ on up

When my children were little, my friend and I used to walk our strollers from the West End where we lived to an area past New York Avenue called “Teachers’ Row,” defined as such because many of our school teachers lived there. There were tree-lined streets and beautiful homes, and I thought how great it would be to live there.

Well, ultimately, we outgrew the small bungalow we lived in, and ended up buying a home on Teachers’ Row. My youngest was two when we moved to West Market Street in 1971. It was and remains a lovely neighborhood. I can’t say that people were as friendly as they were in the West End, but as time went on I found that I was pretty lucky to have the neighbors I had. We slowly discovered what it was like to live east of New York Avenue. On the corner of New York and West Park was the Elk’s Lodge, the Eagle Pier Marina and Manny’s candy store. What replaced them are 20 condominiums, a veterinarian and the Jewish War Veterans hall.

The deli on Lindell Boulevard has been owned by the Whelan’s for many years. Previously, it belonged to the Kimmelman’s. Across the street on the south side, several different service stations occupied that corner through the years.

The Laurel Theater and Laurel Luncheonette were on the southwest corner of West Park Avenue and Laurelton Boulevard. There was never a time when you entered the luncheonette when you didn’t run into someone you knew. Eventually, though, many of the snowbirds did not return to Long Beach and relocated to the South. It was then that things began to change. Co-ops and condos were rising on Broadway and Shore Road, and the population began to change also. Although I could not understand why our population always remained at about 34,000.

Not only did we have Bohack’s Supermarket, where Dr. Weitzman’s office now stands at 325 W. Park, but we also had the A&P across the street, where Lancer’s now does business, and the Associated supermarket on Magnolia Boulevard and West Park. I distinctly remember whole chickens being sold at these markets at 29 cents a pound. Can you imagine that?