A Very Old Memory

After school at West Junior High I took the bus to West 5th Street. I checked in at the Leeward, where Opal was working behind the bar, talking to Mom and a bunch of other people. The bar was full. The other business owners said the City was threatening to raze all the buildings on the north side of Bridge Street, starting with the corner of Hulbert Hill going all the way to Topky’s Hardware. The other business owners are upset; especially the nice lady with the brand new Scandinavian Gift shop. The Gas-house Gang baseball team members were upset too. Someone suggested getting West 5th street into some kind of Historical Registry so the City couldn’t tear it down. “If we band together, we can save the street.” Mom told them. “We need to give it our best shot.” “This area could become the showplace of Ashtabula,” Pam from Redesign speculated. Everyone laughed at the idea, 5th Street was skid-row, or Redesign wouldn’t be next door. But Mom agreed to research the idea. They decided to call themselves the Harbor Merchants Association. The rest is History.