New Seniors

Moms didn’t work when we were kids.  They were called “homemakers” back then.  Nobody looked down their noses at stay-at-home mothers; in fact, there was a bit of a stigma connected to those who had outside jobs.  That being the case, there were hot meals on the table for virtually every meal, including noon because we used to come home from school for lunch.  Since convenience foods had not yet been invented, mom spent a great deal of time in the kitchen.  So going to a restaurant was a really big deal for us, especially mom.

In my home town of Philadelphia, there were lots of restaurants to choose from.  There were many ethnicities.  So if you wanted Italian food, for instance, you traveled to that part of the city.  Fine dining was not in our family budget, but there were plenty of coffee shops, diners and mom and pop operations that offered good old American fare as well as an abundance of moderately-priced seafood restaurants.

My favorite chain was the Horn & Hardart automat.  This was a kid’s delight.  The sandwiches and deserts were behind little windows that flipped open when you deposited the proper amount of change.

The empty space was quickly filled by someone on the other side of the display and ready for the next hungry customer.  The coffee was in a big ornate urn that resembled a fountain and the hot beverage flowed from several sides.  Hot dishes were less exciting because they were served in a typical cafeteria line.  If you didn’t like H&H there were many other cafeteria in town, but no other automates.

The service restaurants often had juke boxes.  While waiting for the food to arrive, kids liked to flip through the selections even if we didn’t have a nickel to play a tune.  All adults seemed to drink coffee, and it was delivered to the table with a tiny wide-mouth milk bottle of cream on the saucer.  We’d grab the bottle and down it, so our parents had to ask for more.  In those days, iced tea was served, but only in the warmest months of the year; and if someone wanted decaf, they’d get a cup of hot water and a packet of Sanka.  Sugar was in a shaker, a small bowl or sometimes cubes — usually unwrapped.

At the seafood places, where much of the food was breaded and fried, each table had a bowl of O.T.C. crackers (Trenton Oyster Crackers) and fresh horseradish in a little jar with a self-contained spoon.  The idea was to put the sauce on these crackers that looked like big marbles or jaw-breakers.  To prove your toughness, you’d eat these without taking a drink of water until your eyes would tear up or your nose ran.  It was great fun.

The restaurants, except for those serving fish and fried foods, had a homey kind of smell.  The meats cooking, gravies heating and the aroma of baked goods filled the air.  In the winter, the places heated up so the windows were steamed all the time.  If we were lucky enough to get a table next to them, we loved to try to write our names backwards so those outside could read them.  Times were simple then for this new senior, and I’ll always remember eating out as an experience.  Unfortunately, today it’s just a necessity.

Don Potter: Editor-in-Chief

Don Potter, a veteran of the ad agency business, is a Philadelphia native currently living in Los Angeles. He is the author of an acclaimed marketing book, The 50+ Boomer: Your Key to 76 Million Consumers. In retirement, Potter has written two novels, hundreds of articles and is a frequent lecturer. A leading advocate for those 65+, he is a founder of NewSeniors.com.

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