Ashmun Street Memories Poem

 Note: This poem was written on or around Christmas, 2005.  I'm not sure who the     author is, I've heard Mike TenEyck wrote the poem.  It brings back so many memories!

Ashmun Street Memories - Author Unknown

T'was the night before Christmas and all through the Soo,
Not a tavern was open to have me a brew.
My stockings were frozen from three-foot-deep snow,
My car wouldn't start. Felt like twenty below!
     
I'd just driven up from the sunny warm south.
And now I had icicles stuck to my mouth.
And all I desired was a warm little pub, To drink me a beer and to eat
me some grub. I thought, "Where's a guy gotta go for a drink?
A fella could die of his thirst here, I think!
I'll walk up to Neville's....it's up there by Nobles.
I'll get me a beer if I have to buy Goebles!"
     
Down Portage I headed...my back to the west.
 "Hmmm...where is Rosini's? Their pizza's the best!
It looks like they've closed. T'was a great pizzeria.
And...where's Fasinello's??? What gives? Mama Mia!!!"
I walked past the Alpha. "Hey...no Traverse Bay.
Too bad. They had great woolen stuff in their day.
I wonder what happened to Perroy the tailor.
The Camera Shop...seems it was also a failer."
     
It all looked so strange as up Ashmun I walked.
 "The Savoy's the Downtowner. They've changed it. I'm shocked!
What happened to Chet's?...and the Temple Theater?"
As I approached Ridge, my confusion grew greater!
"What happened to Gamble's? Soo Coin? Wydra's Shoe Store?
It seems everywhere that I look there's a new store!
The Tamarack Shop was somewhere in here too.
All the Soo's businesses...gone, save a few."
 "And where's the First National where I once worked?
They've gone and renamed it!" I found myself irked!
"Jean's Jewelry Store...gone! So's Soo Music. And Kreft.
And Wimpy Smith's. Are any barber shops left?"
     
I walked on to Spruce Street in sheer disbelief.
 "Where's Kresge's? Where's Scott's??

And no Woolworth's???  Good grief!!!"
And where's Rich's Service? And King's and Ben Boults?...
Those places that fixed things--A/C and 12 volts."
 "No longer 'Soo Savings Bank'...even that's changed!
These downtown Soo merchants...they've all gone deranged!
     
How DARE they so alter this town of my youth?...
The Soo that was here when I cut my first tooth!"
"And where is Soo Discount? Where's Cowan's? The Hub?
And where's Central Savings?   Where's Maltas and Flood?
And hey...where's Hank's Sport Shop?   And where's City News?
Where's all of it gone to? They've left me no clues!"
 "Where's Rodiger's Sport Shop, The Man Store? My gosh!
I guess the economy gave them the squash.
AND WHERE'S THE BIG CHRISTMAS TREE...always right here...
At Ashmun and Spruce Streets...up year after year???"
     
"You'd think that they'd have some respect for my past!
My gosh...the Soo Theater?   THAT didn't last???
The American Cafe? And that Karmelkorn place?
And where's Monkey Ward's? Not a sign! Not a trace!"
"No Vanderhook's Furniture, Bev's or Erards.
I guess that 'forever' was not in their cards."
     
I glanced at the old Ashmun bridge up ahead,
Relieved not to see a new bridge there instead!
"No Penneys!   No Sears! And there's no Gerrie Press!
No Watson's or Callaghan's!" (I must confess...
It shook me a bit to see so much had changed.)
"They've torn up ol' Ashmun! It's all rearranged!"
"Where's Mackie's? Where's Roger's?   The Squire Shop? Where???
And...wasn't Division Street right over there???
They've taken out streets??? Were no sacred lines drawn???
The Flirting Duck...Jean and Top Shop...both are gone!"
     
"It's becoming quite clear I've been gone for a while,"
I said to myself with a bittersweet smile.
"I guess that these changes must be for the best.
But I sure wish they'd stop it now. Give it a rest!"
"No Bonacci Insurance. And where's the old Texaco?
I've not felt this lost since driving through Mexico!"
     
I crossed Ashmun Bridge. Would Ted Caffey's be there?
Astonished, my jaw dropped. The car lot was bare!
And what to my wondering eyes did appear?
"A BURGER KING??? This town's gone crazy, I fear!
Soo Creamery's bit the proverbial dust.

And Gerry's Clark-Super and Togo's went bust."
"Where's Northwestern-Hanna? (C. Reiss it was later)...
The office and coal shipped to Maine on a freighter?!!
And my...the old Varsity Center...gone too!
I remember those dances downstairs... what a zoo!"

The next thing I saw on my wandering trek:
Napoleon's Take Out was gone. "What the heck???"
And even the Medical Arts Building's vanished!
 "Dalimonte's store's gone! Have Italians been banished?!!"
Soo Bottling...Rudy's...the A & P store...
I just wasn't sure I could take anymore!
     
It all seemed so different. It all looked so odd.
It just wasn't "Ashmun." The whole street seemed flawed.
I thought, "Where'm I headed? Oh yeah...up to Neville's.
And what is this? Rite Aid??? A drug store sells shovels???
And Easterday hill...now it's four lanes and widened!

So many old mem'ries of slippin' and slidin'.      

I trudged up the hill...'round the corner and on...
Hoping that Neville's Store TOO wasn't gone!
Then there in the distance...a recognized sign!!!
I dropped to my knees as I worshipped this shrine!
 "Lo and behold! There's a memory still here!
I sure hope they're open!" It wasn't quite clear.
I rose and drew closer. The store lights were on!
"I'm glad, 'cuz I'm spent,"   I declared with a yawn.
     
It looked like the Big Boy had closed its doors too.
'Twas our "after the bars" place at quarter past two,
For Slim Jims and burgers and milk shakes and fries
And steamy fudge sundaes and strawberry pies.
     
I'd expected to see all the grounds I'd once stomped on.
But all of my great expectations were tromped on.
All gone now was Kremple's and Rogers Appliance.
On things left unchanged there could be no reliance.
I thought to myself as I entered the store,
"I remember these walls! And this ceiling! And floor!
My Neville's...sweet Neville's...at least it survived!"
I have to admit...I was somewhat revived.

"Ill grab some Corona.   I hope they have limes.
No! I'll buy Milwaukee's Best...just for old times!"
It's the cheapest that's drinkable!   (Lord knows I knew!
I'd guzzled down lots with the Native Son crew!)
I grinned as I walked past the Boone's Farm display.
"I sure soaked up plenty of THAT in my day!"
I paid for my purchase and grinned at the liquor.
"Wine is just fine," we'd say..."liquor is quicker!"
     
I breathed a deep sigh and reentered the cold.
The Soo was so changed. I was sure feeling old.
I walked to the alley behind Neville's Store.
My walk had been distant. My feet were quite sore.
                 I sat in the snowbank and opened a beer.           

    "I sure hope the cops don't come driving through here!"
I shifted my gaze to the now-darkened sky.
I was feeling displaced in my hometown! But why?
 "Things certainly can't always just stay the same.
There's got to be progress. There's really no blame.
     
I guess my old Sault Ste. Marie is a place
Like all others. It's changing.   That's always the case."
I took one last sip from my red and white can
And thought, "This scene sure wasn't part of my plan!
I'm here in an alley off Ashmun Street hill,

Drinking vat-bottom skunk beer and catching a chill."
I placed in a trash can the five that remained.
And pondered the deeper insight that I'd gained:
     
The Soo's not a place. It's a feeling inside.

It's smiles that we've smiled, and it's tears that we've cried.
It's sitting in Woolworth's with friends of our youth,
Drinking after-school Cokes in a red vinyl booth.
It's make-ups and break-ups in old Brady Park.
It's 8-ball and pinball with Bata and Clark.
It isn't the buildings or sidewalks or roads.

It isn't at all as I first had supposed.
It's filed-away "moments" that keep us returning.
It's good times with old friends that causes this yearning.
     
The places are gone, but the mem'ries survive.
The old buildings, dead. But the old times, alive.
The Soo holds the stage where those mem'ries were born.
And none of our scripts will get lost, tossed or worn.
And though the stage set becomes changed and updated.
That stage in our mem'ries stays newly created
The scenes are as fresh as if we were, just yesterday,
Slashing the Ash between Portage and Easterday.

What, as I walked, was I missing today?
Was it wood, bricks and mortar? It wasn't, I'd say.
I now understand: T'was the people. The faces.
Not buildings, but those I was with in those places.
We miss the old stores 'cuz we miss the old friends.
A moment that's deep in the heart never ends.
     
The dime stores may die but our "moments" there live.
Then our hearts feel the tugs that these old mem'ries give.
The Christmas tree's gone from its Ashmun Street spot,
And now they sell french fries from Ted Caffey's lot,
But something's as constant as Heaven above:
The Ashmun Street memories of friends we still love.


Merry Christmas, Classmates!

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