Carolyn Samangy McCauley's Market 1693 Merchant St. 1941 credit: Edmund Silla photo courtesy Jay Silla used with permission |
The store's building survived the realignment of the north end of Merchant St. when the Old Economy Shopping Center was built in 1978, and the re-realignment after the center was later razed, and is still there. But you probably wouldn't recognize it, as it's been extensively renovated. Here's a photo from earlier this year:
1693 Merchant St. credit: Nancy Knisley May 2, 2015 |
jd aka john domansky
ReplyDeletegreat pic & great story too, wish we had the stuff shown in store, coke sign big bucks temp sign too. & more, have a comment about the mc cauly boy & friend but will wait until time is OK. been to the store many times, when i had money i would buy a quart of chocolate milk & a 5cent cake & sit down & eat it right there where little girl is sitting, the mc caulys were fine people patient w/ a slow speaking kid. just north lived cousins chudasiks spelled wrong i am sure, lived right on the corner & son had to back up a 50s pontiac down a long driveway with inches on both sides. just west of them lived the black window washer & his family, palmers I think their name was. watched him wash many store front windows in downtown ambridge, a long squeege , bucket of water & a towel, to wipe excess off , i think he did one side one day & other side other day, i think the stewarts from hardware lived nearby. right east was a BB field, w/ lined baselines & pitchers mound & real bases too, for serious games, watched a kokoski kid curveball the side down more than once. i learned my own curveball later a one knukle side arm round house curve, there was so much talented sports people that came out of ambridge, i wear a duke basketball tee shirt to honor my buddy Bernard (Tajoe) Janicki multi sport letterman, me i was too small but played all anyway, intermural football the small kid w/the booming throw, somehow i got picked QB.
oh yes just down hill from mc caulys was a way to get down to riverside & all the victory gardens planted there, which somehow got raided when certain people were hungry. in 1952 i lived at 1925 duss, just straight up from merchant , by old central steel. there was a railroad that ran from byersdale area down to hh & another spur just east of the BB field mentioned w/a lot of boxcars sitting sided for periods of time, lots of fun to play on, near falls a lot but no bad falls.