Before I got the paper route, I had been cutting lawns in the neighborhood. We didn't have electric mowers so I had to learn how to grease the mower and keep the blades sharp. There wasn't much money in that, about $1.50 to $2.00 per lawn, and maybe a tip once in a while. Sometimes my friends, like Bob Branson down the street, would help so we could then go play. So the paper route was a big move up; still, I never gave up my lawn business.
The memories of the Depression were still with my family; my father always talked of finding golf balls on the golf courses and then selling them back to the golf shops. People collected string, anything in order to save money. So, it was pounded into my brain by my father to save when I made money. My mother, who used to work as a bank teller, helped me open up my first savings account when I was in the second grade. In those days, the banks opened up accounts for kids with no bank charges at all. I didn't need a checking account as everything was paid in cash. We didn't have credit cards in those days.
So, when I made money, half went to the savings, and the other half went to buy the things I wanted, like comic books. I was really into Scrooge McDuck, Mighty Mouse and Superman. I also liked Donald Duck and his 3 nephews along with Gyro Gearloose. Comics were 10 cents in those days, unless you got a special edition which was 25 cents. So, when the paper route began making a lot of money, I finally set my sights higher. My goal was to buy my first stereo record player which could play 33-1/3 and 78 records.
Up til then, our family had only a very old record player which could only play 78's and 45's. It had one built in speaker and monaural; there was more static and scratches than music. It was a custom in the family every week to watch the "Hit Parade" on t.v. and, if my mom really liked a song by Rosemary Clooney, or the Andrews Sisters, she would haul us down to Capwell's in downtown Oakland. In those days, Capwell's had wooden sound-proof booths where you could pre-listen to the record, and then buy it. Once in a while, I could talk mom into buying me a record; my favorite was Jack in the Beanstalk with Mickey Mouse as Jack, and his compatriots Goofy and Donald Duck. After, we would go next door to Edy's and get a hot dog sandwich and sometimes a chocolate sundae; then back onto the bus for the trip back home to San Leandro. It was an all day event, but a real treat. Sometimes we would take the Key System train into Oakland which was always a lot of fun.
While I didn't mind the songs from the Hit Parade, I really wanted to get stereo songs that were the beginnings of rock and roll. My first record player was made by Web-Cor, a portable with two speakers that were hinged to the record player. It would cost me about $200.00, and I started saving. The day that I bought it, everyone in the family was amazed at the sound; it was our very first stereo. Still, mom continued to play her records on her old record player. The few radios we had were all made out of wood; there wasn't such a thing as a portable and they all ran on vacuum tubes instead of transistors. My first record was a 45, Rock Around the Clock and a 33 album by Johnny and the Hurricanes, which I still have today. I always had to play the stereo real low, as mom didn't really appreciate this new type of music and thought it somewhat unwholesome.
Finally as the paper route built up, my friend, Bob Branson, saw how much money I was making , and we got him the next route adjacent to mine for the Daily Review. Both our routes were huge in area, and on the edge of the two routes was a Rexall Drug Store with a soda fountain. Bob and I would meet there about half-way through our routes for a break. The fountain was long and on the other side of the pedestal seats was the magazine rack with all the newest comics. Bob and I would sneak our favorites under the counter, order a chocolate phosphate or a soda and surreptiously read the comics hidden under the counter. If they were especially good, and we had the money, we would buy our favorites.
At the end of the day, Bob and I again would meet on the way home at a place called Bud's Ice Cream, where the old man Bud handmade all of his ice cream. Bud was a cranky old man and always gruff with us. I think he didn't feel it was right that two young kids should have enough money to buy his ice cream, or he just didn't like kids. But his ice cream was the best. Again, we would sit there outside his store drinking our milk shakes, sitting on our bikes, glad that all the papers had finally been delivered, and ready to head home. We would sit there and brag about how good wewere in throwing those newspapers right on everyone's porch, and how fast we could get it done. I had to hide my comic books when I got home as my mother was not too fond of them and considered them a waste of my hard-earned paper money. She thought I should be reading books, not comics. Books were free at the library.
Well, now you know where the money went. My first stereo, lots of comics, lots of chocolate phosphates and milk shakes; throughout, half continued to go into my savings account and was never spent until I bought my first home years later. I remember my wife asking where we were going to get the money for the downpayment, and I told her, "From my paper route." By then, my savings had over $6,000.00 in it.
Written by mrsquid1 (Link to this entry)
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