tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640358.post116485894516529368..comments2023-10-31T06:25:46.016-04:00Comments on SLANTblog: The Border, Soble's and Chiocca's Park Ave. InnF.T. Reahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02042465274190082050noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640358.post-1164996635789227852006-12-01T13:10:00.000-05:002006-12-01T13:10:00.000-05:00Wow, this diary brings back the most bizarre memor...Wow, this diary brings back the most bizarre memories. My dad worked on Cary St. and we went to St. Benedict's so we already knew Tom's Confectionary circa 1959-1960 on Belmont where Dixie cups were 6 cents. I had just turned eight when my mom died in '61 and we had more than a few dinner hours at Chiocca's on Belmont (and New York Deli). On Halloween that year after trick or treating, we ended up at Chiocca's, and by the time we arrived home I was violently ill. Don't know what I ate or if it was just too much candy.<BR/><BR/>At the time we lived way out in Henrico not too far from Bob's Delta Inn, and I remember a KKK convoy pulling up in there when I was in my teens. Anyway, my dad started working over on Lakeside and spent a lot of time at Mac's Deli. He hung out there for the next 40 years although it morphed into Snooky's. He actually worked there during his retirement, and at what had to be the most flush moment of his life he had about 20K in the bank from the poker machines. He would wait to play after he observed a long losing streak.<BR/><BR/>During his few sober years, he did eat over at Dot's. He went back to drinking and was near death 3-4 times from ulcers and head injuries from falling. When he was around 77, he fell off a bar stool at Snooky's and supposedly hit his head again. He was living in a room on a side street just one or two doors away, and one of the younger men carried him home over his shoulder and deposited him on the living room floor.<BR/><BR/>One of the other boarders had sense enough to call an ambulance, and after a couple of days we got word that he was in the hospital. He died just a few weeks later, and not one of his friends from those bars made it to the funeral home. One of his USMC buddies from WWII did make it. I don't recall his name, but I knew him from a an old press photo of "Richmond Marines." <BR/><BR/>At the risk of sounding preachy, I think it would be dishonest to leave the consequences of alcoholism unmentioned. Growing up I spent many nights hungry and alone sleeping in abandoned cars or the woods or on cold nights crawling into the bedroom window of friends. They were the best choices at the time, or seemed that way. My brother ended up in Va. Home for Boys and Beaumont. And we had it easier in some ways than my younger 1/2 siblings. <BR/><BR/>You get the picture. Just saying that sometimes those nostalgia inspiring characters may well make life hell on earth for their families while they are moral exemplars for boys in the bar.Kathyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849226984216329062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640358.post-1164915795936581112006-11-30T14:43:00.000-05:002006-11-30T14:43:00.000-05:00John Murden,Each of us has his own perspective on ...John Murden,<BR/><BR/>Each of us has his own perspective on those places.<BR/><BR/>Paul Soble was not known by some folks as an easy guy to get along with. Bob Kocher (Price’s owner) is quite a character, too. But both Price's and Soble’s were always good to me.<BR/><BR/>Both places were as quirky as their owners but I remember them fondly.F.T. Reahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02042465274190082050noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640358.post-1164886134556622582006-11-30T06:28:00.000-05:002006-11-30T06:28:00.000-05:00I worked at both Sobles's and Price's Market. Both...I worked at both Sobles's and Price's Market. Both were two of the filthiest places that I've seen. We used to kill slow summer afternoons at Sobles having roach hunting safaris in the back room. One of my jobs at Price's was to scrape the past-due expiration dates of off the cans on the shelf.John Murdenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18202963607666210462noreply@blogger.com