In Wednesday’s newspaper there were two wonderful articles. The “Invisible man sees” column by Burgett Mooney brought back good memories of Downtown Rome in the 1960’s. The letter to the editor from Kathy Flemister described the opportunities on Broad Street at present.

Burgett and I were in school together and in those days Darlington had classes on Saturday, and Sunday and Monday were our “weekend.” I can remember walking to town from East Rome on Monday morning, hitting the hobby shop on Second Avenue right before Enloe’s. Cliff, my best friend, and I would check out the “five and dime” stores (there were several), stop and see Mr. Ben at Essermans and Mr. Jolly at Owens Hardware. Sometimes I would get my hair cut at Johnny Franklin’s Barber Shop in the Cotton Block (school was strict about hair length then.) Depending on the time of day we played some pool or went to a movie at the First Avenue Theater. As the day wore on we found ourselves at Huff’s Pharmacy on the way home.

For today’s youth, the present will be their “good old days.” But for me, these memories of a simpler time in the 1960’s are mine.