Cleaning Up The City

[stoney]

Super Saver was part of the Acme chain, & thus was unionized. I hate to say it, but it went the way of many unionized grocery stores (Chicago Mkts. comes to mind), & was underpriced by the non-union stores.

I remember taking over for a full-time cashier (Helen?) while she went to Germany for a month, & making a whole $3.85 an hour! That was a lot back then. That was also before computerized anything, so we actually had to press the right buttons when entering a price, AND make the correct change!! Woo-hoo!! Now the cashiers don't have to think at all. I remember 1/2 gal. of milk was 55 cents, & I could just press two keys at once. There were no plastic bags, & we did the bagging our selves (unless it was busy).

There was also no such thing as sexual harassment, & Dick Hensel was a terrible lech. He would have been ousted now-a-days. Karen Courtade (on my FB) worked there, too.

I think I told you a long time ago how much I loved that old house next to N & E; there was just something about that place that drew me to it. It was very sad when it "mysteriously" burned down (yeah, right).

[stoney]

You do know why there was such a flooding problem in that area of N. Utica, don't you? It has to do with when the thruway was built. They took loads of dirt from that area to build up the thruway, which is why many homes (& roads) flood during the rainy season.

[Clipper]

It was the late fifties before the city actually caught up with George and made them install indoor plumbing. Up until then, they had a two holer in the woodshed off the back of the house and took baths in an old clawfoot tub. There was a tub and sink in the bathroom, but no toilet. In winter they turned off the water to that room and washed in the kitchen as there was not central heat in that house. It was heated with a pot belly parlor stove, but they seldom went in the front part of the house except to sleep and then they simply hunkered down under a pile of quilts. George was an alcoholic and he used to buy us kids beer when were putting in hay. He would buy us beer at Kochan's store, 3 quarts of Topper beer for a buck. Wonderful stuff that topper beer, haha. A headache in every bottle, not to mention that" it ripped through your colon like a Japanese Bullet train," to quote a comedian I recently watched in a video.

[Clipper]

As for the flooding Stoney, the little creek used to come out of it's banks and would be over Herkimer Road, but it was never deep. We could always drive through it. Keyes Manor streets used to flood too, sometimes half way up the front lawns. There were no storm sewers there for the first few years those houses were there. When they covered up the pasture land and built the houses in Burton Manor, the water used to come off that hill like a river when it rained. We used to ride our bikes through the flooded streets. My grandmother used to freak. She used to tell us we were going to get polio riding in that dirty water, ROFL.

[stoney]

But what I said about using all the soil for the Thruway is true, & why there's such flooding problems. I remember when we lived on Van Ellis Rd. we'd get a foot of water in the cellar. Did you ever see what it looks like by church on Herkimer by Deland Dr.? It looks like a lake in the spring.

RUTH!! That was that woman's name from Super Saver. Do you remember her, Clip? She was a hard-ass from Germany with a heavy accent, & never smiled. "Zank you for shopping at zee Zuper Zaver".

[Clipper]

Yep, I remember it being flooded where the church is. There used to be a family named Posma that lived in the house up on the hill and they had horses in the barn that is now Nancy's pet grooming and her home. That whole little valley there used to flood. Mostly because the culverts under the Thruway couldn't handle the volume of water. The last I knew it still floods North of Deerfield Drive where Brian lives. Not his house, but those at the foot of his street and East of there a block or so. I guess his yard and pool flooded before and made a mess in his pool where the water ran down off the hill above his house through the back yards.

[bobbbiez]

Yes, that part of N.Utica has always been known for some pretty bad flooding from Cosby Manor Rd all the way down to Herkimer Rd.
I remember when we lived on the top of Parklane Dr the water would run all the way down the road into the houses at the bottom of the road. No cellars in those houses so the water and mud ran right into the homes. What a mess!

Won't even go into details about the under-ground springs on the other side of Keyes Rd which caused many cellars to collapse. My son bought a house on Woodbury Dr last year and I warned him to look in another area but he loved the house and now he has to enjoy the swimming pool he has in his backyard most of the year and water in his cellar. Didn't want to aggravate him by telling him, "I told you so," cause he found out the hard way....... his momma is always right. ;D

[stoney]

It takes so long for men to learn, Bobbie.

[bobbbiez]

Jan 23, 2011 10:20:18 GMT -5 @stoney said:

It takes so long for men to learn, Bobbie. [/quote

.................if they ever!!

[Clipper]

And what the hell is it that I am supposed to be learning here? I lived in N Utica longer than either one of you, and I am not disputing the fact that it floods. You two amaze me.

In case you hadn't heard the news, we sold our home on Herkimer Rd and moved to Tennessee in 2002. The water will have to get pretty frigging deep before it's effects reach MY back yard. Other than the obvious concern for loss of life and property of former neighbors and some of my friends, I don't give a damn if the whole North side floats away in a swirl of sewage and trash.

Where did you see any argument from me in all of this? Stoney, I didn't say that they didn't take dirt from the area. I REMEMBER when they built the Thruway. I was old enough to get a kick out of watching them bring the earth from the top of the hill down into Whitesboro with earth movers to build the berm that the Thruway is sitting on across the river flats. Lee Blvd sits where there was dirt moved to build up the Thruway so that the Thruway didn't flood over when that little creek busted out of it's banks every spring and during heavy rains. At that time, the DiNitto farm was the only thing that was down in the bottom of that little gully. You may even still be able to see the dirt bank where they stopped, way back in behind the church property and bordering on the Baker's Greenhouse property.


I am telling you from experience that when I lived on Keyes Rd, the road flooded over down there, but it was never more than about a foot. The whole little gully down there used to flood, but not real deep. There WERE no houses there then with the exception of a few homes up Lee Blvd. and those first houses were high enough that they did not flood. Deerfield Drive did not wrap around and come back down to Herkimer Rd back then. You had to go up Lindaview or Sunlit to get to it. There was no houses North of Deerfield drive in that area then either. The only houses North of there were from Van Rensellear (sp) to Coventry Ave. Flooding back then was not the devastating thing that it is now with all those homes in the area. Typical development problems. When you disrupt a watershed and build on it, you do have flooding issues. You can't bury a creek or expect it to confine itself to culvert pipes. It is nature's revenge when it pours into houses, plain and simple. California still insists on building homes where nature is going to destroy them every time they rebuild them.

When you buy a home, it is buyer beware, and one should look around and make sure there is not a flooding problem BEFORE ya build or buy. Banks normally won't loan money on houses in a flood plain, so I don't know how those houses that flood were ever financed to begin with.

[Clipper]

BZ the other side of Keyes Rd where you son bought was totally loaded with not only underground springs, but many springs that came out of the ground too. That whole hill was wet. They used to drain into a little creek that ran behind General Herkimer School and went under Herkimer Rd just East of the big white house where Woodward from the old Woodward Volkswagen dealership used to live. There was no Jimmy Blvd then either. (I misspoke in another post and called that road Deland Drive, which I remember now is over by Lee Blvd.) There was the big white house and then woods and brush from there to Astafan's Motel. There was woods between Keyes Rd and the Dutch Reform church back then. There was even a small summer home, like a camp, back in those woods that belonged to a guy from NYC. Some Keyes Rd kids got arrested for breaking into it to party. I was glad I was not out that night, haha. They all ended up on probation.

[Clipper]

Stoney, I remember the German lady at Super Saver. Wasn't there a store in Whitesboro too? The thing that always amazed me was that Loblaws and Acme both survived for a long time in the North Utica Shopping Center, almost next door to each other and Zogby's made a mint on the corner of Leland Ave. and the Glebas ran a store that bordered right on the shopping center parking lot. There was New's on the corners, Moe Shequin's on Coventry, and Big M on Genessee in later years. How the hell did they all survive? My Dad used to buy a lot of our meat from Zogby's. I remember as a kid thinking that the older of the brothers reminded me of Groucho Marx with his hair and his moustache, lol.

[bobbbiez]

Clipper, calm your jets. No one is arguing with you. Just saying how it was when we lived there. I moved to N.Utica in 1960 and was there for 17 years on Parklane Dr. We had the last house at the top of Parklane. From my house to Cosby Manor Rd was nothing by trees and fields on Parklane Dr and Keys Rd. Across Cosby Manor Rd was the farm. When the snow thawed and when it rained the water and mud would ran down Parklane into the houses below. Major problems with that every spring. My house and all those houses on that side of Keyes Rd all the way down to Georgetown development had no cellars. Built on slabs. Same problem with the bottom of Keyes Rd. Our friend Gordon Hathaway (councilman in N.Utica) owned the big white house on Herkimer Rd across the street from the entrance to Keyes Rd. The water ran down Keyes Rd onto his property. His yard was so wet that he couldn't even push his lawn mower. I was just happy we lived at the very top of the hill.

Mr. Zogby that owned the store is my daughter-in-law Sue's uncle. He ran the store with his nephews the Mazloons. The old man is still alive and kicking. You'll see him at the Patio often with one of his nephews. He and I always reminisce about the good old days in his store and laugh thinking about when he or Freddie would "give" me all the chicken wings for the week every Friday. He said he didn't realize he was giving away a fortune then. Funny too, is this man (and his nephews), who was so good to me when my family needed a little help ended up being part of my family with my son marrying his niece. ;D

[bobbbiez]

You didn't read our post correctly cause if you did, we were talking about my son not "learning" by not listening to me when he bought his house on Woodbury last year when I warned him against it because of the flooding. Duh! ;D

[Clipper]

You are right about that. I thought you were busting my balls about something or another. You had me confused, I read that and simply said to myself, "HUH, what am I not learning here, and what are they talking about." I thought that it was YOU GUYS who had lost your marbles, but have no fear, it was just a couple more of my marbles rolling slowly away, haha.

I remember well the water coming down keyes road like a river and on a few occasions it went straight across and down that little road next to Hathaways house. Gordon's son Dave was a friend of mine. He married a girl from Cosby Manor Rd. Mel Ransom and is a surveyor for the state unless he has retired. We lived on Jamestown and those houses were high enough above the road as were the rest of the houses in keyes manor from Georgetown to Jamestown. The streets used to flood, but until they built those houses up on the hill, the houses never had any problems with water getting into the houses. Probably when they built Burton Manor, the water came through the backyards and onto Georgetown too. Hathaway was a good Alderman. Wish I could say that for a council woman that lived next door to me and Kathy and was doing anything for the area except taking up space at meetins and making noise. They had a st bernard that barked 24/7. Her drunken old man called me out one day when I bitched about the dog barking. What an asshole he was. He was so drunk he could not have hit a bull in the ass with a snow shovel. I laughed in his face. I pressed the issue until they put up a fence so the damned dog didn't bark at every car that drove by on Herkimer Road. Ya gotta love city life, and rude neighbors. Never again.

Hathaways wife called one morning when my dad had that Gulf station and told him to come over and check out her car. She said it made a horrible squealing noise when she started it up, and then the alternator light came on. He popped the hood and found that their cat had crawled up in there, and she had run the damned thing through the fan belt and killed it. I imagine it did make a squealing noise. Yuk! She had a big buick. Gordon worked for McGrory Sauter (sp) at the time on State and Lafayette St.