[RP TownTalk] Sonnenberg Building

[johnferg27 at aol.com]

Doug et al. -
 
Your proposal is a wonderful idea -- I don't know just how extensive you  
could make this actual and pictorial public display, but I feel things like the  
trolley line and the other shops of the past would give a sense of the Town in 
 another time that could be quite evocative.
 
I know I remember a drug store across from the Sonnenberg building that was  
not a chain -- just an old-fashioned style with a soda fountain.  It was a  
treat for me and my children when I put the youngest in a stroller and had the  
others walk holding on to the bars from our house on Oglethorpe Street up to  
Route One for an outing.
 
I also remember there was a Little Tavern on the corner that is now the  
Rite-Aid.  The bite-size hamburgers they sold were delicious and I had  a 
fortifying cup of black coffee there as I waited out my five year-olds  tonsillectomy 
at Leland Memorial Hospital.  There were still a few private  residences along 
Baltimore Boulevard in my memories -- they went the way of the  wrecking ball 
when the McDonald's came in and when the old "Homer's Gulf" gas  station was 
expanded.
 
Of course many of you will still remember the shoe repair shop at the E-W  
Highway corner -- the first "cobbler" that I knew there was an Italian man  and 
he did very good work.  There was also, at one time, a portrait  photographer 
in one of the buildings and a U.S. Post Office -- I don't believe  they were 
in the Sonnenberg building but perhaps they were.  And, of  course, I took many 
items to the Peeler's Dry Cleaners that was a drive-up -- so  convenient to 
have all of these shops nearby.
 
I even remember before East-West Highway was constructed and we had a  
gentle, residential street that cut over from the commuter rail area to (I  think) 
Rittenhouse Street and up to Route One.  Of course, the traffic that  backed up 
each morning and evening to cross the railroad tracks was horrendous  before 
E-W -- so  I guess it was inevitable -- I always wished we could  have pushed 
it further up north towards College Park --
 
In conclusion, Doug, good idea -- I'll be the first to stand up to be  
counted in support and will offer whatever assistance you might feel of  value.
 
                                                                              
                  Ann  Ferguson
**************Inauguration '09: Get complete coverage from the nation's 
capital.(http://www.aol.com?ncid=emlcntaolcom00000027)
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