Can't Go Home Again...

I was born and raised on Long Island, in Huntington, NY but moved up here to Rochester (after a brief stint near Los Angeles) after discovering the area when hubby and I were dating and he came up here for college.

We try to get back down there every year because he still has family there. Every time we go we have to do two things: get a descent pizza and have a burger at Conte's Burger Haven in Huntington. But I just got word that after 47 years, Conte's is gone, another victim to the bad economy. I have such great memories of the place. It was an old fashioned place that looked like one of the original Mc Donald's but MUCH better food. My Dad used to bring me there when I was a kid, though mostly it was after a dentist appointment (the dentist was nearby and Dad could not just drive by!) My mouth would be numb from novacaine but I'd still try and eat at least the fries. The strawberry shakes were great!

This is just one more place that has dissapeared. Every time I go back I notice something else is gone. The hardware store I used to work in...gone. The restaurant where we had our wedding reception...gone. Mei-Ting, the first Chinese food restaurant I ever went to...gone (they used to have a sign outside that said "We Serve Children," and my Dad convinced my brother he could sell him there for meat if he was bad!) The Rose and Thistle, a great restaurant with a Scottish/English theme...gone. I tried to take our daughters to see my old schools. The elementary school I went to (and much to my friend's amusement, still remember the school song for) is now a nursing home. My Junior High was bulldozed. At least my High School still stands though if you go inside, you have to pass through metal detectors now, due to the crime! Bowling alleys and movie theaters where hubby and I used to go when we were dating..gone. Even CBGBs in NYC where Sean introduced me to the joy of mosh pits (not that I participated but it was cool to watch!) is gone!

I wonder if the house where I grew up is still standing....hope so. My Dad built a lot of the masonry around it, as well as a huge barbeque pit, a grape barber and a patio. Maybe I'll just enjoy my memories and not risk driving down that street when I go there again.