Remember Bazooka Bobble Gum, with a comic inside the wrapper for each piece? How about Tootsie Pops, with that chocolate center? There were those Red Hots, those big red balls that grew hotter as you sucked them. We loved licorice twists, Milky Ways, Hershey bars, Tootsie Rolls…and maybe Necco wafers. And remember Milk Duds! Of course at this time of the year, there were jelly beans, chocolate eggs, and bunnies. No wonder I had so many cavities as a kid!

Some of these candies are still around fifty years later. And some enterprises are bringing them back–probably for the boomers who loved them as a kid. The picture above was taken at the counter of a local family restaurant.

Many of us bought at least some of our candy at local mom and pop stores, often tucked into our neighborhoods. My wife and her friends would stop at Curry’s Pharmacy. We’d go to Mrs. Borey’s on Oakwood, just up the hill from Washington. Many of us walked past, and some like me, detoured. I can’t recall that Mrs. Borey sold anything other than candy, and maybe popsicles and ice cream bars, It was literally a store front in a residential home, where I presume someone lived. I recall hearing that the apartments next to Washington School had a store on the first floor at one time.

Further up Oakwood, across from Borts Field was Zitello’s. It was on my way home from West Junior High, so I would sometimes stop for chips, or maybe a Slim Jim. But they really did business during baseball games in the summer. Between innings, we’d run across the street and get a pop and your favorite snack.

If I was hanging out with friends during the summer, we’d often run down to “Pop’s” on Mahoning Avenue near Lakeview for our bubblegum and Red Hots or a candy bar. “Pop’s” was actually a grocery, so sometimes, particularly before Sparkle opened up the street, we’d be there to pick up some bread or something else mom needed–and get a snack on the side with the change.

This was a part of a culture of local businesses within walking distance for many of us. This is something I don’t know much about beyond my own part of the West side, and perhaps part of our vanishing local history. I’d love to hear if there were penny candy stores you used to go to at which you got your candy “fix” as a kid? Where were these stores and what happened to them?

To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.” Enjoy!