Midtown and Me

I drove through downtown Rochester yesterday...when I crossed over Clinton and Main I was surprised at my reaction when I saw that the destruction/dismantling of Midtown Plaza was well underway...Dust rising, water arching over the debris to try and tame it. I was sad to my core. It made me think that I don't want to let this slip away without at least jotting down a few memories before they're gone along with the debris that they haul off! Midtown Plaza and I are inextricably linked. I can barely remember a time when it did not exist. I do remember being very young when the McCurdy family and the Forman family decided to embark on a new venture...the first indoor mall in a downtown location....The main entry from Main St. used to be an alley....dark, damp and strewn with broken glass alley....no kidding. I vaguely remember not liking it very much. The new entry was bright, well lit. What an improvement! I'm just going to ramble on with recollections...feel free to add your own in the comments as well. I remember: Lunchtime bustle in the 60's with sharply dressed men, hats in place and the clickity click click of women's heals moving across the tiles, the smell and sound of the fountains, a ballet recital where I performed in white tutu when I was 7 or 8...so scary with all of those people! That Christmas tree and the monorail! My first album was purchased on the second floor in the record store (name please?), my favorite store was Casual Corner, in 9th grade I had a crush on the guy that sold shoes at Wilber's shoes on Main, the awesomeness of patchouli and coconug wafting from Uhuru on the second floor by the concourse in the far right corner, stepping in and sinking in the sand they had on the floor, wooden carved animals and the rustle of beads hanging in the entry, watching the skilled workmanship of the American Indians who came to carve the totem pole they erected, shopping at Wegmans in the mall! Terrorizing adults, I'm certain, when my cousin Alyson and I would ride the bus downtown and go through McCurdy's by ourselves...eating at the "Garden Room" on the second floor, trying on makeup (we must've been 10~11) going up to 5 to see the puppies and the cockatiels...going to a fashion show with my mom and commenting on how all of the women looked so beautiful but those "high heels looked so uncomfortable" and I remember she said "sometimes women have to suffer to look beautiful". Hmmm. I threw that one out and it probably shows ;). Then as I'm older...Ivory suit with pink chiffon blouse...I interview for my first "real" job at McCurdy's after college...as I walk by the row of tv's after my interview...they are all plastered with pictures of President Reagan being shot....Stuck in my mind..Crossing the bridge to Red Lion in the basement of the Chase bldg....chatting with the nice guy who always shined men's shoes there...the friendly smile and banter of the bagel cart guy when I got my morning salt stick with cream cheese...Bruegger's opened in the corner and I (along with many others...) still preferred to wait in line for the bagel cart guy. The coffee cart where Uhuru used to be on the second floor...yum, this is before we ever heard of Starbucks....nice afternoon break to walk over there and get a coffee to go and release some work related tension. Morning breaks with the gang...chocolate choc chip muffins for Lynne, Sugar with a little coffee in it for Bernece..(what was that place called?) Wendy's for baked potatoes...the post office was in the corner, burger king in the other end. Then for a business lunch...up to the Top of the Plaza, piano playing every so often. The time Elizabeth Taylor came to promote her "white diamonds" perfume....omg, couldn't even walk through the first floor! Endless Christmas music and those awful Kazoo's from Sibley's. That nasty, dirty, overpriced parking garage...(it can't all be good..) We had one car for a long time so I would take the bus to work and Bobby would drop Bobby off at daycare...inevitably when they came to pick me up in the back street over by the post office to head home, wee Bobby would be in the back of the car saying "Momma LATE". Some things don't change. Then in '93 McCurdy's and Forman's "merged" operations in an effort to stay afloat but that didn't work and we closed and sold to BonTon. The resulting 'going out of business' sale, all hands on deck, I was selling perfume the last week...some of that 'white diamonds" went pretty cheap. A new chapter~ as Midtown changes shape yet again...there was a gift shop in the corner that I took my daughter Cori to every so often and we'd pick up an ice cream @ Abbotts. We'd stop at the gift shop because the owner had 2 beautiful white birds that she would let Cori hold....she must have been 5 yrs. old or so. Cori, do you remember their names? Peebles moved into Forman's by now and McCurdy's was really a shell with a few struggling shops on the first floor. That was so sad for me. Just like yesterday. It brought a tear to my eye...so I thought I'd share. Sorry for the rambling, barely edited format..Skye will want to get her hands on this to make corrections! Tell me what your memories are!