Corner luncheonettes may not be unique to Oxford Circle, but I think they are, or used to be, characteristic of Philadelphia neighborhoods. Back in the 1950's, my mother would give me a dime and send me across the street to buy a loaf of bread at Marty's (it became Richie's sometime in the 1960's). Located on Frontenac street between Hellerman and Greeby Streets, it appears that it is still a corner store of some sort, judging from a recent photo obtained courtesy of Google Earth. Marty's/Richie's had a pinball machine that kids used to play and every once in a while I was treated to a Texas Tommy. That's a hot dog wrapped in a bacon strip. I'm pretty sure the term Texas Tommy is unique to Philadelphia, as I've lived outside of Philly for over 30 years and never heard of saw it since. In the 1950's they sold assorted candies including little candied dots on paper strips. Does anyone remember what they were called? Baseball cards sold for 5¢ and the package included a pink bubble gum strip.The other nearby luncheonette, Freda & Al's (or "Punzie's" as it was nicknamed by some kids) was run by proprietor Al Shein and located on Summerdale Avenue between Hellerman and Greeby streets. I worked there part-time during my high school years. I remember making hoagies, cheesesteaks, pizzas, and doing a variety of other chores. There was also a soda fountain, which contained syrups that were mixed into club soda and stirred manually. I doubt there are many places still around with soda fountains like that. It also had a grill, a pizza oven, and a room with slicer in it. Working that slicer to cut deli meats, cheese, and other things made me quite nervous. When I first started working there, I accidentally flipped a burger from the grill to the floor. Al instructed me to place the burger back on the grill and finish cooking it. After that incident, I never ate in there unless I made it myself :-) For some reason, some high school kids used to hang out there. And there were a few strange people in the neighborhood. One kid in my high school class asked me, seriously, if he could sleep in our garage. He would also buy model airplane kits that came with a small tube of glue. Come to find out, he'd throw away the kit and keep the glue for sniffing. That was one messed-up dude. Freda & Al's is now only a vague memory for me. The building that it once occupied appears to be entirely residential today.
