Is there anything better than an American Drug Store? When I was in Greece in 1994 all I wanted to do when I got home was eat a hot dog at Fenway Park and peruse my corner drugstore for candy, cokes and comic books.
The smell of a good drugstore is a comforting melange of newsprint, candy and some unidentifiable medicine. Where else can you buy new razors, Old Spice, pink and green chewing gum cigars and the latest Mad magazine? I remember buying Phillip K. Dick's Ubik off a rotating stand at Franklin's Pharmacy in Glastonbury. It had an ad in the center for Newport cigarettes. Franklin's was great, they had a lunch counter in back where the cokes came in a paper cone in a stainless steel base with lots of crushed ice.
I would never call a comic book a"graphic novel", but used to love pouring over them - especially the funky ads. Sea Monkeys, X-Ray Specs, Charles Atlas and the hapless wimp who got sand kicked in his face. The best part or maybe the worst part of being a kid was that you didn't know enough of the world to know that Sea Monkeys are brine shrimp, X-Ray Specs can't work and Charles Atlas has no easy answers to tough ass kickings.
1 comment:
Yeah, but the coin changer DID work. By MAGIC.
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