My reminiscences of businesses in the immediate area where I grew up in York, PA continues.
There were two very close newsstands: Babe’s (at the corner of George and South Streets) and Carl’s (a few blocks away on George Street).
Babe’s had a huge selection of comic books around and past the pinball machine. This was my main source of everything Archie, DC, and Marvel. The place also featured a counter where you could sit and order fountain drinks, like root beer floats. Long before Cherry Coke came in bottles, you could order it here and have it mixed in your glass.
My cousin Bill tells me that Carl’s was owned by Babe’s brother. It also had a good selection of comics along with the newspapers and magazines. My tunnel vision doesn’t remember anything else, like cigarettes, etc. I do recall going in one time, finding the new issue of something not there yet, and leaving quickly—and being pursued by the counter woman who thought I had shoplifted. The other big Carl’s story concerns my mother who went there daily for the morning newspaper, the York Daily Record. One day she stepped out of the building and heard a strange clattering. She looked down George Street and saw a bull charging toward her; it had escaped from Fischer’s Meat Market (featured in the next post). She detoured down the alley to avoid the animal, which I believe was captured at the reservoir.
MUSOFYR 