Picture Enfield - Then and Now

ENFIELD, CT — Today's installment of this weekly Enfield history series, courtesy of the Facebook group Picture Enfield, shows 935 Enfield Street, across from the High Street intersection, which was the 1970s location of two longtime Enfield business staples: Barrows & Wallace Real Estate, and LaRussa's TV and Appliance.

At the time, Barrows & Wallace was one of the leading real estate firms in northern Connecticut, operating offices in East Hartford, Manchester and Windsor, in addition to Enfield. LaRussa's, owned by Al LaRussa and later by his son Ron, had originally operated for many years on the corner of Pearl and Main streets in downtown Thompsonville before moving to Route 5.

This photo had to have been taken in either 1976 or 1977, because, in addition to the standard window ads for Magnavox televisions and Hoover vacuum cleaners, LaRussa's is advertising CB radios. "Breaker one-nine, hey there, good buddy, you got your ears on? My handle is TJ the DJ and I'm puttin' the hammer down." The term CB radio hasn't been said aloud since Jimmy Carter was in the White House, but the brief fad took the country by storm, as evidenced by the smash movie hit Smokey and the Bandit and the Billboard No. 1 single, "Convoy" (likely the worst song ever to top the charts - I mean, it sucked pond water, but was the most popular tune in America on Jan. 10, 1976. What were we thinking????)

A number of businesses have moved in and out of the building over the past four decades. Currently, it houses a nail salon, a Chinese restaurant and a convenience store. Here is a more contemporary look at the site, courtesy of Google Maps.

Last week's trivia answer:
Last week's trivia question was, "In what year did future U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer Craig Janney graduate from Enfield High School?" The answer: well, it was somewhat of an unfair trick question, as the standout player, who led the Raiders to back-to-back state championships in 1982 and 1983, left Enfield following his junior year in order to play at Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts. Following an amazing senior season with the Big Green (35 goals and 33 assists in 17 games), he continued his stardom at Boston College and with the U.S. Olympic team before embarking on an excellent 12-year pro career, namely with the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues. He was a charter inductee of the Enfield Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996, and was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2016. Watch his 2016 induction speech below.

This week's trivia question:
When the Enfield Suburban Mall on Hazard Avenue opened nearly 50 years ago, on Nov. 4, 1969, what were the two anchor stores? Post the answer in the comments section below, or on the Enfield Patch Facebook page.