Somebody once said that journalism is history's first draft. Certainly journalism can be illuminating with time because seemingly trivial past events speak to a future era in a way just as profound as major events by capturing the zeitgeist or mood of a particular period.
A few days ago, I was browsing through a copy of Levittown Tribune. The issue date was Thursday, November 16, 1961. No great wars, treaties, coronations, or proclamations to report on that day - just little things, meaningful things.
On Hempstead Turnpike, Zorn's and Howard Johnson's were advertising Thanksgiving turkeys and the Levittown Ford dealership on Gardiners Avenue announced that the 1962 Ford Fairland 500's were ready to roll off the lot. They heyday of the automotive age was evident because, what had been a county lane only twenty years earlier, was sufficiently traffic-snarled.
State Assemblyman Francis P. McCloskey was discussing the feasibility of a pedestrian overpass on Hempstead Turnpike which had become noticeably more congested since TSS and Pergament took up shop. The Levittown Theater and the Meadowbrook Theater, bot gone but not forgotten, were featuring The Hustler with Jackie Gleason and Paul Newman.
Overlooking Hempstead Turnpike was John Pergola's real estate office at the corner of Division Avenue and Schoolhouse Road - a red-and-white Levitt Cape Cod wherein many "second wave" Levittowners got their first taste of suburban homeownership in the 1960's; where my parents bought their Cape Cod back in 1968. John Pergola was presented with an achievement award from the Home Improvement Council that week as Memorial High School football coach, Jerry Jewel, accepted the championship oaken "Water Bucket" which now belongs to the Levittown Historical Society and is on exhibit at the Museum.
The most interesting human interest story of November 16, 1961 was the tale of Steven Hildes of Elm Drive. Discovering a $10 bill on the sidewalk outside his home, the six year-old spent the day going door-to-door seeking its rightful owner.
November 16, 1961 was a day when the American Dream was at its zenith. There was a charismatic young man in the White House, America produced nearly half of everything manufactured in the industrialized world such that a blue collar worker could afford his own house and car. Meanwhile, in a Brooklyn hospital a few miles away, I turned one day-old just around the time the mailman was delivering the Levittown Tribune to subscribers in my future neighborhood.
Want to learn more about the history of Levittown and the surrounding communities? Visit www.levitownhistoricalsociety.org
