During high school, I worked at the Shopping Time Market, on Mission Street, right next to Burr's Pharmacy.  The owners were a married couple, Wendell and Dorothy. The cashier was Sunny and the butcher, Kenny. It was a small neighborhood market that was convenient to those living near to the Meridian/Mission area of town. On Mondays, the truck would arrive with canned goods and my job was to cut open, unload and stock the contents. On this particular Monday, I slipped with the razor blade cutter while opening a box and opened up my left hand instead. Wendell took me next door to Burr's, where the pharmacist stitched up the wound and I returned to work - much the wiser. Working at Shopping Time was a good experience for a young person my age (16-18). It taught one the importance of being willing to do whatever was asked, or not asked, of you. Wendell, Dorothy, Sunny and Kenny are all long gone, but the Shopping Time Market building remains. Instead of a place to buy groceries, it has been reborn as an antique store, as has the former Burr's Pharmacy. On visits to Buster's Ice Cream and Coffee shop, I can look directly across the street to where Shopping Time stood many years ago. A glance down at my left hand still bears the reminder of that mishap with the cutter - a good reminder of a time long ago.

Steve Ledder

SPHS 1960

Looking back, the jobs we had as kids were very important.  I worked as a busboy at Preble's Restaurant at Fair Oaks and the Pasadena Freeway in 1965 and 1966.  What was good about these jobs is that they took us out of the protected "bubble" of home and school and gave us a taste of the big world outside, where we had to deal with the good, the bad and the ugly.  Unfortunately, most such jobs are no longer available to kids because of liability issues and the bad economy.   It makes me wonder where young people can get some real-life experience and learn to cope with life's vicissitudes and other humans at their best and their worst.  We are not doing kids a favor by allowing these opportunities to disappear.

I remember Shopping Time well, because my first job was running the soda fountain next door, at Burr's, a couple of hours every day after school, and from 8 to 5 on Saturdays. As I recall, Burr's namesake was the father of Miss Burr, the Spanish teacher at the high school.

At the time I worked there, it was owned by the Silvios, parents of Colin, a classmate of my bother Dave's (1961), and Susan, who was a classmate of mine (1965).

It was a great experience for me; the Silvios were wonderful to work for. One of my fondest memories was having my mother (battling cancer at the time) come in in her wheelchair to order a chocolate ice cream soda, which was probably the most complicated item I had to prepare.

My next job was joining my brother as a delivery boy at Fair Oaks Pharmacy--glad to see at least one of these drug stores survive, with its soda fountain intact. By the way, at the time we worked at Fair Oaks Pharmacy, the soda fountain was owned and operated by Harry and Genevieve Libby, the parents of beloved high school librarian Mary Ida Phair, and grandparents of SPHS grads Robbie and Randy Phair (1963 and 1967, respectively).

At the time, both of these jobs paid the princely sum of $1.00 and hour, but with gas at 23 cents a gallon and Big Boys at 55 cents, that was enough to get by. The modest pay was also balanced by the fact that we sometimes took dates with us on our deliveries!

Tom Moore, class of 1965

Mr. Silvio was the one who sewed up my hand. Their family lived right across the street, on Lyndon, from my very good friend, Dan McCue. Nice to hear you were pulling down $1.00 an hour. I don't recall making that princely sum at Shopping Time. I do recall getting 85 cents an hour (1 meal included) at DeLong's Broiler as a dishwasher. My first night on the job I was cussed out by the cook (in front of customers) for coming back with hamburger after he sent me out back for New York Steak. Although, he did help me expand my vocabularly that night. I guess I owe him for helping me be better prepared for Army boot camp that was to follow a few years later.   

Tom:

Remember when you, Roger Whipple and I planned to become vintners of Braewood?

Bill Sampson '64