Pizza Pies

2/9/2020.
Today is National Pizza Day.  And, YES, I will be making a cheese & pepperoni pizza tonight.

I am including a previous published blog. Many of my new followers may have not seen it.

Enjoy your PIZZA day!      

Research tells me the first American pizzas were known as “tomato pies.” Tomato pies are built the opposite of the “Pizza Pie,” first the cheese, then the toppings, then the sauce.

It wasn’t until the 1950s that Americans started to notice pizza. Celebrities of Italian origin such as Jerry Colona, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Durante, and baseball star Joe DiMaggio all devoured pizza. It is also said that the line from the song by famous singer Dean Martin, “When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore,” set America singing and eating pizzas! [1953].

I cannot remember having a pizza during World War II or before. My parents would try many places for a Saturday night pizza. The closest pizzas were the Bridgwaye Inn and the Humarock Lodge, but neither were satisfactory.

Next tries were a place in Fieldston, then Brant Rock, with no luck.

A Greek restaurant in Scituate, nope. Not that these pizzas were bad — they just were not pleased with some part of the pizza.

Maybe 1947 or 8, my uncle Herb, Dad’s twin, got a nighttime job at the Rockland Bar and Grille in Rockland. Herb alerted my parents to the great pizzas. One Saturday night we drove to Rockland to try one. I think in those days there were only cheese pizzas. It was great!

Whenever my folks wanted a pizza, off to Rockland we went. I can remember after I got my driving license (May 1951), I would be sent to Rockland for a takeout pizza.

In 1949 or 50, a new building was constructed at 20 Sea Street, in Humarock (really Seaview). A family from Quincy, that operated a pizzeria in Quincy, opened Miramare Pizza as a summer business.

There was Sal, the cook; his sister Celeste was the waitress and cook; and the matriarch mother, Naomi, ran the cash register. They would let me stash my bike behind the building when I went to Humarock. This was during the rebuilding of the new Sea Street bridge, during the summer of ‘ 51 (completed in 1952).

After stashing my bike, I would take my chances crossing the bridge over the catwalks provided for the work crew. They were planks maybe 10” wide and stretched randomly across the spans of the old part — and some of the new parts of the construction too. We kids from both sides would, at night, go to Humarock or cross back to get to the pizzerias, or to “Stead’s.”

Pizzerias, yes. At one time, another pizzeria opened in the Davis bakery across from Miramare’s.

Miramare’s pizza place had plenty of parking, but the joint across the street did not — so people would park in Miramare’s lot and walk across the street to the other place.

Well Naomi would have no part of that. She would yell out the front door to get the hell out of her lot! If they did not respond, Naomi would stomp right up the stairs into the joint and make them move their car or she would call the cops. She would make quite a scene!

Some of my friends liked the other pizzas. One time I joined them but didn’t purchase any food, only a soda. Well Naomi saw me coming out of the joint and did she give me hell.

I explained I didn’t buy anything but a soda. It didn’t matter. If you’re going in there, don’t come in here!”

Later that night, I went into Miamare’s for a pizza with a friend. I got the cold shoulder from the old matriarch.

One cheese pizza: 75 cents. Two drinks: 20 cents. A 15 cent tip. Total: $1.10, split 55 cents each. That was the summer of 1952.

 

Miramare’s stayed into the 60s. It closed soon after Sal died.

Now Papa Gino’s gets our $10-$12! We don’t have a Papa’s here in “Down East” Maine, so my wife and I put together a pretty good ‘roni and ‘shroom pizza every Sunday night.

I don’t remember 5 cents.
But I do remember a 10 cent  slice.

There’s no better feeling in the world than a warm pizza box on your lap.

Kevin James

Ray Freden
Sea View resident 60 years, Marshfield, 70

WW2 Homemade Racer

Being a young boy growing up during WW2 found yourself without lots on your wish list. A cart, sled, pedal car, or anything made of steel was impossible to have unless it was a hand-me-down. The best place to find a treasure was the dump, the “weekend store,” usually with a  broken or missing a part.

Being a country boy with a clever father, many finds could be repaired. Cast away baby carriages would supply the wheels and axles for a wagon or push car racer. The hardware to hold a cart project together — nails, screws — all had to be on hand. Nothing came from the hardware store or the lumber yard. All was found, and at no cost.

My first wartime toy was a race car that mostly got pushed up and down Station Street. The wheels came from a cast-off wagon. The front wheels were on a pivot for steering. A rope tied to each side of the axle: a pull on the left rope turned you left, and so on. The rear wheels had rub sticks for braking. If you were lucky they slowed the racer slightly. The hood was from a steel barrel. One would sit straight-legged into the barrel, and lean against a back support.

That’s me, 10 years old in my racer.

On occasion we would haul it to Seager’s Hill. Steering was a feat and stopping was impossible.
Crashing was inevitable! Most of the crashes were rolling on its side. No helmet, no safety belt, no elbow pads. I hauled my racer home numerous times with bent wheels! I have no idea why none of us got hurt coasting that hill!

by Ray Freden  Seaview/Marshfield, 70 years

“There are memories that time does not erase.” – Cassandra Clare

Special Times and Foods

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Both my Mom and Dad’s parents were Swedish immigrants. Dad had told me that the Swedish language was not allowed around the children. However his parents would use Swedish in their evening conversations. Only a few words and phrases could Dad remember. He referred to himself as a “Svenska Pojke,” (Swedish Boy) and Mom as a “Svenska Flicka.” He would use “Tack Sa Myket” (thank you very much) often. There were a few more phrases that have slipped away from me.
At Thanksgiving and Christmas time, both parents had favorite Swedish foods. A braided Swedish coffee bread was always on the table at breakfast, sometimes in the shape of a wreath.

 

                        Kanebulla, (cinnamon buns) were also a breakfast treat. 
Spritz cookies were a favorite of mine at Christmas time, and still are.
Swedish Limpa bread (Wort Loaf) would also be made by Mom.
Swedish meatballs with gravy, served over mashed potatoes, was always welcome.
 
A note here: never, never would I let the peas touch the mashed potatoes. Nothing could touch anything! Boy how things have changed. Oh how I remember picking the onions out of spaghetti sauce — no onions for me.
I wrote about Knackebrod, crisp bread, published 2/21/11.
 
It was seldom that this crisp bread wasn’t in the cupboard for a snack with cream cheese or blue cheese as a spread. It was my job to mash the wedge of blue cheese with milk to make it spreadable. To this day, it’s still my job to mash the  blue cheese wedge, and my job to consume the whole damn thing!
At New Years Eve bedtime, my Mom would leave a bowl of porridge for the” Tomte” or “Nisse.” This little creature lived in the cellar and looked over us during night time. I never saw him, nor was I afraid of him. I always wondered where he ate the rest of the year.
Thanks to the “Nisse” our holidays during the Great Depression and WW2, were happy ones.

 

“Nothing is really lost to us as long as we remember it.” – L. M. Montgomery. The Story Girl.
by Ray Freden, Seaview/ Marshfield, 70 years.