You can't go home again

This post brought to you by the not-so-long-lost past, as viewed from Carlisle, Pennsylvania.  That's where I grew up.  We were back there for a visit in June and had a lovely time.  But it was a bit shocking to see how many things have changed, just since our previous visit (back in Fall of 2012, so not that long ago).

The first big site to see (or see no longer) was the big factory, Carlisle Tire and Wheel, that's in the block behind my Mom's house.  Here's the intersection one block away from her house:

Yup, that sign says "Factory Street," the street that runs right behind my mom's house. It maybe should now be called "Pile of Rubble Street," but I guess that's not really likely.

I don't actually have any photos of this factory, because it was the kind of thing I didn't really think I would need to have in a photograph.  Friends from my high school worked there sometimes during the summer, and many of my friends' parents worked there, too.  I mean, I figured it would always be there.  It's FACTORY street, after all.  And it's not just this little corner: it's a 9-acre parcel of land.  I didn't realize it was that big back then, but it spans several blocks that I walked every day to school.  Here's a map

So "B" is my Mom's house, and that huge rectangle in the middle is where the factory was (interesting that google maps shows nothing in that lot on the map, but the street view shows the factory there!).  Note: "Smitty's Homebrew Shop" was not there back then.  What was there was a small business run by a guy who fixed and restored player pianos and those crazy music machines that you hear/see when you ride a carrousel.  More on that in another post.

I did manage to find, on googlemaps, this photo of the intersection (the intersection I pictured above):

So that building was there last fall (and whenever it was that the google car passed by) but is just a pile of rubble now.  There's a whole website with updates on the progress of demolition, which you can check out here.  Apparently, there are plans to make a bunch of medical offices here, and also perhaps a senior living community of some sort.  There's a bit more about all that, plus pictures of it pre-demolition, here.

And here are a few more of my post-demolition (or should I say mid-demolition, since it's still not done):

So in addition to tearing down Carlisle Tire and Wheel, a few blocks in the other direction, they're demolishing Masland Carpets, another massive parcel of industrial buildings.  So here's the full map of destruction:

"A" is my mom's house, and you can see, on both sides, there are huge swaths of industrial land that are....well, who knows what they are actually going to become once the rubble is cleared.  There was a massive fire at the Masland site back in May of 2012, but the factory wasn't really in operation anymore.  It had been a big employer since it started in 1919, and I had a few friends who worked there at times.  There's some trouble with the demolition progress, which you can read about here, but apparently they're going to build a hotel and various other businesses on the site.

It's kind of shocking to see these things being torn down.  I mean, I wasn't really attached to them or anything, but they just seemed like they would always be there. Here's where progress was as of June 2013:

So in addition to these industrial sites, one more demolition hit a little closer to home.  This tree, in the backyard of my Mom's house, was the subject of an extensive report that I wrote in the third grade for Mrs. Drachbar (my totally awesome third grade teacher who I also ran into when I was visiting):

But despite its literary significance, the tree has been removed.  Sigh.  See here:

Now you see it (and me, frolicking in its leaves!):

Now you don't:

I should note that although I am happily raking leaves in that picture, at no point did I really enjoy raking leaves from that tree, except for when it was to make a pile to jump in.

 My Mom even got a few shots of the thing after they took it down:

It was huge.  But it was causing problems, including the fact that it was shoving its thirsty roots into the foundation of the house and wreaking some havoc there.  We're sad that it's gone, though.

But perhaps the most disruptive destruction I encountered on this trip was the shocking and outrageous discovery that our very favorite potato chips in the world -- Kay & Ray's -- have been discontinued, forever.  I'm really feeling bad about this one, because I even had a blog post in my head to write about them.  When we were in Carlisle back in the fall, we had bought a bunch of them (as we often do) and brought them back for various taste tests, gifts, and party fun.  I had a whole thing to say about their "dark" chips and whatnot, but now, they are gone.  And I can't even find the photos I had of them.  This one from the internets will have to suffice for now:

Kay & Ray's, RIP.

Well, as long as I'm being all nostalgic, I'll end with a favorite picture that I just scanned from the pile I brought home:

That's me and my brother and my grandparents' dog, Heddy.  Please note that I am rocking a Lehigh warm-up suit, and my brother is rocking the Lehigh hoodie with plaid pants.  There's no date on this photo, but I'd put it at about 1982/3-ish.

That's it for today's walk down Memory Lane, Carlisle.  Stay tuned for more updates from the past.