Monday, October 19, 2015

McClernan's Cafe

McClernan's Cafe since 1910
A cousin from my father's side posted a whole bunch of old family photos on Facebook.

I knew that my father's side of the family had owned at least one bar in South Philadelphia, back in the first half of the 20th century but I never really thought much about it. But seeing the actual storefront with logo makes it much realer - and I really like that logo. Unfortunately I can't make out the year. A cousin claims it's 1910.

That's my uncle John, aged 2, so this would be taken in 1940.

The next photo is my father riding his bike, and the photo after that appears to be my uncle Bill and my father and my grandfather riding my father's bike. I don't know if the window behind them is another window in the same building as the first photo, or if it's a completely other building.

It's really amazing to see a photo of my Grandfather riding a tricycle. He's been dead for 30 years already, wow. When I knew him he was affable enough (until I started dating my vegetarian, Jewish ex-husband. I don't know how he felt about the Jewish aspect, but I remember he thought that vegetarianism was like a cult.) But in my earliest memories of him he was in his early 60s. He was actually quite dapper in his younger days as the photo attests.

My father on his tricycle

My mother's grandfather Thomas Maguire owned a liquor store. A bar and a liquor store - could my Irish ancestors be any more cliche?

Uncle Bill, my father and my grandfather - on my father's ttricycle.

My dapper grandfather