Images of Erie

Educated in a small town,
Taught the fear of Jesus in a small town,
Used to daydream in that small town,
Another boring romantic that's me.

--John Cougar Mellencamp

Thanks to www.lyricsfreak.com for helping me sleep those nights I can't remember the rest of the lyrics to a song, or who sang it.

I spent six days back home with my family in Erie. It was too cold to jog, so I walked around and took some photos. Watching CSI tonight reminded me of watching with my Dad last week. When it came on, my Dad yelled to the kitchen, "CSI Miami's on. Who's counting, you or me?."

"Counting what?" I asked.

"How many times Caruso takes off his sunglasses." That's my Pop. Thinking of Dad reminded me of my photos of home. So, here are my Top Ten Erie Landmarks -- some relate to US history, and some to my personal history.

10. The Dari Creem. One of the things I miss in the summer in SF are small, neighborhood, soft serve ice cream places. Erie has them everywhere. Dari Creem is famous for Blue Moon ice cream (for all I know they may have invented it). I can't even tell you what the flavor is, but it tastes great, and turns your tongue a bluish color that is pretty gross, and therefore cool to a seven year old boy. Unfortunately, the Dari Creem was closed for the winter, so my craving for Blue Moon will pang away until summer since I've never seen it outside of Erie.

9. Presque Isle, AKA "The Peninsula". I can still hear the museum recording..."Lake Erie's only natural harbor, the name Presque Isle is French for 'almost an island'". The beaches actually draw millions of visitors each year -- and if you've never been to a good ocean beach, it's pretty cool. When I was a teenager, though, some of the beaches were closed due to high bacteria counts (why the bacteria were expected to keep to one beach and not another, I'll never know). Things have gotten a little cleaner, though, thanks to the zebra mussels. (The image is an aerial view from www.visiteriepa.com)

8. St. Mary's School. Around the corner from the Dari Creem, this is where I went for K-8. My father and grandmother went there, too. It was a parochial school, which basically means it was "private", but not in the affluent Andover/Exeter sense. Instead, we had poor to middle income families from a variety of ethnic groups, who were scrimping and pinching to pay a nominal tuition to get their kids a leg up. After over 100 years and thousands of students, it closed a few years back. The building is now used by a children's center.

7. Horace Greely. For those who don't know him, he's the journalist who coined the phrase, "Go west, young man, go west", and he stayed in Erie for a while. I don't know if it was his advice or that of the Village People, but here I am in SanFranciscoo.

6. Dobbins Landing. Previously known as the Erie Public Dock, the name was changed some years ago because the "l" in public kept disappearing. Now it is named for Daniel Dobbins, a Great Lakes navigator who was instrumental in outfitting Commodore Perry's ships for the Battle of Lake Erie. (Picture from www.visitnwpa.com)

5. Loganville. Believe it or not, this is my parents backyard. In what had been short left of Trambley Field (wiffle ball), there is now a shanty town. My kind-hearted parents told a neighborhood odd jobs guy, Logan, that he could store some stuff in the yard. He's been slowly adding buildings ever since. He'll need a fire department soon.

4.Oliver Hazard Perry. Commodore Perry is one of the dominant figures in Erie history, his name drilled into the brains ofyoungd Erie-ites. Long story short, he won the Battle of Lake Erie during the war of 1812. This statue and plaque are on Perry Square in downtown Erie. The Perry Monument is on Presque Isle. Perry Plaza is on Broad Street. The only person who rivals him for eponymous stuff in town is General "Mad" Anthony Wayne, a famously weird soldier from the Revolutionary War who happened to die in Erie and later had his body boiled.

3. Pio's Pizza. This is the best pizza for the price (and maybe att all) in the known universe. I have no idea why -- it's neither crispy, thin, New York style nor thick, pastry, Chicago style. It's just cheap, down home, authentic Italian corner store pizza. My family has been eating it for at least three generations. I go to East Avenue (pronounce ee-stav-nu, accent on the stav) every time I'm home to get some. Recently, they changed from the thin, wide pepperoni to the thick, narrow pepperoni. The latter curls up while it cooks, and the grease pools in the slice of 'roni and burns the roof of your mouth when it's hot. Mmmmm. And I've never found it in SF.















2.The Brig Niagara. The number one artifact in Erie. The legend, as taught in Erie, is that Commodore Perry (see #4) left his flagship, the Lawrence, after it had been damaged. He boarded the Brig Niagara, raised his "Don't Give Up the Ship" flag, and ordered the Niagara to cut through the British Line, firing cannons at point blank from both sides. This bold and successful maneuver basically decided the Battle of Lake Erie, leading to the only recorded surrender of the British navy. The battle was actually fought in Put-in-Bay, Ohio, but you'd never know it from being in Erie.
The ship tours the Great Lakes on occasion, but is harbored in Erie. Obviously, it looks cooler in the summer when it's not covered by a tarp.

1. The Homestead. This is the house in which I was raised from 1978-1991 (prior to that, we lived on East 10th in a flat owned by my (great-) Uncle Val. I'm sure I'll be blogging about him someday). My parents still live there under the boxes of things from my childhood, about which I was frequently reminded this trip. Wow, did I have a lot of stuffed animals. Including a pink elephant that I named Pinky -- how did I miss the signs for so long?

That's all for now. Do I make any more sense to y'all?

Home is the place where,
when you have to go there,
they have to take you in.

--Robert Frost