“People seemed to be interested in Mystic in the 1950’s...,” Tom Santos says about his book.

by Roger Zotti

Tom Santos, who grew up in Mystic and now lives in Pawcatuck, wrote a stellar memoir titled “Mystic in the 1950’s: Growing Up in a Small Village” (Bookateer Publishing). I guarantee it’ll take you back to a different time and place – and the journey will be a memorably pleasant one.

The idea for his book, Tom explained, was brewing in his mind for a while. “I used to talk to people about different parts of Mystic,” he said, “and what it was like when I was a kid. The more I talked about those things, the more I realized I should write it all down. People seemed to be interested in Mystic in the 50’s and I thought it’d make a nice book.”

Though there was research involved, Tom said, “It wasn’t all that bad.” He added, with a chuckle, “Mainly because my memory is still so blazingly sharp. I did do extensive research on finding street addresses and the names of places I’ve forgotten about. Sadly, some of the stuff I remembered and then wrote about is gone.”

What Tom found most rewarding about writing “Mystic in the 1950’s” was journeying back to a different time. “That really tickles the brain,” he said. In the section titled “Soda Shops & Newsstands,” Tom takes us into Davey’s Newsstand on 1 East Main Street and we meet its owner, Robert “Bob” Davey.

(l-r) Stonington First Selectman Ed Haberek, Jr., receives a copy of Tom Santos’ new book at a Sunday Farmer’s Market on the grounds of the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center.

“Bob got along with the kids,” Tom writes. “He had all the latest newspapers, paperback books… comic books….Behind the soda fountain was always a young good looking high school girl who would make any kind of concoction you wanted.” Tom, ten or eleven at the time, “thought she was the most wonderful girl in the world….But then I (like most of boys at that age) fell in love with all the cute girls.”

Let’s not forget that old time candy Tom recalls so vividly. He writes: “…Cracker Jacks with real toys” and “Mary Jane’s.” Of course, there was Black Jack gum and Bit O’Honey. He mentions a candy I hadn’t thought about in years – “[those] miniature wax Coca Cola bottle replicas, all filled with a [mysterious] liquid…but when the liquid was gone you could eat the wax which wasn’t that good either.”

Here are several samples of Mystic back then, in the 1950’s, Tom has written about:  “Apartments We Lived In,” “Shopping in Downtown Mystic,” “The Great Fire of 1960,” “The Mystic River Bridge & The Mystic Seaport,” and “Schools & Services in the Town” where we learn he attended Broadway School on School Street: “We did have school buses, but if you lived within one mile of the school, you walked” – regardless of the weather – “and I walked.”

Tom would love to write another book, but this one would be other people’s memories. “Maybe like a volume two. If I can amass enough information.” If someone wants to share their memories with Tom, his email is santostom@comcast.net. Tom will also be doing a book signing at the Mystic Seaport, August 29.

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