H is for Hollywood Ave. in Gloversville, N.Y.: My mom’s childhood home. No. 8 of 26 posts in the April 2024 Blogging From #AtoZChallenge. Theme: My Life: The Prequel (in Snapshots) adding my parents’ stories to the family history mix. Please join me on the journey.
My mom, Peg Laurence1Laurence is anglicized from the Italian surname Di Lorenzo., was born in Gloversville, N.Y., in 1926 — and that’s where she lived until departing for college.
However, her family made a couple of stops before moving to 12 Hollywood Ave. — the first home of their own, where my mom and her younger sister Rita grew up.
A possible reason for the house hopping: Mom’s parents — Antonio and Elizabeth (Stoutner) Laurence — were next door neighbors on Wells St. in Gloversville when they fell in love and eloped to Detroit, Mich., to marry (read more about that here).
Mom’s Wells St. homes
Lisbeth’s German-American family opposed the match, so on their return, she and Tony moved in with his Italian-American parents and younger brother Joe at 12 Wells Street. That’s where my mom was born.
Soon, though, Mom’s family moved across the street to 9 Wells Street, shown above — where they were living during the 1930 US Census. By 1932, a Gloversville City Directory listed Tony’s address as 12 N Hollywood Ave., the childhood home my mom remembered.
Life on Hollywood Ave.
When Mom’s family moved to the N. Hollywood Ave. house, they finally had a home of their own. And that’s where Mom spent the 12 formative years of her life.
Compared to the more compact streets closer to Gloversville’s city center, Hollywood Ave. was more suburban — featuring larger single family homes with lawns, trees and landscaping. I remember it having a spacious feel when I stopped there with Mom to see the house during a 1992 family history road trip.
From there Mom went to school, made lifelong friends, attended music lessons, left for summer camp at Great Sacandaga Lake — and interacted with her Italian and German extended family, who lived walking distance away.
Persistent memories
Hollywood Ave. made such a lasting impression on Mom that, after the 1940 US Census went public — when she was 86 — she still remembered the neighbors when I phoned her to go over the list.
“There was someone on the street with a high government job,” she recalled as I read her the family names house to house. Sure enough, I looked further down the census page and one of the neighbors was the County Treasurer!
Of all the activities Mom engaged in while living on Hollywood Ave., music was the one that became her life calling. More on that in the next post.
- 1Laurence is anglicized from the Italian surname Di Lorenzo.
Up next, I is for In love with music: My mom’s vocation. Please stop back! But first, use the Linky tool to visit the other bloggers at Happy Tuesday!
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