Ramsey County History – Fall 2003: “Growing Up in St. Paul: A Stroll Down Memory Lane: Payne Avenue in the 1950s—’It Was Like Living in a Small Town'”

Growing Up in St. Paul: A Stroll Down Memory Lane: Payne Avenue in the 1950s—“It Was Like Living in a Small Town”
Author: DeAnne Marie Cherry

The author, who grew up in the 1950s at 973 Payne Avenue on St. Paul’s East Side, relates a teenager’s memories of her neighborhood and high school. The family lived in a rented apartment above a grocery store, shopped at Woolworth’s and other small stores, and banked locally. The teens had pajama parties, cherry cokes at the local drug store, attended Johnson High School dances, went to drive-in restaurants and movies, and cruised in her car on weekends. Her memoir gives a sense of the neighborhood along Payne Avenue and its friendliness.
PDF of Cherry article