Twin Shoppe

Old south Philly social life pulsated by corners which served as surrogate Italian Piazzi to the Italians of the Diaspora. Often these corners were anchored by a store. Few corner stores had the staying power and social pull of the Twin Card and Sweet Shoppe at 10th and Tasker streets. It had been a card and malt shop from the 1930’s owned by a guy named Oliveri – then in 1950 twins Joe and Carmen Carozza from 8th and Tasker bought it. The twins (and they were Identical) were WWII veterans who after the war worked in a cigar shop in center city Philadelphia where they knew my Grandfather Franceso and his sons my uncles Denny and Joe. Hard working were these Sicilian lads- in a time when hard work alone could guarantee success. They pooled their resources and took over the shop at 10th and Tasker rechristening it the Twin Card and Sweet Shoppe. It was a Malt Shop- Card Shop- Gift Shop. Cigar Shop- and convenience store. Opened 6 then 7 days a week 10-11!! Way before WAWA, 7-11, CVS . Staffed by the twins and their wives- Shirley , Carmen’s wife (Chamberlain could have used her at Munich) and Viola, Joe’s wife -as well as a gang of kids who worked in the shop-like myself and my dear buddy Robert Giangiordano (1958-1987) . The store was the center of the social scene of 10th and Tasker- sharing the intersection with Joe’s bar, Sisco’s grocery, and Vito’s ice cream and card shop- yes two shops selling the same stuff across from each other. Priceless was the treasure I acquired from my days at the twin Shop. It was an Education in South Philadelphia. The Damon Runyan personae- from mobsters and their wives to Sceets to Bella and Mary to Al and Bob and Ace the barber , Flash and well you name it, if they lived in South Philly in the 50’s-70’s they all came to the Twin Shoppe. It was a river of Mezzogiorno barges.. Everyone had an angle everyone had a story…I met people like old Roberto Zinni from my Grandfather’s village in Italy and old times fill of stories of the South Philly in the 1910’s and 20’s. The store was also an incredible business success- for a while the largest card seller south of South Street. But by the 1980’s , the twins were being surpassed by mega stores and new marketing strategies they could never understand. Business slowed , old loyal customers died, often Frannie Carmen and Joe’s sister would greet me with the famous south Philly line…Guess who died. .Joe died in 1998 and Carmen sold the business in 2001. Now a younger man has taken it over- focusing on Cigars and rebuilding the parts that were falling down. And I am happy to say- the Twin Shoppe continues. But oh what ghosts must haunt that building-more on these ghost later.

The year is 195 something- the place- the Latin Casino –well maybe not but some bar joint frequented by Italo-Americans in either Philadelphia or its satellite South Jersey. The man on the left is my father Frank Braccia (1926-1988). Next to him was the Raunchy Night Club Entertainer Belle Barth- the female Lenny Bruce and one of the great Jewish red Hot Mamas, her famous line- "Hey, I'm 65, I'm fat and I can still take five guys a night. I pay them now, but that's okay," next to her is my mother Dolores Oratorio Braccia (1932-1992) on the far Right is my mother’s first cousin Michael (Micky) Mezzaroba (1937-2002). For years this picture was hung in our house like some icon of great power- Micky even had his own copy of it- The Power Working Icon of The Supper in Jersey.. ST. Belle Among the Gumbas.. . It must have been a hell of a night cause my parents and Micky often spoke of it. Missing from the picture is Rita -Micky’s wife whose father was Charlie of Cheap Charlie’s variety store at 12th and Wilder. Maybe this was before Micky married Rita? I should ask Rita…as I don’t why she was not in the picture?? These nights out were very important for my dad’s generation - trapped as they were in small row homes, bursting with family, neighbors , and oceans of Gravy- fortunately such large extended families did mean there was always a baby sitter about so you could take the odd Saturday night and swank it baby….. Of course they were always well dressed- not always with a lot of cash but well dressed. My grandfather Franceso was a tailor so clothes were important to my family. I guess that is true of all Italian families.
Hey by the way did anyone see the end ceremony of the Torino Olympics… Maddun’ I seen better shows at Palumbo’s… Ah what do you expect from NORTHERN Italians.. Anyway Micky was like an uncle to me and his life and times is the stuff of South Philly legend- he was born with little and never finished school- but built a multi million dollar construction company called MIRI as well as a bar and restaurant called Fresanco. Micky is gone and MIRI went with him and that’s the way it is down in South Philly. Many family businesses don’t outlive the founder. My mother was Micky’s secretary for years and they were like brother and sister- that too is the way it is in South Philly … There is a city in northern Borneo in Malaysia called Miri! Nothing to do with Micky but real coincidental if you think about it. I who lived but 2 blocks from the Miri office at 12th and Dickinson now live 2 hours from the city Miri in Malaysia…. Do the gods jest??

MAMA
This is Mama- not Mamma but Mama- two short staccato syllabus. She was my paternal Grandmother 1881-1967. Her name was Teresa Gianantonio, her family came from Bascilicata in Southern Italy but she was born in Buenos Aires in Argentina. She was a real force in our family and her children (all 7 adored her, one of my Aunts had a problem with her- but that is a another story.) she is in front of her home at 1107 Garret Street near 12th and Dickinson in South Philly. Mama married my Grandfather Franceso Braccia in or about 1907 or 08. My Grandfather came from Altino in the Abruzzo and by 1910 was an established designer and tailor of women’s clothing. He spoken English very well and was a success. Despite some reservations from his family ( she was after all not Abruzzes ) he formally courted her. Her family being very poor , were rather happy to have their daughter catch the eye of such a promising man. Teresa worked in the Bayouk cigar factories in North Philly as, I believe, a cigar roller at … Maybe that’s what I love Cigars…She accepted Francesco’s proposal and they were engaged – I have been told it was Teresa’s mother who insisted on the match , so that my grandfather could help support his wife’s family. My grandmother’s family was a hoot- Uncle Falucc (Fa-Lucc with a as a long vowel) who never had a career or permanent employment, and Uncle Harry who lived in rented rooms and whose only job seemed to be selling toys on Broad street during the Mummer’s parade- what he did the rest of year I have no idea. Francesco and Teresa were married and soon moved to the new Italian neighborhood around the Moraymensing prison , (where today stands a large Acme ( or Ak-a-Me) and community center at Passyunk Avenue and Dickinson-Reed) and purchased a new home at 1107 Garrett street. Teresa while a happy bride was unsuited to domestic life, as she could neither cook nor clean and Frank did not desire she learn these skills from her mother whose simple Basilicata food and style of housekeeping left a lot to be desired by Francesco. Frank soon turned to his paisani at Palumbo’s ( remember the famed restaurant off the Italian Market-9th Street?) who sent a chief to specifically teach Teresa how to prepare good Abruzzesse food ( Spaghetti alla guitara, Balotte, etc..) as well as set table and organize a house. While she soon learn to do this to Frank’s taste, in child bearing there were a number of problems. Terese had 2 or 3 stillborns, each follow by bleeding etc.. A doctor warned that unless Teresa had a hysterectomy she would surly die in the next attempt to have children. Had Frank and Teresa heeded this advice you would not be reading this BLOG as I would not be writing it. Instead of heeding the doctor Frank and Teresa, on the advice of neighbors, turned toward the divine and Teresa made a novena to the Madonna at St. John’s church at 13th and Chestnut-I recall that Mama always loved to go to this church and light candles in the downstairs shrine ( which was so beautiful before the remodeling of the early 70’s) - well God hears all prayers and in 1913 Teresa gave birth to a healthy boy- a dieudon (gift of God as the French say) and they called this child Luigi after Franceso’s father. Luigi was soon fallowed by Romeo, Rosa, Guiseppi (called Joseph), Donato (called Denny) Norma (After the Bellini opera) and finally in 1926 by Frank (my dad). I remember Mama as a resourceful and forceful person- we were all in awe of her because my father adored her- a real Oedipal thing- very Italian. When she died in 1967 my mom wore black for 30 days like some Queen had died! She was a real tough mother in law- never felt any of her daughters-in-law could take care of her sons the way she did.. She was probably right, but oh what a mother in law she must of have been. When I would ask my mom she would just roll her eyes. But that’s what the old timers were like.. hell she was born in 1881!! I remember her standing on the stoop of her house waiting for us (how did she know we were on the way??) I wonder if in her wildest imagination she could have thought, while standing on her Garrett street stoop in 1963, that Little Frankie would grow up, grow old , and be writing about her and posting for all the world to see in something called a BLOG via something called an internet……

I was born and raised in South Philly but left my heimat 25 years ago and now travel the world with my memories in tow. Yet South Philly haunts me like a siren’s call and I am lashed to the mast ….…. Don’t know about my future but oh what a past….So come and share my memories and add some of yours..