THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, August 4, 2023 Page 3 ~ Malden Musings ~ “Aaron and Mayer Mintz” By Peter Levine D r. Mayer Mintz is a “Son of Suffolk Square” currently residing in Florida enjoying his “golden years.” Mayer graduated from MHS in 1960 and counted Norman “Spirit in the Sky” Greenbaum as a friend as well as a “landsman.” Although we’ve only communicated via email, I feel I’ve known Mayer my whole life. Mayer started out in pharmacy before attending medical school and practicing general surgery in Melrose for 30 years. He’s been married for 58 years and has two children and one grandson. His little brother Aaron graduated from MHS in 1964. Aaron graduated from Boston State, married and moved to western Massachusetts, where he had a successful career in social services and at UMass Amherst. He also had a successful part-time gig in radio in western Mass., retiring in the area. Their fi rst two years of life were in their grandparents’ home on Seaview Ave. Their parents then bought a two-family house on Harvard Street between Sammett and Lyme Streets. Both Mayer and Aaron were brought up in that house. As with most families back in the day, the upstairs tenants were their aunt, uncle and two cousins. Their other aunts and uncles lived within a mile, most within the same neighborhood. Their father died at age 47, when Mayer was 10 years old, and Aaron was seven. Mayer told me that their mother did a “great job” bringing them up as a single parent, with both going on to successful careers. I asked the Mintz brothers to help me connect readers with a small taste of what Malden was once like. They came through with flying colors. The late Bill Mini was famous for keeping the past alive, much like Chris “Keeper of the Linden Flame” Moro is attempting to do today with his Linden USA recollections. I had a long talk at the IACC with Chris recently about this very subject. His passion is palpable. We both agreed it’s imperative that we hand these stories down to future generations. But I digress (again)... Mayer (and Aaron) Mintz… “This is your life.” “I have warm memories of growing up in Malden in the late forties through the mid-sixties. My Malden neighborhood was Suff olk Square, Ward 7, a part of Malden beyond Edgeworth [my comment: touché my friend]. The neighborhood had a large Jewish population, but was also home to African Americans, Italpected to do well in school and attend college so that we could achieve greater success than the previous generation. “I think of Suff olk Square as a 406-410 Cross St. in Suffolk Square of yesterday ians, Polish, and Irish. My neighbors were fi rst and second generation poor working-class families. Most households did not have an automobile so commuting to work was on foot and/or public transportation. The men walked to work carrying a briefcase or a lunch pail. One of my neighbors walked to work carrying a shovel, the tool of his trade. Women did not work outside the home. “Most children in Ward 7 went to either Daniels or Lincoln Elementary School for the fi rst six grades. In those simpler times, children walked to school unaccompanied, even in the fi rst grade. There were no school buses, no helicopter parents and none of the fears that confront us today. Streets were crossed under the supervision of a crossing guard, usually a sixth-grade student. “After finishing sixth grade we were funneled into Lincoln Junior High, and at the end of ninth grade we were off to Malden High School with our counterparts from Beebe and Browne Junior High Schools. The importance of education was instilled in us by our parents. We were exprecursor to today’s so-called lifestyle center. Although rundown and dilapidated, it aff orded low-income housing, food stores, and retail stores. There were kosher meat markets and poultry markets (Bendell’s, Glick’s, Tokson’s, Swerdlick’s, Sugarman’s), grocery stores (Sunny Rose, Leshner’s, Setner’s, the National D), barber shops (Joe’s, Arnold’s, Henry’s), drugstores (Shan-Lor, Finn’s), Shear’s Deli, Cooper’s Beauty Salon. Droker’s Service Station had its gas pumps on the sidewalk. “The local movie house was the Capitol Theater, with a bowling alley downstairs. Malden Square was larger and served a wider clientele extending beyond Malden, but Suff olk Square was our neighborhood shopping center. But with further deterioration Suff olk Square was leveled as part of Mayor Walter Kelleher’s urban renewal project. “Malden off ered many recreational programs for young people through the YMCA, parks department, scouting, and church and synagogue youth groups. The Malden Police Department ran a program for young boys called the Junior Police which sponsored movie nights and other evening activities. 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