The Magic Above My Store!

 Nine years ago, when I thought about opening a store, I met my future and present landlords.  I met also the magic of men who love trains…these “boys” are dedicated, let me assure you of that!  They have the whole of the second floor of the building that houses 6 Birch…I understand it is some four thousand square feet up there (my store is a tiny little 450 sq. ft.).  Well, on that second floor are miles (or so it seems) of model train tracks…all constructed on waist-high tables.  You can stare into villages created with minature people and town squares and trees all hand-made by the train men.  There is a swimming scene with folks on teeny tiny beach chairs, and I believe a nude diver about to take a plunge off the tressel into the water below.  The cars in the town squares appear vintage and are no bigger than a man’s thumb!  There are hills and train smoke and sounds of the passing engines as they move through the mountain tunnels.  I can tell you it is pure fantasy….open to the public twice a year.  If you are in the neighborhood the first weekend in December or the first weekend in March, head on up the narrow wooden stairs for a delightful awe-inspiring adventure!

The early and mid-fifties of my own childhood was spent with weekend visits to my Zio (uncle) and Zia (aunt) who lived in the Southern Pacific Yard in Sparks, Nevada.  Zio was a Section Foreman for the SP, and he lived in a “grand” wooden house painted the color of an egg’s yoke, a bright hard-to-miss mustard yellow.  On Saturday, just after lunch, we would gather in the living room, all would be silent while opera was broadcast on the radio.  I remember it to be the Met Opera Series; my uncle would close his eyes and swoon while the sounds of Tosca filled the room.  My cousin and I would slip out into the garden and wander towards the Round House…a huge wooden structure built entirely of wood with a tin roof and completely round with two giant openings.  The wood was black with the soot of the engines that were turned around in this round house.  It felt adventurous to a couple of  kids wandering through an “off limits” area over train tracks, snooping around for the hobos who would jump onto the next slow moving train for another world far from our own.  Is it any wonder I love the train men who are my landlords and the world they inhabit!