Hi folks. Enjoying this spring weather? This is only the beginning, as you well know. There is plenty more ahead of us to enjoy to the fullest.

About a year ago, I did a column on downtown Auburn of the 1930s. I stated that in those days, Auburn had a very large downtown for a city of its size, about 20 blocks. I covered the busiest section of downtown, which was Genesee Street from Green Street to Market Street.

I listed many of the businesses on Genesee Street including department stores, 5 and 10 cent stores, grocery stores, drug stores, jewelers, furniture stores, hardware stores, clothing stores, bookstores, restaurants, confectioneries and others. All of these were at street level. In the upper levels of the Genesee Street buildings, there were many professional offices, business offices, service shops and others. Downtown Genesee Street was a very busy place in the 1930s.

In this column, I'm going to cover another downtown street of the 1930s, State Street from Genesee Street to Garden Street. I just want to show that it was another important street in downtown Auburn of yesteryear.

State Street was a popular, much-used, two-lane thoroughfare in a very busy part of town.

The first store on State Street, as you left Genesee Street, was Martins Jewelers at No. 1 State St. The Silverman family came to Auburn from the Bronx in the mid 1930s to purchase Chubbs Jewelry, which was for sale. They renamed it Martins Jewelers. Several years later, the store made a short move to the corner of State and Genesee streets when the former Weld Drug Store became vacant and available. Martins Jewelers was in business at that location for many years.

Marty Silverman, son of the owner, was a high school classmate of mine, and we graduated from Auburn Senior High School in the same year, 1939. Our class held its 65th reunion four years ago.

I don't know if we will have our 70th next year, but it's quite possible. It would really be something, wouldn't it?

Lately the Kalet building on State Street has been in the news. I understand that it's going to be demolished, joining the many others that have gone the same route. Kalet's Ladies' Apparel was a very popular store, and my wife shopped there quite often because the clothes were of good quality and stylish.

There were other clothing stores on State Street including George Edgar Clothing, John Stevens Store and Rosenberg Clothing. There was also the Salvation Army second hand clothing store. Shoe stores were Ruggiero Shoes, Knox Shoe Store, the Shoe & Luggage Shop and possibly others.

Other businesses on State Street included drug stores, grocery stores, news dealers, barber shops, furniture stores, liquor stores, tailor shops and others. I'll mention some of these in another column.

There were also quite a few restaurants including McLaughlin's, Roto & Cimpi, A & C Restaurant, Dello Stritto's, Close & Brady, Salzer's Lunch, Auburn Diner and others.

When we were young fellows, we would frequently stop at the A & C Restaurant for a Texas hot. You could see the hot dogs being grilled by looking in the front window and that would draw us in.

After a number of years, the restaurant moved to another location on State Street and the name was changed to Kathryn's Fine Food.

They still cooked the hot dogs in the front window in view of passersby. I guess it was a good sales strategy.

Another State Street restaurant that we frequented was the Auburn Diner where we usually stopped for pie and coffee. The Auburn Diner is still with us but is now on Columbus Street. Whenever I have occasion to go by it, memories of an earlier time come to mind.

Auburn's largest hotel, the Osborne Hotel, was also on State Street. The New York State Armory was on Water Street, but its main entrance was on State Street.

It's time to bring this column to a close, and I'm going to do so with a little poem that I wrote several years ago and which has been posted on our refrigerator. It has nothing to do with today's topic, but I hope you don't mind.

Love and Peace

This is a house of cheer,

There's no negativity here.

We only use kind words,

The others are for the birds.

We do not denigrate,

We only appreciate.

No criticism or bile,

It's just not our style.

Love is what it's all about,

That is what we want to shout.

Love and peace, love and peace,

We'll say it again, love and peace!

So long until next time.

Carmelo Signorelli is an Auburn resident who enjoys reminiscing about the good ol' days