A Boyhood at Red's: Growing Up in My Dad's Neighborhood Bar

by Tom Romano

In the small town of Malvern, Ohio, from 1940 until the mid-1960s, Red’s Nite Club and Bowling Alleys was a gathering place for the working class. Cigarette smoke hung heavy in the air, along with the scents of hamburgers sizzling on the grill, hot dogs slathered with mustard, and Mae’s famous Coney Island sauce.

In this memoir of growing up in the apartment above his dad’s “beerjoint” (or neighborhood bar, as his mom called it), Tom Romano brings to life not only the customers who came to Red’s—from the giant wrestler Max Palmer to the dignified, cigar-smoking Mr. Facchini—but also his Red, an Italian immigrant and savvy, disciplined businessman, and Mae, a woman of humor, grit, and resilience.

Memories of two robberies, the crowded bar the night Cassius Clay beat Sonny Liston, working as a “pin boy” in the bowling alleys, and sneaking into the Sky Way drive-in are set against the backdrop of a family with its own complicated history. Some pieces come to light only years later, threatening to topple the myth of Tom’s past. By turns humorous and heartbreaking, poignant and grim, A Boyhood at Red’s is ultimately a story of appreciation, loss, love, and acceptance.

205 pages, Paperback

Published June 5, 2023

Reviews

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir-in-vignettes by Tom Romano. (Full disclosure: the author is a classmate from decades ago with whom I'm in occasional contact.) Through the narrative, I came to understand life in a town far different from my own. Through the story Tom tells, though, I could revisit many of the cultural elements that existed in American in the 1950s and 60s: advertising jingles;tv shows; juke boxes; bowling alleys whose pins were set and balls returned by humans, not machines; roadside billboards and barns advertising the Marlboro Man and Burma-Shave; and Mom-and-Pop motels that existed everywhere in those days. Despite the time-period elements which made our growing-up years similar, our families' lives were not at all similar, and Tom paints a clear and compelling portrait of his in this book.

Red, Tom's father and an Italian immigrant, ran a bar (as the title indicates!) and small bowling alley in Malvern, a town in the northeastern Ohio area now known as the Rust Belt. There was little time off; much of the time Tom spent with his dad was in the bar itself, where he assisted with a variety of behind-the-scenes tasks, from stocking the soda pop to sweeping and mopping. The various townspeople who frequented the bar, as well as the few celebrities who sometimes came in, were part of the canvas of Malvern, and of the memoir, as well; and they provide additional color behind the focus on Tom, his family, and his friends.

Mae, Tom's mother, had a very challenging childhood and young adulthood. She married Red after a former marriage dissolved, and Tom was a rather late-in-life child for them, born 14 years afterward. Despite all the emotional scars of Mae's former life and the hard work that running a bar and bowling alley required of her and Red, they were loving parents. Tom, for the most part, had a happy childhood, and he relates his various memories (including some boyish escapades of questionable judgment) in lively prose.

I won't go into much detail about specifics of various interpersonal relationships or even events here, as they're best experienced through reading the book. I will say, though, that there's a huge surprise near the end of this slim volume -- one for which I wasn't prepared, and for which Tom, himself, was unprepared, as well. This surprise comes long after the biggest tragedy in the family's experience, and adds a rich, if disturbing, dimension to the story.

It was fun to discover, though, that while 7th-grade Tom wasn't the most diligent of students, he did love his English classes, and when he was away with his parents for a couple of weeks while school was in session, he did his English homework without complaint. He began keeping a notebook that even went beyond what was required, writing down words from his reading that intrigued him, copying passages that he especially liked. Here was the nugget of what would become his career as a writer and teacher. Here was a preview of the person I came to know decades later. That was a sweet find for me.

This is a great find for those who like memoir and for anyone who grew up in a small town in the mid-20th century. It's proof that everyday people leading everyday lives have stories worth hearing. Tom Romano is one of those people.

[Ashley Szofer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved every chapter of this memoir. Romano’s voice is as vivid and engaging as ever, fully bringing the reader into a childhood growing up over a dive bar in Ohio in the 50s and 60s. You can smell, taste, feel, hear, and see it all as if you were there. I highly recommend this beautiful work of storytelling and reflection on what family, heritage, and culture really mean.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Made me recall the stories my dad told about his upbringing in Akron Ohio. Playing cards, hanging out with the guys in the neighborhood all hours of the day, playing hooky, and so many more. A good read with the many emotions of a boy who's just trying to grow up.