Miller Time

HOLLYWOOD—It happens when you get in a cottage courtyard and stick around long enough: somebody dies who's been here forever. It happens while the lamp is on and close enough to be heard clear as if someone was rotating a spoon in a bone-china cup. Those who keep moving on as the majority of Americans do (we move on...

UNITED STATES—Gloria must have overheard when I spoke longingly about the enduring allure of a manual typewriter. I have been editing a volume which contains a old story written on my beloved Olivetti, and the process reflected these musings, both nostalgic and speculative, about literary technology. "Technology takes over our lives," demurred Manny the tech guy, who confirmed that Gloria,...

UNITED STATES—An offer from another chain store came for the drug store, and my parents welcomed it. Capitulating to one of the chains was still not the most desirable ending to 44 years of service. Then a young eager pharmacist, interested in taking over the pharmacy, reappeared. He would preserve the Johnson name, its independence and assure continuity. It seemed...

UNITED STATES—In one way the earthquake had been a blessing in disguise for the drug store. People were actually happier with the new little pharmacy where they could call in the prescription, park their car right out in front, pick up their prescription and be off, but still not without that touch of camaraderie that was Johnson Drug’s signature. Also,...

UNITED STATES—Terrible rains came. Unhoused people in tents in the high school field got drenched. At my parents’ house they worked in the rain to board the hole in front where there had been a chimney. “Dad kind of stood around and watched,” my mom noted. He shut down with the earthquake. It still comes up in conversation that...

UNITED STATES—Among the carryovers from the Meyer era of Johnson Drug was Tammy the bookkeeper. She wore a dark sweater and skirt and was Japanese-American. Her lair was the office up on the top of the stairs in back, all glassed in. It had been a record listening room in the prior incarnation of the store at the corner....

UNITED STATES—A lot of the drug store operation and staff was inherited from Mr. Meyer when Johnson Drug changed hands, in 1962. That inheritance included Alberta Johnson. Yes, she was related to Johnson, the Johnson whose surname the store bore. Alberta was his widow. He must have died early, leaving her with a daughter to raise. So even though she had a house on Cutter Drive and drove a T-bird, here...

UNITED STATES—There was always a second banana at the drug store—the relief pharmacist. Johnson Drug wasn’t a one man show. The first relief pharmacist was Chet Turney, a thin wise man, who always carried a thousand dollars in his wallet and was a ham radio operator. He exposed all of us to the word, “Andale” (Hurry up in Spanish). Then...

UNITED STATES—Dad couldn’t cut the mustard in pre-med. The chemistry was too much for him, so he settled for pharmacy, and perhaps in his mind being a druggist was second best, both materially and socially, to being a doctor. He wasn’t in the same league as the doctors (they had houses on Brewington), but the pharmacy suited his Virgo...

UNITED STATES—The advent of the chain store, Long’s, just a block from his Main and East Lake corner, caused my dad a great deal of worry. His confrere, Harry Johnson at Steinhauser & Eaton got a chuckle out of his anxiety, mimicking my dad: “The sky is falling, Long’s is coming.” It was this big, uncontrollable, nameless, faceless thing coming...