Peers and Parents

No Pop Outs

Memories of the move of our family from land-locked Akron, Ohio to ocean-front Miami, Florida in 1955 are vaguely remote to nonexistent. The reason for the move though is still as plain as a salt life south Florida day.  My father, Harold Bosworth,  had been promoted to overseeing the opening of a new Allied Department Store property named Jordan Marsh.  It was located on Biscayne Boulevard at the junction of the 36th street Causeway. The cutting edge retail location included a swimming pool and a marina. The fact that  "The Miami Herald" was catacorner a block away was not insignificant either.

One of the great benefits of having a father who was head of a big department store was that the personnel always recognized you when you came into the building.  They treated us like royalty and the graciousness was genuine.  I always knew my dad was revered by the folks who worked for him.

There were drawbacks however because of this relationship. As a young boy becomes a young man, peer pressure mounts and the desire to conform and be accepted is never more important than in fashion.  I wanted to be cool!  There were definitely symbols of "cool" and in particular fashion statements.

Mom was adamant about us buying our clothing at the store.  We had a great discount program because of dad. The peer pressure demanded that we wear Bass Weejun penny loafers, Canterbury

belts and bleeding madras shirts with button down collars. The parent pressure demanded that we buy from dad's store.  When the brand item could not be found at such store, many a household battle ensued.

A young boy who lives in the Atlantic Ocean off South Beach in all his spare time dreams of having his own surf board. Surfboard chic was and will always be hand-formed.  I was elated when my dad told me his store would begin carrying surf boards! I remember the first time seeing the boards in Sporting Goods my excitement drained away as I ran my fingers down the thin edges only to feel the seam that screamed "pop-out", the moniker for a non hand-formed board.  Of course the store would buy the factory mass produced versions as they were conducive to better profit.

And guess what! I lost the ensuing battle at the homestead. I ended up with that pop-out surfboard and have had few greater possessions in my lifetime! Do you know that my peers never liked me any less and a few of them asked if they could ride it!

Surf's up at the South Beach Pier! 

Amen Brother

Bradford Bosworth

May 2016