Order Restored On The Old Toll Road

[Jim O'Bryan]

For many of us, a walk, bike ride, even cruising Lakewood is a weekly if not daily ritual. It is both fun and rewarding to keep up on changes, along our favorite paths of health and relaxation. On Detroit Avenue, aka "The Old Toll Road" changes out number things staying the same. The business lanes of Lakewood are always ripe with change. Businesses and restaurants coming and going, many going before you even had a chance to try them!

So for me a Lakewood old timer, it brought a sense of ordered restored, when Raggedy Ann returned from her seventh face lift. Back in the middle of the front window at Hixson's where she had been for more than 5 decades brought a sense of norm back to my ritual of living in Lakewood. In the middle of a city that is changing even faster than healthcare , Raggedy Ann and Hixson's provides a nice pivot point back to the memories locked within our brains.



Even if you have never been inside, which would be a crime, it provides a sense of calm, in a world anything but calm. It provides a portal not just to your past, but the past of all. If you walk through the doors, you will instantly remember why places like Hixson's need to exist.

Thanks again to everyone at Hixson's for doing what you do, and continuing not just the memory of Bill, but the memories of all of us.



peace/love
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