Mike Goldman's Drugstore

debnavas — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:07:14 -0400

Bravo Gordon, I thoroughly enjoyed your blog about Peterborough in the mid '70s, having lived there at that time and on the brink of major life changes myself, as was the town. For me there was a another agent of change in P'boro that affected me most deeply. It was Mike Goldman's drugstore, which occupied the space roughly where the bank offices are now on Main Street.

I visited Mike's drugstore from 1971 through 1976 (until he became too ill to work), ostensibly to pick up various prescriptions for my three young children when they needed them - but more often for the camaraderie, the always interesting and provocative conversations that spontaneously happened around Mike's coffeepot. I met so many interesting people there -- including a number of MacDowell Colony residents, Gov. Walter Peterson, Art and R. M. Eldredge who held wonderful jazz concerts in their barn, as well as an oddball assortment of like-minded townfolk and others passing through who created a small, ever-changing, subversive community of questioners, agitators, art lovers and artists, Democrats all in a Republican stronghold -- a haven at that time in my life as a stranger in what then seemed to me a closed, conservative, propriety-serving town.

I would come to regard Peterborough very differently, revel in the Folkway's nouvelle cuisine, and absorb computer know-how at BYTE and thereby launch a durable career throughout my 38 years spent in and around the Monadnock region, my home. How I came to love and make my home here is another tale, as you are wont say, but one whose beginning and circuitous plot started with the heady brew served by Mike Goldman in the rarified atmosphere around his drugstore table. Is there anyone else who remembers those times?

Peterborough: Influences From the Mid 1970's

Gordon Peery — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:38:58 -0400

In the last year I’ve gotten reacquainted with Peterborough. The people here are so polite, you’d think it was in Canada. Walking down the sidewalk, if you so much as glance at the curb, traffic comes to a screeching halt in anticipation that you might want to cross the street. People smile at you in a way that in larger cities would make you suspicious. There's great food, interesting shops - no wonder folks insist it's a "good town to live in."

I first came to Peterborough in 1975. I was working at the newly opened Folkway Restaurant and Coffeehouse, which went on to become not only a local treasure, but a nationally renowned folk music club. The story of the Folkway (which closed in the mid 90's) is its own tale.

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Mike Goldman's Drugstore

Peterborough: Influences From the Mid 1970's