For many years, the Harlach family lived at 38 Sprenger Street, near Schiller Park on the East Side of Buffalo. There are so many anecdotes of this era that I felt it deserved a web page of its own.
Frank and Carrie Harlach, known as "Ma" and "Pa", owned the house, and brought up their four children, Marie, Alma, Art, and Dolores, in it. In several cases, their children lived there with their spouses, and later with their own children. They didn't have a lot of money, but they were hard-working and loved to have fun.
They were also generous, and opened their doors to anyone. Various family members came and went over the years, prompting Jerry Gruber to refer to it as the "Home for Lost ... Anythings". Those guests primarily stayed in the attic bedroom.
Contributions to this section would be most welcome.
My Mom (Mary Yearke) remembers: "As kids we would drag home all kinds of pets and they were given beautiful homes and never turned away: ducks, cats, etc. I'm sure many times they wanted to kill us but never let on …"
My Mom's friend Judy remembers coming to the house for the first time, and wondering why most of the family lived in the basement, while Mary's Dad lived in the attic, and no one seemed to live on the ground floor. Some of us also found that puzzling, but according to my Mom, the main floor of the house was only used for special events, so it was the tradition to keep it perfect by using and abusing the basement rec room. The basement was also cooler during the summer, in the days before air conditioning. Makes sense to me.
Almost every Saturday night, there would be a big party in the basement. The whole family would be there, along with people such as Al Kramer, Max Zora, and Mr. Miller. Frank Harlach would play the guitar, Alma played the steel guitar, and Dody would play the radio (her words), while the men drank Phoenix Ale, described as "poor man's whiskey".
On Sunday afternoon there would be a big meal, and Uncle Al would talk about World War I.
Around 1948, they had a Philco television set in the home that had a meter attached, so they paid according to how much they watched.
Alma has always had a reputation as a good cook and an innovator. She made pizza for the family years before it was a common food.
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