I honestly never thought I would be talking about the good old days and comparing the days of my youth to the kids of today, but that's what I'm about to do.

I grew up in the 1960's and 1970's right here in Binghamton, when the downtown area was thriving with stored and business.

It was always exciting to come down town, McLeans, Wool worths and many other stores lined Court street with decorated windows displaying the latest merchandise.

The Strand and Riviera movie theaters were on Chenango Street, along with Weeks and Dickinson music store and several diners.

I had been working in Vestal for the past 16 years until the end of 2013, when I came back to downtown Binghamton.

I have had several chances to walk through the downtown streets of this city each day and reminisce about the days of my childhood.

Today's youth will never know Binghamton the way our generation did, but I'm optimistic that things will turn around someday and bring back a resurgence of the excitement and hustle of the past Binghamton.

If you want to have some fun, try a little game I created called Generation Gap Trivia, challenge a  teen or someone a generation below your age group, and have them come one if five questions from their generation, and you come up with five questions from your generation and them see who can get the most correct answers.

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