Mike Firek left his native Vandergrift in the 1980s for the bright lights of bigger cities like New Orleans; Washington, D.C.; and Los Angeles.
The actor, playwright and vocal artist stayed away 45 years before returning to his roots in the small industrial town.
“I feel like I never left,” Firek said. “In the back of my mind, I always thought that I would come back. It’s always been home.
“Even when I lived in California for 20 years, I would say ‘I work in L.A., I live in Vandergrift.”
Firek, a 1971 graduate of Kiski Area High School, penned a collection of memories of his early life on Walnut Street and packaged them into a new release, “Postcards from the Edge of Town.”
Spurred by a series of articles he wrote for the Victorian Vandergrift Museum and Historical Society, Firek takes readers down memory lane — to Steve’s Cash Market where he bought his baseball cards, the barber shops that lined the business district and visits from the town’s “Umbrella Man.”
He recalls Saturday nights spent at the Kiski Valley Recreation Association, where kids gathered and danced to garage bands like Dave and the Diamonds, The Paupers and The Mutations.
“There was a group from New Kensington called The Casuals who wore polka dot shirts, which us small-town boys thought was radical,” Firek said. “It seems like every kid I knew was taking guitar lessons from Ralph Napoli down on Sumner Avenue and buying electric guitars from the Kiski Valley Music Center in North Apollo or from Mango’s downtown.”
He talks about summers filled with pick-up games of baseball, with friends and strangers on the field at Kennedy Park — complete with a dirt infield, hand-operated scoreboard and a green, wooden fence.
“On any given summer morning you could find a pick-up game going there, or on any of the other fields,” Firek said. “This much I can tell you: Each summer when I walk past one of the old fields, I get to thinking how life is good when all you have to worry about is playing baseball.”
Beth Caporali, museum director, said Firek’s original column always garnered positive feedback.
“We’d have people call and say, ‘I remember that!” she said.
Caporali said readers are likely to enjoy Firek’s style of writing — “it’s like you’re having a cup of coffee with a friend.
“They’re delightful stories, and I’m happy that he is able to share them with a wider audience,” she said.
Firek’s collection of essays reflects on days gone by, evident in titles like “The Lost Street,” which details a neighborhood of 35 homes near Walnut and Maple streets wiped out for the construction of the Route 56 Bypass.
He talks about his best summer job, working as a borough garbage collector, and his neighbor, Suvino “Sam” DiFranco, “one of those old Italian guys that dotted our neighborhood and spent their spare time working in the garden during the summer.”
Most of the stories center around Firek’s childhood on Walnut Street, where he lived until he was about 14.
Even after graduating from Penn State University and moving across the country, Firek would spend several months each year in Vandergrift.
When he finally moved home for good, Firek settled easily into town and became active with community acting/writing at Freeport Theatre Festival in Allegheny Township.
His most recent script, “48 by Freight” is based on Vandergrift resident Joe Szalanski’s book “Boarding the Westbound” and will be performed in September.
Firek will be directing and playing the lead role.
“It’s been really good, being back and connecting with old friends,” he said. “Vandergrift was a great place to grow up in the 1960s. For the most part, I think it still is.
“You don’t see kids playing baseball during the summer, but they still ride bikes. The adults are shopping online instead of on Grant Avenue, but we’re still neighbors with the same priorities as our parents and grandparents.”
