"I can remember when I was in third grade at Sanford B. Ladd School, at 36th and Benton Boulevard. The principal, Miss Engleman, wanted to know what my father did. I told her my father had a saloon. This was during Prohibition. She said to me, 'Is that animal still alive?' I went home that day and told my parents what the principal had said. So my father bought a grocery store and, from that time on, he was in the grocery business, although he kept the saloon at Fourth and Cherry going, too.

"The grocery store was at 910 E. 5th Street, in the Italian Columbus Park neighborhood. It's still there; it's called La Sala's, which was my grandmother's maiden name.

"Saloons were against the law…but my father, like everyone, had to make a living. Everybody around the area, including my relatives, my friends, and their friends, all were in bootlegging more or less. They always had stills going, and I can remember, as a child, hearing the crowds shouting, 'La governo, la governo!' which meant, 'The government is coming, the government is coming!'"

Dr. Pat Barelli