A stroll through Smoky Hollow

By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Before their visit to Youngstown State University Thursday morning, Jennifer Tomko and her brother Tony Scott sat near a group of trees along the Madison Avenue Expressway and wondered.
Are these the trees that were in our back yard? Is this the one we used to climb?
Scott, now of Park, Kan., and his sister, of Youngstown, grew up in Smoky Hollow, which has changed shape since they moved with their parents to Struthers in the 1960s.
Scott was in town to visit Tomko when he heard about Thursday's dedication of the new $22 million University Courtyard apartments that border the eastern edge of YSU along Wick Oval in Smoky Hollow. They decided to check it out with childhood friend John Spencer, a YSU employee.
As YSU president David C. Sweet joined dignitaries and others to cut a red ribbon and officially dedicate the new 408-bed student-only apartment complex, the trio of friends took a walk down memory lane.
Memories
Tomko pointed toward an abandoned brick building sitting to the east of the new apartments that was Pilolli's grocery store, where her brother and friends Spence and Butch used to go to buy an RC Cola and a candy bar and enjoy their treats as that sat on the steps out front.
The group talked about the wall that used to be along Wick Oval and a garden beyond it that they called "King's Castle." The "dirt road" was the official name for the stretch that took them to Madison Elementary School.
The wall is something they wish had been retained. It was a symbol for the community and the camaraderie the neighborhood had. Spencer described the sandstone blocks and how children walked it like a tightrope and used it as a high point during snowball fights.
"We didn't have 24-hour TV," Spencer said. "Neighbors talked to each other from porch to porch.
"... My grandmother's house is still standing; it's just a vivid reminder of how warm it was."
Tomko and Scott lived in the first house on Oak Park -- razed to make way for the expressway; Spencer lived in the second to last house on Oak Park, his family later moving up to Wick Oval.
"I'm impressed," he said of the development. " ... It looks to me like they could keep on going down to Andrews Avenue and that way, keeping the history of the Hollow going."
At Thursday's apartment dedication, members of the YSU community, builders and local politicians heralded the erection of the 130-room apartment complex -- already fully leased -- as the start of more development in Smoky Hollow.
"It's great," Tomko said. "It's so nice to see people come in. I really like the idea of people coming back."